The Southwest Center for Agricultural Health, Injury Prevention and Education

Details

• Personal Author:
  Boggaram V ; Carruth A ; Casanova V ; Levin, Jeffrey L. ; Nonnenmann M ; Shipp E
• Description:
  The Southwest Center for Agricultural Health, Injury Prevention, and Education (SW Ag Center) is based at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler (UTHSCT). The Center serves Public Health Region 6 comprised of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas with the mission: to improve the safety and health of agricultural, forestry and fishing (AFF) workers. This is accomplished through an integrated program of research, intervention, education, and outreach activities that engage and leverage a network of strategic partners who represent the interests of a diverse worker population and a wide range of agricultural production in the region. Each core and project conducted from 2011-2016 was developed to address priority issues that reflect the center's theme "Building Strategic Partnerships to Improve AFF Worker Safety and Health." The Administrative and Planning (AP) Core was led by Jeffrey Levin, MD, MSPH. This core ensured that reporting and financial obligations were met, coordinated meetings with principal investigators (PIs) and advisors, expanded the network, and identified opportunities for collaboration. The AP Core engaged the Internal Advisory Committee (IAC) and External Advisory Committee (EAC) in biannual meetings and throughout the cycle to help overcome challenges and capitalize on opportunities. The Feasibility Projects and Emerging Issues (FP and EI) Core was led by Vanessa Casanova, PhD. Thirteen small scale research projects were awarded within the funding cycle. Each feasibility project PI was mentored by an experienced agricultural safety and health researcher. Of the thirteen PIs, four were funded as project PIs for the 2016-2021 cycle, demonstrating the FP and EI Core's success in building research careers. The Outreach Core was led by Drs. Levin and Carruth. Outreach core representatives presented at conferences, conducted training programs, developed materials, distributed resources to stakeholders, and built the network of strategic partners. An internship was offered through the outreach program that built the capacity of six young professionals. The Outreach Core also worked with the other NIOSH-funded Ag Centers to develop and maintain a joint YouTube channel and promote agricultural health and safety events. The Center conducted two research projects, one prevention/intervention project and one education/translation project over the last five year cycle. In the Research Core, Vijay Boggaram, PhD applied laboratory techniques to determine the mechanisms mediating inflammatory responses of lung epithelial cells to poultry broiler dust and Eva Shipp, PhD investigated how pesticide exposure among adolescent farm workers may impair neuromotor function and increase the risk of injury. In the Prevention/Intervention Core, Ann Carruth, DNS, RN extended the Center's research with Vietnamese fishermen by using social marketing science to motivate, support, and evaluate the adoption of safe work practices. Matt Nonnenmann, PhD, CIH conducted a project within the Education/Translation Core to measure worker exposure to concentrations of organic dust during specific tasks in poultry barns. Dr. Nonnenmann also collected important anthropologic information on the challenges to conducting research within the poultry industry. Each core and project responded to both the NORA II strategic plan for the AFF sector and the SW Ag Center's strategic plan. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Farmers Occupational Health Risk Assessment Safety
• Keywords:
  Agricultural Centers Agricultural Workers Farm Workers Information Dissemination Injury Prevention Risk Management Surveillance Programs Young Workers
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Final Cooperative Agreement Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 6 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-51
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20053161
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2019-100189
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, U54-OH-007541, 2017 Sep; :1-51
• Contact Point Address:
  Jeffrey L. Levin, MD, MSPH, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, 11937 US Hwy 271, Tyler, TX 75708
• Email:
  Jeffrey.Levin@uthct.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Performing Organization:
  University of Texas Health Center at Tyler
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20010930
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20270929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ad15ee216b9dfc7e675b70c8cbad293e5feb0408fca7ccdbe3cee54fa1b70294111c25df2d9ddcca9023d9aa2cf4a2262691f4ea03a2078d0ca25c391a66ba82
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/218752/cdc_218752_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 404.43 KB ]