

































Abstract: Research has shown that Spanish-speaking communities in Western New York, speci!cally dairy workers, 
and Puerto Rican workers, su"er from health disparities when compared to other US residents. Using a community-
based participatory research (CBPR) design, I collaborated with local organizations and interviewed migrant 
workers, volunteers, and healthcare workers to learn about the health of this population in the Livingston County 
area. I then compared the lives and health of dairy migrant workers to those who perform more transient work on 
fruit and vegetable farms as described by Seth M. Holmes, PhD, MD, in his book, Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant 
Farmworkers in the United States. Results showed that there are health di"erences between transient workers and 
those who performed year-round dairy work and that health disparities are occurring within the local community. 

Aisthesis      Volume 13,  202227

!e Hidden Lives of Non-Migrant Migrant Workers

by Eric Macaluso

Background#
 $e purpose of this project was twofold: to 
determine if local dairy migrant workers and Puerto 
Rican workers were su"ering from health disparities, 
and to compare the health of migrants who worked 
on dairy farms to those who worked on fruit and 
vegetable farms.#
 $ere are many similarities between the transient 
farmworkers that Dr. Seth Holmes describes in 
his book, Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant 
Farmworkers in the United States, and those who do 
dairy work in NY. He explains that the economy is 
the main factor driving migrant workers to the US. 
$ere is a lack of jobs and opportunities to make 
enough money to properly care for their families in 
their home countries so they must seek employment 
elsewhere. Imperialization, racism, unfair trade 
deals, and sanctions have resulted in poor economies 
and job markets in parts of Mexico and other Latin 
American countries (Holmes, 2013). 
 $e journey into the US can be traumatic both 
physically and psychologically if a migrant worker 
cannot acquire proper paperwork for legal entry. 
Seasonal workers can avoid this brutal border 
crossing by obtaining an H-2A, which is a temporary 
visa for seasonal agricultural work. Dairy workers 
have largely not been able to obtain an H-2A because 
these visas are restricted for seasonal agricultural 
labor only. $is may force some dairy migrant 
workers to take the treacherous journey across the 

southern border to !nd work and then stay for 
extended periods of time out of fear of not being 
able to reenter the US if they leave. $e damage from 
being separated from one’s family for long periods 
of time combined with the trauma of physically 
crossing the border can have lasting health e"ects on 
migrant workers and their families (Holmes, 2013).#
 Once migrant workers get to the farms, whether 
by legal or illegal means, the injustices continue. 
Holmes described that there is a hierarchy on fruit 
and vegetable farms. Typically, the structure is a white 
farm owner on top, followed by white teenagers who 
o%en are the crew bosses, then Mexican Americans, 
followed next by Mestizo Mexican workers who have 
a history of working on the farm, and !nally the 
newer indigenous workers such as the Triqui people. 
 Dairy farms have similar hierarchies, with 
migrant workers being at the bottom and getting 
the worst and most dangerous jobs. In 2017, the 
Workers’ Center of Central New York and the 
Worker Justice Center of New York conducted a 
study called “MILKED.” $ey interviewed dairy 
workers from 53 dairy farmers in NY and found that 
62% of participants thought that American workers 
were treated better than Latino immigrant workers. 
Latino migrant workers thought that American 
workers received easier work and better pay, and 88% 
of the migrant workers believed that their employers 
cared more about the cows than them (Fox et al., 
2017).#



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Aisthesis      Volume 13,  202228

