Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN)

The Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN) is a national grassroots organization of primary care providers including physicians, nurses, dentists, outreach workers, and other care providers.

Established in 1984 to address issues that affect the health status of migrant and seasonal farm workers, it is now the largest clinical network serving underserved migrant populations in the United States. The MCN is a national grassroots volunteer organization, headquartered in Austin, Texas, with more than 1,450 members.

In the past, environmental health information has been distributed to migrant care providers without an organized, long-term plan. This approach to education is often unsuccessful in changing clinical practice because either the information was not really useful, or was not given in such a way as to encourage change.

Under the new cooperative agreement with ATSDR, MCN will have the opportunity to develop, implement, and evaluate environmental health education programs for health care providers working with migrant and seasonal farm workers. Educational outreach efforts will involve the MCN multidisciplinary clinical team. Year 1 will focus on an extensive needs assessment to accomplish the following broad objectives:

• Map and prioritize environmental health needs for migrant farm workers by geographic region within the United States;
• Identify specific environmental health education needs by profession (i.e., physicians versus outreach workers versus midwives versus nurses); and
• Determine the best educational method, such as distance learning, by topic and professional group.

For further information, please contact:

MCN
P.O. Box 164285
Austin, TX 78716
Phone: (512) 327-2017
Fax: (512) 327-0719
Website: http://www.migrantclinician.org/

or

Division of Toxicology and Environmental Medicine
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
4770 Buford Hwy, NE (Mail Stop F-32)
Atlanta, GA 30341-3717
Phone: (770) 488-3490
Fax: (770) 488-4178