Research Symposium

BIO

Hello! My name is Ellie Giardino and I am currently a sophomore UROP student majoring in Public Health. My current research is with research mentor Joseph Grzywacz and with a team of 4 other UROP students we are looking at the farmworker community and seeing how we can prepare them more for the next pandemic. In the future, I want to continue in the research realm. I want to more specifically research the health disparities whether racial/ethnic, gender, sexuality, etc. that are present in the healthcare and medicine field. I hope to along with research become a physician in my future career.

Preparing for the Next Pandemic

Abstract

Preparing for the Next Pandemic is a public health research project dedicated to finding ways to improve the overall health of agricultural laborers, especially regarding disease response and prevention. The specific aim of this research is to provide potential recommendations to farmworker organizations that will lower mortality and morbidity of disease in the farmworker community. Thirty-three previous pieces of literature were analyzed by UROP students, all of whom agreed on a single general analysis of each study. Then we interviewed executives of farmworker organizations. Using all the information, potential recommendations for improving pandemic response and prevention in rural communities were constructed. These recommendations were then submitted to the National Center for Farmworker Health (NCFH) and the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). We found that these communities lacked sufficient funding, proper leadership, hygienic knowledge, community trust, current medical technology, and training for modern practices. Potential recommendations that we speculate may improve farmworker health in rural communities include having an outside organization control the hiring process of CHWs within the community, provided that this organization hires respectable members within the community. Additionally, CHWs should be required to participate in continued education. Lastly, there should be more funds allocated to these organizations which would improve the whole system.

Keywords: Public Health, Farmworkers, Social Justice, COVID-19, Pandemic