 Holmes described the living conditions of 
transient farmworkers, focusing on farms in 
Skagit Valley, Washington. He likened the cabins 
farmworkers lived in to “chicken coops” (Holmes, 
2013). O%en purposely kept hidden from the public, 
these cabins were poorly constructed and lacked 
any form of cooling/heating and insulation. $e 
MILKED report found that 97% of farmworkers 
lived in housing provided by their employers and 
that housing conditions were poor. 
 Dairy workers in Livingston County faced 
similar issues with housing. Since dairy workers 
are on the job year-round, they are not considered 
“migrant and seasonal” by the US government. 
Lacking this status means they are excluded from 
provisions for housing standards and inspection of 
migrant labor camps under the Federal Migrant and 
Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (Fox et 
al., 2017). $is lack of oversight leads to many issues, 
as highlighted by Fox et al.’s (2017) report, which 
notes that 62% of workers reported no inspection 
had ever been conducted at the farm they worked at.
 $e farmers who provide housing and 
employment for migrant workers o%en are 
demonized, sometimes justi!ably so. Holmes 
explained that some farmers genuinely did try to help 
the workers. $ese e"orts included o"ering better 
housing and other services to farmworkers. Other 
farmers expressed their desire to improve conditions 
but could not because international agricultural free 
markets have continued to squeeze their pro!ts (Fox 
et al., 2017). 
 Housing is not the only issue that farmworkers 
su"er from. $ere were similarities and di"erences in 
injuries and health conditions caused by working on 
fruit and vegetable farms compared to dairy farms. 
According to Holmes (2013), berry pickers generally 
su"ered from heart disease, musculoskeletal disease, 
and cancers from the pesticides that are used on the 
farm.#
 $e most common injuries on dairy farms are 
due to the cows not pesticides. $ese include cows 
kicking workers in the head or crushing their limbs 
against gates. Other injuries are due to machinery, 
which is o%en old and given to workers without 
proper training. Chemical exposure is also possible, 
which can lead to eye injuries, cancer, nervous 
system damage, as well as skin and lung irritation 
and in&ammation (Fox et al., 2017). $ese injuries 

can be exacerbated by fear and lack of oversight. Fear 
of getting !red or being docked pay leads to 17% of 
workers not reporting their injuries to their bosses 
(Fox et al., 2017). 
 Farmers are o%en not held responsible for safety 
violations that can lead to injuries in the !rst place 
because only 18% of NY dairy farmworkers are 
employed on farms eligible for OSHA (Occupational 
Safety and Health Administration) inspections and 
enforcement activities (Fox et al., 2017). Without 
proper oversight or enforcement, safety standards 
fall. $e MILKED report stated that 23% of dairy 
workers felt that safety equipment was inadequate at 
their job and that 25% are illegally required to pay for 
safety equipment out of pocket. In addition to poor 
safety measures, there is a lack of training, with 33% 
of dairy workers reporting they received no training 
on the job (Fox et al., 2017).#
 Substandard safety measures, lack of training, 
and working with large animals makes dairy work 
the most dangerous form of agriculture work. $e 
MILKED report states that 66% of dairy workers had 
been injured on the job at least once, and 61% said 
the damage was serious enough to require medical 
treatment. A Times Union news report found that 
more than three dozen farmworkers have died on 
NY dairy farms from 2007-2014. During this same 
period, OSHA only investigated and !ned seven 
farms (Downen, 2017). $e MILKED report states 
that “69 farmworker fatalities have been reported 
in the decade between 2006 and 2016, according to 
the New York State Department of Health'' (Fox et 
al., 2017). Statewide studies of dairy work in other 
major dairy producing states, such as Michigan, have 
shown similar statistics. In Michigan, from 2015 
to 2016 dairy injuries accounted for 39.6% of all 
reported agricultural injuries, with cows being the 
predominant cause of injury (Kica et al., 2020).##
 Since agriculture in general is dangerous work, 
it would make sense for workers to have health 
coverage, but, according to Holmes, this is o%en not 
the case. He stated that the Federal Migrant Health 
Program only serves 13% of the intended migrant 
worker population, and that despite living well below 
the poverty line, fewer than 1/3 of migrant women 
quali!ed for Medicaid, primarily because they are 
undocumented or living an interstate existence. 
Researchers also estimate that less than 30% of 
migrant workers have health insurance, in contrast to 



