Environmental Impacts and Natural Disaster Preparedness and Response in MSAW Communities Learning Collaborative
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This learning collaborative, designed for health center staff that serve migratory and seasonal agricultural workers (MSAWs), will explore the effects of a changing climate and natural disasters on MSAW communities, as well as health centers’ role in mitigating these impacts and building community resiliency. During the four weekly sessions, participating health centers will learn about the impacts of heat stress on MSAW health, such as heat-related illness, kidney injury, and increased risk of workplace injuries; how natural disasters such as floods, droughts and hurricanes affect MSAWs' health and SDOH; current regulations and promising practices to mitigate the impact of climate change on MSAW health and improve natural disaster preparedness and recovery. Participants will also gain knowledge about specific health issues related to climate change and natural disasters, as well as tools and resources to support prevention and response. By the end of the collaborative, participants will have in place the foundations of an emergency preparedness and response plan for their own organizations and communities.
Sessions will take place on March 21st, March 28th, April 4th, and April 11th from 1:00 pm-2:15 pm ET (10:00-11:15 am PT).
Registration closed.
PDFs to all four sessions are available HERE
Session 1: Introduction
Session 1: Introduction
The impacts of a changing climate and natural disasters on farmworker communities
Identifying hazards and barriers to preparedness in your community
Emergency Preparedness Requirements for Medicare and Medicaid Participating health centers
Session description: We will begin with an overview of the increasing impacts of a warmer climate and natural disasters on farmworker communities, followed by a discussion and interactive exercise on how to identify hazards and barriers to preparedness in the local community–including available tools and resources. We will also talk about regulatory requirements concerning emergency preparedness for health centers participating in the Medicaid and Medicare Programs and identify resources that health centers can access for more guidance.
Session 2: Heat hazards: addressing occupational heat stress and heat emergencies in the community
Impacts of heat waves and everyday heat on farmworkers and other outdoor workers
Policy overview: heat stress protections for workers
Addressing occupational heat exposure with health center patients
Heat wave preparedness and response for health centers
Session description: This session will focus on the acute and chronic impacts of heat waves and repeated exposure to everyday heat on the health of farmworkers and other outdoor workers, and will examine existing regulatory protections for workers in relation to heat exposure. We will explore effective ways for health centers to assist at-risk workers in preparing for and responding to heat exposure in the workplace, and will take a deep dive into best practices for heat wave preparedness and response for health centers, highlighting useful resources.
Session 3: Preparing and responding to natural disasters: floods, hurricanes, wildfires, etc.
Developing your preparedness and response plan
Addressing inequities during response and recovery
Communicating with the community before, during and after a disaster
Session description: The third session will cover the development of preparedness and response plans for natural disasters, including the identification of essential functions and capabilities, determining staff roles and responsibilities, and maintaining continuity of services. We will also address ways in which health centers can help communities overcome equity issues that arise during disaster response and recovery and strategies to communicate effectively with the community.
Session 4: Building community resilience
Session 4: Building community resilience
Educating the community about preparedness, response and recovery
Leveraging the capabilities of community health workers (promotores de salud)
Financial resources: federal programs; locating state funding sources
Session description: In this session, we will focus on building community resilience through education and making use of the skills and capabilities of community health workers (promotores de salud) to conduct community outreach and to link community members to services in the wake of a disaster. Finally, we will explore sources of funding for health centers’ preparedness, response and recovery efforts.
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