07 May 2014

Puente exceeded our $35,00 goal, thanks to you

Thanks to you and more than 171 individuals and businesses, Puente received $36,764.75 through Silicon Valley Gives. Along with the matching grant, we raised a total of $71,764.75 to support our vital work.

Many thanks to the anonymous donor whose $35,000 challenge grant inspired and motivated us.

We are also grateful to our friends at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation for their steadfast support over many years.

All of us on the Puente team are so humbled by the generosity of our beloved community. Again, our deepest thanks.

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05 May 2014

Health System and Puente Partner to Immunize Farm Workers

Mindful of how dangerous farm work can be, Puente undertook an unprecedented immunization project in April that touched the lives of hundreds of farm and nursery workers. Puente teamed up with a medical team from San Mateo County Health System to administer a TDAP vaccine (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) at 18 different farms around Pescadero and one winery in La Honda. The outreach campaign, Puente’s most ambitious immunization mission to date, resulted in vaccines for 229 farm workers over four days in April. It was Puente’s most extensive field immunization drive.

That’s 229 people who won’t be at risk of a tetanus infection the next time they hurt themselves on the job, says Ben Ranz, Puente’s Community Outreach Coordinator.

“Obviously farm workers work with sharp objects and have the risk of cutting themselves and getting infected.”

Ranz coordinated the site visits with San Mateo Medical Center’s Coastside Clinic as well as other County public health staff, which provided the supplies and medical staff. The idea for the TDAP shots came from an email he received from Blue House Farm, a small organic farm in Pescadero where a worker had cut himself. It was unclear whether he had ever received a tetanus shot, and a Blue House Farm representative wanted to know whether Puente was offering that service.

Puente board member Gabriel Echeverria at Silver Terrace Nursery

Puente board member Gabriel Echeverria at Silver Terrace Nursery

Puente Executive Director Kerry Lobel saw an opportunity to meet a crucial need. She also thought to combine the immunizations with health screenings, to better understand the overall health needs of the community. Therefore, during the immunizations, Puente also collected information on how many people had medical insurance, and if so, what kind.

When voters approved Measure A last year, the county set aside monies to build and staff a mobile health van that will begin circulating on the South Coast in late 2014 or early 2015. But “there’s no reason to wait to provide services,” says Lobel. “Everyone felt that we wanted to see progress right away.”

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Team gets ready for line of workers

It was also a great opportunity for the staff of the Coastside Clinic to meet some of the participants they will be serving once the medical van starts to make the rounds and increase South Coast residents’ familiarity with the resources and services offered by the County.

Puente coordinates flu shots each year, typically in conjunction with a big event like Día de los Muertos. But April’s field outreach helped Puente contact a whole new segment of the population who don’t normally come into town.

The TDAP shots were such a success that Puente is already planning its next medical outreach campaigns for later this year. They will focus on mammograms and blood screenings for diabetes, a common ailment in the farm worker population.

“This is just going to be the beginning,” says Lobel.

“We are so pleased to have reached so many through this effort given our goal to prevent health issues from occurring at all,” said Health System Director of Strategic Operations, Srija Srinivasan.  “We value our partnership with Puente and laud the tireless, “can do’ team that worked closely with the farm owners to reach these residents.”

05 May 2014

Puente and Sonrisas bring dentistry to the fields

A visit to the dentist is one of the best ways to prevent tooth decay, and can forestall other serious health problems down the line. But for many South Coast residents, dental care is not easily accessible.

No dental office exists anywhere near Pescadero, and many low-income residents lack both transportation to a dentist and the means to pay.

In April, however, the dentist came to them.

Puente teamed up with Sonrisas Community Dental Center of Half Moon Bay to conduct free dental screenings for 25 farm and nursery workers in Pescadero.

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Lisa Handa brings dentistry to farms and nurseries

The screenings took place in the field – literally. One of the screenings occurred in a Brussels sprouts field where workers took a work break and sat on a folding chair while a dental hygienist peered into their mouths, snapped digital photos, and asked them some questions about their history of dental work.

The field screenings were just the first step in the pilot program, which aims to bring affordable dental care to as many people as possible on the South Coast. Sonrisas made follow-up appointments for the adults to come in for dental work, and as of May 23 out of 25 had already visited Sonrisas for their follow-ups. In six months, once they complete their treatment plan, Sonrisas will send a hygienist back down the coast for a regular check-up and cleaning. The clinic has a portable dental chair specially outfitted for the job.

The Pescadero patients only pay one-third of what dental work normally costs, says Dirk Alvarado, Executive Director of Sonrisas. If a typical cleaning and x-ray costs $160, they pay $53.

“This gives them the chance to have positive oral health. Farm workers don’t have to use all their wages. And farmers are happy because they don’t lose productivity: they’re going to be able to walk in from the field and get their cleaning, and walk out again in an hour,” says Alvarado.

Sonrisas is a nonprofit, like Puente. It was founded in 2001 to give low-income coastal San Mateo County residents access to affordable, professional dental care. The two organizations have collaborated on grant proposals in the past, and Puente has helped Sonrisas conduct dental free screenings for preschool-aged children in Pescadero. A quarter of California children between the ages of two and eleven have never been to a dentist. And many adults have no dental insurance, including many Pescadero farm workers. But avoiding the dentist can have serious effects on overall health. If you can’t chew certain foods, it can lead to malnutrition and other problems in the long run.

“A lot of times, folks are waiting for years for treatment and finally by the time they show up, they’ve been in such pain – it’s affected their work life, their home life. And we end up extracting teeth,” says Alvarado.

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Roughly half the adults enrolled in the pilot program had never been to a dentist in their lives, according to Puente Community Outreach Coordinator Ben Ranz. It became clear that some people would need extensive dental work, or even need to have their teeth extracted, while others just had cavities to fill.

Ranz says he didn’t know how popular the screenings would be until word started spreading that a dentist was visiting farm workers. “I’m still getting calls from people who are hearing we’re involved in dentistry work and wanting to be enrolled in the program,” he says.

Puente is working to expand its dental outreach beyond preschoolers and field workers. Partnering with groups like Sonrisas, Ravenswood  Family Health Center, and San Mateo County Dental Services will be key, says Puente Executive Director Kerry Lobel.

“When people think about medical care, they only think about the medical part. They don’t think about the dental part. We’re trying really hard to bring that aspect of medical care to our community as well.”