!e Hidden Lives of Non-Migrant Migrant Workers

Aisthesis      Volume 13,  202229

the estimated 84% of US residents who do (Holmes, 
2013). A 2014 report by the American Public Health 
Association stated that only 22% of farmworkers 
reported having health insurance (APHA, 2017). 
 In addition to not qualifying for insurance, 
migrant workers are no longer considered “migrants” 
a%er living and working in NY for three years. $is 
means that these workers are no longer eligible 
to receive care from speci!c government health 
programs, according to local healthcare workers and 
volunteers.# Without access to these programs, many 
migrants rely on cash payments or emergency health 
insurance to get medical treatment. Dairy workers 
are more likely to fall into this category than traveling 
transient workers because dairy work is year-round.   
 $e poor preventive care many migrant workers 
receive is also contributing to the health disparities 
among this population. Some farmers do not take the 
time to teach proper animal handling and equipment 
use, which can lead to preventable injuries. Many 
migrant workers are unable to consistently meet 
with healthcare providers because they are unable to 
get o" from work, contributing to the development 
of potentially preventable diseases such as type 2 
diabetes or hypertension.###
 $ere are also many barriers when trying to get 
care. According to Holmes, receiving care at a doctor’s 
o'ce can be challenging for both the physician and 
the migrant worker. Firstly, some physicians do not 
want to meet with laborers (farmworkers) because 
L&I (labor and industries) patients can mean extra 
paperwork and potential legal issues if the worker 
was hurt on the job. $e language barrier can also 
be a large issue in doctor’s o'ces. It can be expensive 
to have a translator on sta", and if there is not one 
available, it takes time and money to get a translator 
for that patient (Holmes, 2013).
 Another issue is patient records. Seasonal 
workers frequently move for work, which means 
their medical records need to move with them. Due 
to language barriers, medical records can be missing 
vital information which makes it di'cult for the 
next physician to treat the worker properly (Holmes, 
2013). Vaccination records and other health records 
are o%en missing for dairy migrant workers as well, 
making visits complicated and repetitive for the 
patient. $is language barrier is o%en ampli!ed in 
Western and Upstate NY, where Livingston County 
is located, since there are not many Spanish-speaking 
physicians. 

 $ere is a substantial but unknown amount of 
migrant dairy workers in Livingston County. In NY, 
over 75% of dairy workers are migrants from Mexico 
and Guatemala (APHA, 2017). With more than 
4,000 dairy farms, NY is the fourth largest producer 
of milk in the nation and is the largest producer of 
yogurt, cottage cheese and sour cream (DiNapoli, 
2019). In Livingston country, dairy is the dominant 
farm sector. It directly and indirectly accounts for 
nearly 75% of agricultural output (ACDS, 2006). 
$is makes it one of the top ten counties in NY for 
farming and farming sales (DiNapoli, 2019).#
 In addition to migrant dairy workers, there 
was focus on the health of Puerto Rican workers to 
gauge the treatment of another Spanish-speaking 
population in the area. A%er Hurricane Maria, the 
Puerto Rican population in Livingston County 
has continued to grow at a faster pace according 
to local volunteers and health professionals. $e 
food-processing companies in Livingston-Wyoming 
County used to bring temporary workers from 
Puerto Rico. Over time, some of these workers 
began to settle in the area. With the hurricane, many 
families who lived on the a"ected islands began 
joining their established family members in the area.
 Migrant workers are a vulnerable research 
group. Refugees, asylum seekers, and workers 
with undocumented or displaced legal statuses are 
at heightened risk of being apprehended by law 
enforcement. Migrant workers also have increased 
dependence on institutions and agencies that 
help them integrate into their new community or 
residence. $erefore, there may be misconceptions 
that individuals must participate in the study in 
exchange for help. Lastly, many migrants have 
reduced knowledge or ability to use the new legal 
system they are now living under. Not understanding 
this system, and everyday terms of contract and 
expectations which are necessary for informed 
consent, may also put them at risk (McLaughlin et 
al., 2015).#
      
Methods# 
 To protect the vulnerable status of the migrant 
workers, this research was conducted in a manner that 
was safe for all individuals involved and employed 
a community-based participatory research (CBPR) 
approach. A participatory study involves assembling 
a team of research partners to work in genuine 
collaboration within the community (Minker et 



