Project Summary
Migrant workers serve in a number of different capacities in agricultural and related industries, but encounter persisting socioeconomic barriers in regards to limited access to health care and other human services. Due to these challenges, it is especially important for workers to be aware of how to respond to various types of health emergencies that can affect themselves or their coworkers prior to being able to seek professional medical attention. By offering training in first aid, bleeding control, and personal safety measures specific to the occupational hazards associated with field work, Mitali will provide workers with the opportunity to learn basic care skills to respond to common types of medical and trauma emergencies.
In order to develop her education program, Mitali will be working in collaboration with the UConn Migrant Farm Worker Clinic to offer classes at area farms across Connecticut that are also visited by the clinics. The classes will be offered in both English and Spanish, and will provide workers with educational materials and individual first aid kits for personal use. The classes will be offered during the summer of 2019, with the goal of improving worker health literacy and knowledge of basic medical care while also raising awareness about the health and human rights needs of the general migrant worker population.
Mitali is very grateful for the support of Dr. Anne Gebelein of El Instituto, Ms. Shannon McClure, Program Coordinator for the UConn Migrant Farm Worker Clinics, and the UConn Office of Undergraduate Research, and looks forward to continuing her work with the support of the UConn Co-op Legacy Fellowship Program this spring.
About Mitali
Mitali Banerjee is a third year undergraduate honors student majoring in physiology and neurobiology and molecular and cell biology with a minor in Spanish. She is interested in service, research and education, and aspires to attend medical school in the future. She loves helping people, and enjoys volunteering as an emergency medical technician with a local ambulance service and as a Spanish medical interpreter with the mobile UConn Migrant Farm Worker Clinic. On campus, she is involved in mentoring for first and second year honors students and teaches emergency medical training classes to the greater university community as an instructor for UConn Rescue, a student organization dedicated to emergency medical services and education. Her passion for teaching with UConn Rescue and experiences as an interpreter inspired her to develop a community health education program for the migrant farm worker population, which is the focus of her Co-op Legacy Fellowship project.