Since 1996, the Emory University Physician Assistant Program's South Georgia Farmworker Health Project has taken groups of medical professionals and students to Decatur and Echols counties to provide free outpatient care to medically underserved migrant farm workers and their families.
Watch an audio slideshow of the South Georgia Farmworker Health Project.
The project is the 2010 Host City Prevention Campaign site, and will receive a $10,000 check from AAPA, the PA Foundation, PAEA and the Student Academy of AAPA. The project receives no federal or state funding. Yet, volunteers typically treat 1,500 to 1,700 migrant and seasonal farm workers during the two weeks in the summer, and from 250 to 300 in the fall over the course of a weekend.
In December's PA Professional magazine, Emory PA Student Jodi Sindelar describes what it's like to be a project volunteer: "In the beginning, it is really overwhelming when you have a huge long continuously growing line of patients and it's11:30 at night. But knowing that you can rely on your fellow classmates and colleagues to get everything done and that we are going to be able to help the migrant farm workers and their families was something that we all felt by the end of the night was a huge accomplishment. It was a great experience being able to actually help people who were genuinely appreciative of the care that they were receiving."
For more information on the project, go to www.sgfhp.org.