!e Hidden Lives of Non-Migrant Migrant Workers

Aisthesis      Volume 13,  202230

al., 2003). $e team of people assembled included 
SUNY Geneseo faculty, local volunteers, and local 
healthcare professionals, all who had experience 
working with migrant workers and their families. 
 CBPR also focuses on educating and empowering 
the community of interest and the larger community 
they interact with (Minker et al., 2003). To ensure 
that migrant workers had an active part in the 
study’s design, a workshop was established with the 
TOGETHER Program, a college organization which 
works on teaching English to migrant workers and 
their families. $is allowed for collaboration with a 
group of about 20 to 30 people, which included tutors, 
migrant workers, and migrant worker families. 
During this workshop, the project’s objectives, 
points of interest, and potential questions for future 
interviews were discussed. $e migrant workers 
were able to give feedback on questions and areas of 
interest. $ey did so by vetting questions that were 
previously formulated and assisted in formulating 
new questions for future interviews. 
 Another important consideration when working 
with a vulnerable population is ensuring protection 
of their personal information. A statement of 
oral consent (to avoid physical signatures) in 
both Spanish and English was created, which 
communicated the goals of the project, their role in 
the project, and how their identities would be kept 
safe. Participants' identities were kept con!dential 
by recording personal information such as names 
or addresses, and by keeping all the transcribed 
data on a password locked personal device. Before 
conducting interviews, the project was approved by 
SUNY Geneseo’s Institutional Review Board for the 
Protection of Human Participants.#
 When interviewing migrant workers, four main 
areas were focused on: health services, preventive 
medicine, health insurance, and psychological 
health and well-being. Questions were limited due 
to the short time the participants were available to 
be interviewed and communication di'culties. 
$e interviews were done with the help of the 
TOGETHER program, which provided the space 
and time during their English lessons and helped 
coordinate which participants were interviewed. 
$e sample size was small, n=5, and included dairy 
farmers (2), their spouses (2), and one younger au 
pair. Analysis was done by myself and reviewed 
by my project advisor. One volunteer and one 
healthcare worker were interviewed for about thirty 

minutes. All interviews were done with participants 
over 18 years of age. No Puerto Rican workers were 
interviewed. 

Results: 
 $e following table shows the demographics and 
responses of the !ve participants interviewed for the 
study. $e speci!c questions can be found with their 
accompanied abbreviations below the chart.

Migrant workers

Abbreviations: 
 - HS = Health Services 
 - PM = Preventive Medicine 
 - IN = Insurance 
 - PH = Psychological Health

Questions: 
- HS1: are there any medical services you want 
more access to? 
- HS2: could there be improvements to the services 
you already utilize?  
- HS3: do you trust your doctors? 
- PM1: do you think your job (or your husband's 
job) could be made safer? 
- PM2: have you ever delayed going to a healthcare 
provider? 
- PM3: do you use any homemade remedies or 
medications when you are sick? 
- IN1: do you have health insurance? 
- IN2: do you !nd it challenging navigating the US 
health insurance industry? 
- PH1: do you have any anxiety/stress about your 
work? 
- PH2: do you feel you job (or your husband’s job) 
is safe?
- PH3: if you needed to seek out professional 
mental health, would you know where to go? 



!e Hidden Lives of Non-Migrant Migrant Workers

Aisthesis      Volume 13,  202231

$e following two tables show the questions and 
responses from a community volunteer and public 
healthcare worker that were interviewed.

Community Volunteer: 65 years old, male 
What issues have you seen that a!ect this 
community? 
- $e recent closure of the Migrant Center in 
Geneseo has been a signi!cant issue. But they said 
there has been recent work with the Finger Lakes 
Community Health Center to pick up and continue 
with similar programs that had been lost. 
- Translation: they saw a “lack of medical forms in 
Spanish at doctor o'ces and that they witnessed 
issues with phone translational services during 
appointments.”
What medical issues have you seen over the years 
with dairy workers? 
- Hypertension, diabetes, back injuries, and other 
chronic issues such as pain from accidents or 
overuse of joints.
What improvements would you want to see for 
the migrant workers and their families? 
- Better housing, better transportation services, 
more community education, and more direct 
access to healthcare in the form of traveling doctors 
and clinics to farms.
- One area that they were hopeful would improve 
soon was transportation services.
How do the farmers you work with treat the 
migrant workers?
- “$ey genuinely cared about the workers.”

