Lifetime of Migrant Farmworker Experience | 30 Days, 30 Clinicians

[Editor’s Note: Happy Birthday, Migrant Clinicians Network! To celebrate our 30th anniversary this month, we are highlighting one clinician each day who has been honored in 30 Clinicians Making a Difference​​​, in which we profile the work of 30 diverse migrant clinicians from across the country and abroad.]

Agricultural workers in the Finger Lakes region are lucky. They have Wilson Augustave on their side. The Senior HIV Case Manager at Finger Lakes Community Health in New York has crossed state lines to assure that the patients in his care are able to continue care at their next destination: “Sometimes I actually go down to those states and try to find ways to improve health outcomes,” Augustave said in his profile. “Whatever it takes.” His remarkable dedication is chronicled in his profile for 30 Clinicians Making a Difference.

The conundrum of continuity of care -- particularly for an illness like HIV, that requires ongoing and expensive treatment -- weighs heavily on clinicians serving mobile populations like the migratory agricultural workers who work with Augustave. A common theme among our 30 Clinicians Making a Difference is the heartbreak of seeing a patient only once before that patient moves -- when, really, the patient should be just beginning regular care.

To support these clinicians, Migrant Clinicians Network began Health Network, our bridge case management system. It’s been a big year for Health Network. So far, our enrollment continues to increase in diabetes, HIV, TB, cancer, prenatal care, and other conditions. At the same time, Health Network has been able to close out lots of cases for patients who have successfully completed treatment. Over four days last week at Health Network, the associates spoke with 77 different clinics, logging 122 calls out to clinics, with 66 calls made to MCN from clinics. Fourteen patients contacted MCN; MCN made 100 calls to patients. And that's less than one week's worth of calls.

But the effort is worth it. New research on TB patients enrolled in Health Network demonstrated what we knew all along -- that Health Network is cost effective. Health Network is available for patients with chronic illnesses who are enrolled through their clinicians. Practitioners serving mobile patients can receive free trainings from MCN on Health Network to learn how it works, how to enroll patients, and why it benefits their mobile patients. Learn more about Health Network here.

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