G. Branigan
NIOSH Education and Information Division
The
Farm Partners project is based on non-traditional case
finding that uses routine farm visitors to identify distressed
farmers in a nine-county service area. The referrals to the
project come from breeders, veterinarians, milk truck drivers,
cooperative extension agents and school personnel who recognize
the signs and symptoms of stress in the farm family. Then
these "Farm Partners" link farmers with project staff.
The staff, in turn, link identified farmers to the rural service community of which they are a part. In an effort to establish
a trusting relationship and to do an accurate assessment,
the project staff visits the farm family at their home to
identify stress-related needs. This makes the Farm Partners
project a truly unique service.
The
Farm Partners project is funded by the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation and is one of the many programs of the New York
Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health affiliated with
Bassett Healthcare which is located in Cooperstown, New York.
This three-year project began on June 1, 1992. There were
several factors that lead us to this innovative concept. The
national perception of farming is that it has always been
an idyllic, healthy, and stress-free occupation. Unfortunately,
nothing could be further from the truth. Farming is actually
one of the most stressful occupations in this country. Left
untreated, stress fosters such problems as anxiety, depression,
substance abuse, and violent behavior.
We became
involved in this project to strengthen the way to link the
farm community with the rural service community. A strong
network exists with a wide variety of local community services
and farm organizations such as FarmNet (through Cornell University),
County Mental Health Clinics, Schools and Cooperative Extensions.
Several collaborative efforts have been initiated with other
Kellogg Foundation Agricultural Safety and Health grantees
including Eastern Washington and Iowa.
Through
the efforts of the project evaluator, we have obtained demographics
about our nine-county target area. This data has helped with
identification of high risk areas and has allowed for early
intervention. An expensive formative and summative evaluation
of the project will be carried out.
Increases
in the number of trained Farm Partners has led to increased
contacts with farmers throughout the target area. Phone contacts
and on-site farm visits by staff social workers have increased
significantly. Our second year has ended with increased awareness
of the problems facing farmers by the project staff, as well
as rising recognition of Farm Partners among the target
population. The project has been so successful to date that
securing funding is a priority to continue nd expand already
existing services.
Disclaimer
and Reproduction Information: Information in NASD does not represent
NIOSH policy. Information included in NASD appears by permission
of the author and/or copyright holder. More
NASD Review: 04/2002
This
research abstract was extracted from a portion of the proceedings
of "Agricultural Safety and Health: Detection, Prevention and
Intervention," a conference presented by the Ohio State University
and the Ohio Department of Health, sponsored by the Centers
for Disease Control/National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health.
G.
Branigan, New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health,
Cooperstown, NY.
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