National Farmworker Health Conference to Convene in Denver
The 2012 National Farmworker Health Conference is scheduled to kick off May 9-11th in Denver, Colorado. The annual conference, which is sponsored by the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), brings together clinicians, nurses, advocates, public health officials, researchers and local leaders to focus on challenges and strategies in addressing the health needs of migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Highlights of the conference include remarks by Dolores Huerta, President of the Dolores Huerta Foundation and Co-Founder of the United Farm Workers (UFW), recently named as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. Also scheduled to speak: Christine Chavez, granddaughter of Cesar Chavez and the Program Leader from the Office of Advocacy and Outreach, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland and daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy.
For a complete program and listing of events visit this link.
The national conference will also mark the 50th anniversary celebration of the Migrant Health Act, which established the Migrant Health Program and began the first historic steps to address the basic medical needs of farmworkers. Migrant and seasonal farmworkers are a critical part of the U.S. $297 billion agricultural industry. They help harvest the nation’s food supply, yet are largely low-income people who frequently suffer from poor living and working conditions that lead to an array of health problems.
Members of the news media who wish to cover this conference must register in advance. To view the conference media guidelines, please visit this link. You can also track the latest developments by following us on Twitter at #nfhc.
WHAT: The National Farmworker Health Conference
WHERE: Westin Denver Downtown, 1672 Lawrence St. Denver, CO
WHEN: May 9-11, 2012
Conference sponsors include: NEXTGEN Healthcare; RCHN Community Health Foundation; Quest Diagnostics; Community Health Association of Mountain Plains States (CHAMPS); Colorado Community Health Network; The Colorado Trust; The Colorado Health Foundation, LabCorp.
Founded in 1971, the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance and expand access to quality, community-responsive health care for America’s medically underserved and uninsured. NACHC represents the nation’s network of over 1,200 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) which serve more than 20 million people through more than 8000 sites located in all of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam.
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