These doctors will make “house calls” to serve rural Fresno County ag workers

Luis Sarabia considers himself healthy at age 36.

The former construction worker who now works in agriculture has no primary health doctor realizes it is time to start taking care of himself.

“If this mobile health center wasn’t here today, we probably wouldn’t check ourselves,” said the Kerman resident about an innovative program established by Fresno County and healthcare providers that visited Terranova Ranch on a blustery Tuesday morning.

Sarabia was among the company’s workers who got vaccinated for COVID at the first opportunity, then felt thankful.

“I got COVID after that but it wasn’t that bad,” he said.

Sarabia won’t go see a doctor “because I’m always working.”

He and other farmworkers won’t have that excuse anymore, thanks to the Fresno County Rural Mobile Health Program, a 2-year program launched with the help of $8 million of coronavirus relief funds approved by the Fresno County Board of Supervisors.

More than 100 Terranova workers showed up at the mobile clinic to get their blood pressure checked and get flu shots while Supervisor Buddy Mendes and others explained the program.

“This is a continuation of our effort to improve farmworker health,” said Mendes. Supervisor “Brian Pacheco and I wanted to spend our ARPA money in the rural areas where it is really needed because a lot of these people do not have other services.”

The program will provide medical services at no cost to agricultural workers and residents in rural areas, while participating community-based organizations will deliver information on how to access social services.

The result, said Dr. Joe Prado, division manager with the county Department of Public Health, goes beyond the health of farmworkers and their families.

“By providing this medical service, we will also reduce emergency room use,” said Prado. “This helps our strained hospital system.”

Farmworkers who need medical help will be directed to health clinics in the area, said Prado.

County partners include UCSF Fresno and St. Agnes Medical Center, in collaboration with the Fresno State Mobile Health Unit. Community partners include Centro La Familia.

Dr. Trinidad Solís, county deputy health director, pointed to a recent survey of more than 1,200 farmworkers by the UC Merced Community and Labor Center that revealed only 43% of respondents had seen a doctor in the last year.

The report, said Solís, also showed that up to half of the respondents reported having a chronic illness like diabetes, and that 19% reported having high blood pressure.

“This is why the Fresno County Rural Mobile Health Program was developed,” said Solís. “We want to address the health disparities that were laid out in this UC Merced farmworkers study.”

The mobile units will be held on evenings and weekends to reach as many rural residents as possible. A resident physician and nurses will be part of the teams, which Solís said is also important.

“We want to teach the next generation of physicians and nurses how to go beyond the clinic walls, how to care for the underserved communities in our rural areas,” said Solís.

“We are really trying to keep some of our (healthcare) workforce here. We do have a shortage of medical providers in the Central Valley.”

Those without a primary health doctor will be linked with a doctor at a rural clinic.

“Fresno County is one of the first counties to really have such a holistic model where a patient can have their medical needs addressed and they can also have their social needs addressed in one visit,” said Solís.

‘Medical partners are not replacing our local primary care clinics. They will serve as a bridge to local community clinics.”

Don Cameron, who owns Terranova Ranch, partnered with community health groups to vaccinate his workers during COVID.

“They feel more willing to participate in health care,” said Cameron, who employs 65 full-time workers year-round and about 200 during peak season. He grows primarily processing tomatoes.

“They actually feel very special that we’ve been able to bring health care to them. So many times, they’ve been overlooked,” he said. “One of our employees said that they’re always the last in line.”

Cameron said agricultural workers’ hours prevent them from seeking health care unless it’s an emergency.

“These are essential workers. We rely on them for bringing food to the American people.”