Healthcare worker: 30 years old, female
What groups have you worked with? 
- Dairy migrant workers and their families and 
Puerto Rican workers. 
What are some of the biggest challenges you face 
when trying to help them? 
- Money, “government funding for immigrant 
healthcare was insu'cient at times.”
- Communication, it was “more di'cult to form 
connections and communicate with new migrant 
workers compared to the more established Puerto 
Rican communities.” 

What have you seen regarding pregnant mothers 
and their baby’s health? 
- $at health issues for pregnant mothers and babies 
were not delayed until they became emergencies 
but were addressed sooner than other community 
members health issues. 
- All children under 18 were insured in NY 
regardless of immigration status.
What improvements would you want to see in 
local healthcare? 
- More education and communication within the 
dairy migrant community about health programs 
o"ered locally, including their own organization. 
- $at insurance would be easier to obtain and 
retain for migrant workers, speci!cally the adults. 
$ey explained that most expectant mothers 
get health insurance while they are pregnant but 
discontinue it 2-3 months a%er delivery. 
- Increased support for mental health and domestic 
violence, although they added that these issues 
“should not be used to stereotype migrant workers.” 
- Improvements in translational services, 
whether it be in person at hospitals, or telephone 
interpretation services because they had seen this 
as an issue for the Puerto Rican community.  
Do you think COVID-19 will a!ect these 
communities more than the general population? 
Yes

Discussion 
 During the interviews, participants were given 
the opportunity to elaborate beyond yes or no 
responses. For health services, 100% of participants 
said there were medical serves they wanted more 
access to. $ese included women’s health screenings, 
dental care, and eye care. All participants felt there 
were improvements that could be made to the 
healthcare they received. One participant felt that 
their physician was unable to solve one speci!c 
health problem and was not handling it properly 
because of a “language barrier which made it hard 
to convey the severity of their issue to the doctor.” 
$is is not a unique incident. In previous research, 
language barriers were a leading cause of medical 
accidents or care disparities. Some of the migrant 
workers brought their children with them to 
medical appointments to help translate. $is can be 



!e Hidden Lives of Non-Migrant Migrant Workers

Aisthesis      Volume 13,  202232

problematic though, for example, when trying to 
explain sensitive topics, or when details get lost in 
translation. Some participants expressed di'culty 
!nding medical services and programs to help 
them, as well as “di'culty !nding material online in 
Spanish about eating a healthy diet.” Lastly, results 
showed that 100% of participants did trust their 
physicians, but that the women wanted more female 
physicians, and that all participants wanted more 
Spanish-speaking physicians. Previous studies have 
found that there may be some mistrust or fear of 
the medical system within the migrant community 
(Arcury et al., 2007). 
 Regarding preventive medicine, 100% said at 
some point they had delayed going to their healthcare 
provider either for a speci!c issue or for a yearly 
checkup. Reasons for this included transportation 
di'culties and being unable to get time o" work. 
$is supports !ndings from previous research which 
found that 75% of migrant and seasonal farmworkers 
do not receive any healthcare (Emmi et al., 2010). Part 
of preventive medicine is avoiding getting injured or 
sick in the !rst place. When asking workers if their 
jobs could be made safer, 80% said yes. $e au pair 
care believed their job to be safe.  One worker said 
that they did not need their job to change, but that 
they “needed Americans to change their perception 
of migrant workers.” When asking about the use of 
natural remedies and medicines, 40% (2/5) said they 
used some form, mostly for small ailments such as 
“coughs,” and one participant said they made their 
own dandelion tea. Previous research has shown 
that some migrants use traditional herb remedies for 
their illnesses (Arcury et al. 2007). $is is important 
information for physicians because some natural 
supplements or remedies have been known to 
interact with pharmaceuticals. 
 Insurance coverage varied within the group of 
migrant workers, as 80% said they had little to none, 
and 20% said they had insurance through work. For 
the 80% who had little to none, the insurance they 
had was for emergencies only. 100% of participants 
said navigating US health insurance was challenging, 
and that in the past they relied on the Migrant Center 
in Geneseo to help them apply for insurance. Others 
said they learned how to navigate the system by talking 
to others. $is con!rms previous research showing 
that most migrant workers did not have insurance 
(Emmi, 2010). $is lack of insurance is signi!cant 

