SHAFTER, Calif. – On a recent Tuesday afternoon, a free health clinic was set up in the parking lot of a small farm that grows garlic, carrots and almonds in Shafter, a city 20 minutes north of Bakersfield.
A group of farmworkers lined up nearby, waiting to sign in and filling out forms that ask them whether or not they have insurance and any health problems they’re aware of.
Eddie Khanna stood among the workers, helping them fill out the paperwork. He's one of the cofounders of the Agricultural Family Fund.
He’s also a senior at Stockdale High School in Bakersfield.
Earlier this year, Khanna says, he started to learn about the rich agricultural history of Kern County. He says he realized how essential farmworkers have been to its growth.
But he also learned farmworkers in the Central Valley face heightened health risks due to their hard labor, and many don’t have easy access to health care.
“A lot of times I would see field workers out there when I was running bright and early at 6 a.m.,” he says. “Bakersfield was built on this agriculture community. So if there's some way we could give back to them, I think that would have been a great success.”
Khanna says he was inspired to create something to help fix the problem.
Khanna and his friend Daniel Puga — with the help of a few friends and an academic advisor — joined together to form the Agricultural Family Fund. It's a certified nonprofit aimed to bring basic healthcare necessities to farmworkers. One of the largest issues it aims to tackle was preventative care for diabetes and heart disease.
The organization is partnered with Dignity Health, which supplies medical equipment and nurses for onsite screenings, and referrals to doctors’ offices when needed. The clinics are free and available to workers with or without insurance.
Healthcare barriers
The Farmworker Health Study, conducted by the UC Merced Community and Labor Center, is believed to be the country’s largest academic survey of farmworker health.
With responses from more than 1,200 agricultural workers across California, researchers found that between one-third and one-half of farmworkers surveyed suffer from chronic diseases, including diabetes and hypertension.
Many of these conditions are linked to “‘social determinants of health’ including socio-economic status, lack of access to primary care and health insurance coverage, cultural and linguistic barriers, transportation, affordable housing, legal status, and other factors.”
“We realized that one of the biggest difficulties was with health and with attention to health and health awareness amongst the community,” says Puga, who’s also a Stockdale High senior. “That's something we wanted to tackle with our time.”
The survey also found that in 2021, nearly half of farmworkers lacked health insurance at some point, and most were not offered health care coverage from their employers.
The gaps in care, alongside the closure of Madera Community Hospital and other shortages of healthcare professionals in the region, contribute to the inequities farmworkers face.
‘We can't afford treatments'
For workers, the free mobile clinics started by the high school students have become a convenient way to check their health.
“Everytime me and my coworkers go to the doctor, we find out we have some health issues,” says Manuel Royz Servidor, who has been a farmworker for more than a decade. “But honestly, we can’t afford the treatments we need.”
Servidor says that in the past, he’s gone years without seeing a doctor because of the high costs. He says there should be more free health services available to him and his crewmates because of their grueling labor.
“Services like this help me a lot,” Servidor says in Spanish. “I want to take every opportunity I can to take care of myself.”
On the recent clinic visit to the farm in Shafter, the clinic served more than 20 farmworkers. Khanna is hopeful that in the coming months, the organization will be able to reach even more across the county.
Khanna and Puga plan to continue hosting pop-up clinics in the coming months. Once they graduate in the spring, they hope more students take on the Agricultural Family Fund and continue to serve the community.
“Whether it's something small – or building up to something as big as [the clinics] – as long as you're doing something, I think it can go a long way for the people that we're trying to help in the end,” Khanna says.
This story is part of the Central Valley News Collaborative, which is supported by the Central Valley Community Foundation with technology and training support by Microsoft Corp.
