In early August, a group of Spanish & Portuguese department faculty, staff and volunteers gathered to assemble 250 Wellness Bags for the 2017 Migrant Farm Labor Health Outreach initiative. Earlier in 2017 Professor Asun Arnedo obtained a grant from the Partnership for Better Health foundation to purchase supplies for the bags, such as ointments, lotions, band aids, foot soaks, ibuprofen, and washcloths that the migrant workers would find useful after a long day’s work in the fields.
For almost 10 years, Professor Arnedo has been leading an annual service-learning project that is part of a Spanish for the Health Professions course. Students from the class provide volunteer work as interpreters for the Spanish-speaking farm workers and the English-speaking health providers at the weekly clinics. This pairing was made possible through a partnership with Keystone Health and their Migrant Health Program.