because it has been shown that farmworkers who 
have access to Medicaid or other forms of insurance 
are more likely to visit their physician (Chi, 1985).##
 $e last area of questioning focused on 
psychological health and well-being. Results showed 
that 80% of the participants thought their job or 
their husband’s job was dangerous and stressful. One 
dairy worker acknowledged the dangers and stress 
of their job and expressed that they had been injured 
on the job by a cow. Previous studies have also found 
that migrant workers were stressed from their jobs as 
well as other outside factors such as discrimination, 
separation from family, and fear of unemployment 
(Arcury et al., 2007). 
 $is physical and psychological stress can 
increase risk for mental illnesses and substance 
abuse (Arcury et al., 2007). $e MILKED report 
found that 57% of dairy workers feel they do not 
belong to the community, 62% feel isolated, and 80% 
have felt depressed (Fox et al., 2017). In this study, 
participants reported that if they had psychological 
problems, they would rely on friends and family or 
just deal with it themselves. 100% of the participants 
said that they did not know of any counselors or 
places to utilize if they needed help, but most clari!ed 
they had never looked for this kind of help because 
mental health had not been an issue for them.
 When interviewing the community volunteer, 
they discussed the medical issues that they 
have seen a"ect dairy workers, which included 
hypertension, diabetes, back injuries, and other 
chronic issues such as pain from accidents or 
overuse of joints. Other studies have stated that 
diabetes, hypertension, infections, muscular-skeletal 
problems, and respiratory diseases are the !ve most 
prevalent diseases that dairy workers are a(icted 
by (Emmi et al., 2010).# One area of improvements 
the volunteer wanted to see was in transportation. 
$ey were hopeful this would improve soon due to 
the passing of the “Green Light Law,” which allows 
undocumented workers to get a driver’s license in NY 
(DMV, 2020). According to other local volunteers, 
the program has been successful so far, and members 
of local migrant organizations have been able to get 
their licenses. Driving allows for access to many 
essential businesses and appointments, such as going 
to the grocery store or to the doctor’s o'ce. Migrant 
workers already feel isolated from the community 
and not being able to drive increases these feelings 



!e Hidden Lives of Non-Migrant Migrant Workers

Aisthesis      Volume 13,  2022

of isolation. Transportation issues were identi!ed as 
a major cause of restricted health visits in previous 
research (Arcury et al., 2007).##
 Local volunteers and healthcare professionals 
were asked about the farmers who employed the 
migrant works. $ey said that the farmers they 
interacted with “genuinely cared about the workers.” 
However, bias may exist because these were the 
farmers that allowed volunteers to visit the farms 
and their workers to utilize local programs. Migrant 
workers were not asked about their relationships 
with the farmers to avoid potential con&ict, but some 
did say that “larger farm lodging would be better for 
them and their families.” 
 No Puerto Rican workers were interviewed in 
this study because of COVID-19, but information 
provided by the healthcare workers and others shed 
some light on this community. $e Puerto Rican 
community has been part of the Livingston County 
community for quite some time, and members of 
this community generally worked in industries such 
as fruit processing plants and steel mills. As natural 
disasters continue to a"ect Puerto Rico, more people 
have become displaced and relocated to Livingston 
County, o%en drawn by family and friends who have 
settled here. According to a community healthcare 
worker, there tends to be better communication 
within this community, as compared to migrant 
dairy workers, because Puerto Ricans have a more 
established community, less fear of law enforcement 
based on citizenship, and more knowledge of local 
services. However, Puerto Ricans still su"er from 
disparities compared to other US citizens in a variety 
of sectors such as education and health.#
 A health study from 2000-2010 in the US found 
that Puerto Ricans had the highest cancer rates 
among Hispanic subgroups, that they were diagnosed 
with diabetes at almost twice the rate of whites in 
2010, and that asthma attacks and asthma-related 
hospitalizations were much higher for Puerto Ricans 
as compared to Whites, Blacks, and other Hispanic 
groups. Increased rates of asthma and asthma-
related hospitalizations were attributed to multiple 
factors such as access to healthcare resources, 
poverty, environment, and genetics. Infant mortality 
was second highest to Blacks in the US based on 
data for 2008 (Rosofsky et al., 2012). As of 2010, that 
rate of insurance among Puerto Ricans and Whites 
in the US was the same at 86.3%, but the insurance 

