VCC has partnered with a branch of the University of California, Davis to help disseminate information on COVID-19 to agricultural workers. Farmworkers have labored throughout the pandemic, helping to keep food on our tables while risking their own health to do so. To improve personal understanding of the virus, healthy habits, and workplace safety, the proposed outreach project, known as COVID-19 Statewide Agriculture and Farmworker Education Program (COVID-19 SAFE Program), will be led by the University’s Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety in collaboration with the California Institute for Rural Studies (CIRS) and farmworker-serving community-based organizations like VCC.
VCC became a part of these efforts in December of 2020 and currently has five staff members training and working to provide education on the ground. As this project gets itself going, Herminia Ledesma, VCC Program Manager, is hopeful about the impact it will have in both the long and short term: “I would love to see our farmworker COVID education efforts support the community in the current and future phases of the pandemic. This work so far has been a testament to VCC’s commitment to supporting the farmworker community in North San Diego County, and I hope this effort continues to grow our trust in the community. Additionally, I would love to see this evolve into sustainable policy changes that will keep needed resources in the community.”
As California begins to open back up and COVID vaccines become more available, educational efforts will be an important piece of getting back to community health. If you are interested in supporting VCC’s work with local farmworker populations, you can donate to the organization at any time by visiting www.vistacommunityclinic.org/get-involved. You can also follow more of the journey on VCC’s social media pages @VistaCommunityClinic.
About Vista Community Clinic
With nine state-of-the-art locations in North San Diego, Orange and Riverside Counties, VCC provides affordable, high quality health care to more than 70,000 community residents. Services offered by VCC include primary care, pediatrics, prenatal and women’s health, optometry, chiropractic care, dental health, podiatry, acupuncture and behavioral health services. VCC also offers a wide array of community health education programs which are free and open to all community residents. VCC is recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as a Level 3 (highest) Patient-Centered Medical Home, and is the recipient of the HRSA National Quality Leader Seal for exceeding national clinical quality benchmarks. For more information call 760.631.5000 or visit www.vcc.org.