coverage varied drastically. More than 35% of Puerto 
Ricans were on Medicaid as compared to only 11% 
of Whites (Rosofsky et al., 2012).##
 Conversations with volunteers and healthcare 
workers as well as public health experts in the media 
revealed that migrant communities are at increased 
risk for contracting COVID-19. Reasons for this 
include being unable to socially distance in their 
living quarters, lack of access to cleaning supplies, 
and being ineligible for the new unemployment 
bene!ts related to COVID-19 o"ered by the US 
government. $is meant that those at high risk had 
to make the decision between personal safety or 
providing for their families. 
 In addition to changes to unemployment, there 
were also new changes regarding sick pay. A recent 
article in the New York Times included an interview 
with Alma Patty Tzalain, the leader of Alianza 
Agrícola, a grass-roots organization that advocates 
for immigrant farmworkers in Western New York 
(Tzalian, 2020). Tzalian stated that migrant workers 
need to know that NY has passed legislation requiring 
employers with more than 10 employees to provide 
paid sick leave to workers who must stay home 
because of Coronavirus concerns. $is is important, 
because in the past, farmers would not o"er paid 
sick leave, so farm workers would continue to work 
sick or injured. In addition, some migrant workers 
may be more susceptible to contracting the disease 
because of prior exposure to aerosolized chemicals 
which may have injured their lungs. All of this puts 
migrant workers at increased risk compared to the 
general population (Tzalian, 2020).#
      
Conclusion#
 Findings from this study show that local dairy 
migrant workers and their families su"ered from 
health disparities. In addition to long work hours, 
which can prevent individuals from attending 
health appointments, dairy migrant workers also 
su"ered from low wages and the !nancial burden of 
supporting families here and abroad, which make it 
di'cult to a"ord healthcare and health insurance. 
Additional challenges a"ecting this community 
include the lack of proper transportation and the 
increased risk of contracting communicable diseases 
like COVID-19. All !ndings from this study agreed 
with previous data except on the issue of physician 
trust. All the participants in this study trusted their 

33



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Aisthesis      Volume 13,  2022

physicians, but with such a small sample size, this 
!nding’s signi!cance is limited. 
 Limitations to this study included sample size. 
Due to COVID-19, most of the interviews lined up 
had to be cancelled. $is small sample, n = 5, is not 
large enough to draw any signi!cant statistics or 
conclusions. Additional studies on this population 
could utilize this project as the base work. Findings 
and information collected during this study were 
shared with the organizations that helped along 
the way and were presented at SUNY Geneseo’s 
GREAT Day Undergraduate Research Symposium; 
this research will hopefully be used to help improve 
the healthcare of the migrant workers in the local 
community.  

Acknowledgments
 I would like to thank the migrant workers and 
their families for allowing me to come into their lives 
and interview them about personal information. 
I would like to thank Dr. Restivo for providing 
guidance throughout the project, speci!cally on 
the IRB proposal and developing a community-
based participatory research (CBPR) approach. In 
addition, Professor Rocio Vallejo-Alegre played an 
integral role in connecting me with migrant workers, 
volunteers, and organizations that work with this 
community, as well as o"ering in-depth knowledge 
on the treatment and health of migrant workers.# I 
would also like to thank Dr. Castillo-Rodriguez and 
her translations class, the TOGETHER Program, 
the Student Coalition for Migrant Workers, the 
Livingston County Health Department, Finger 
Lakes Community Health, and other volunteers and 
healthcare workers that I interviewed. Lastly, I would 
like to thank Dr. Lisa Meyer, the Edgar Fellows 
Program, and SUNY Geneseo for providing the 
opportunity and support to complete this research.

Bibliography
1. Agriculture and Community Development 

Services (ACDS). (2006, July). Technical report: 
Livingston County agricultural and farmland 
protection plan. http://depot.livingstoncounty.
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9. Holmes, S. M. (2013). Fresh fruit, broken bodies: 
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