Community Corner

Adovcate for Farm Workers, Health Care Applauded

Salud Para La Gente's Dori Rose Inda has created a model to get injured agriculture workers treatment and back to work.

For the second time this month, Dori Rose Inda was honored for her effort to improve access to health care for seasonal and agricultural workers across the state.

Inda also was quick to share the credit.

A Watsonville resident, Inda is a member of the board of directors, as well as the founder and executive director of the . For the past decade, she and others have worked to bring health care to injured agriculture workers. The goal is to provide the same workers compensation benefits to low-wage workers: the treatment and recovery time that farm workers need so they can return to their jobs and suppor their families.

Find out what's happening in Watsonvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"This has been a 10-year project in the making," Inda said at the Salud Para La Gente board meeting Monday evening in Watsonville, where a representative from state Assemblyman Luis Alejo's office presented her with an award for her efforts.

Inda said it was a joint effort between Salud—a community-based health center serving the counties of Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito—the Watsonville Law Center and , and about 25 other agencies around the state. Together, they developed the innovative, collaborative model that ensures low-wage workers with work-related injuries and illnesses have access to medical treatment and benefits under the worker’s compensation system.

Find out what's happening in Watsonvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"California law guarantees all sick and injured workers medical care and financial support through the legally mandated workers’ compensation system. Yet many of the state’s 5 million low-wage workers lack access to the state-required care," Inda wrote in a piece published on HealthyCal.org. "...In another promising effort, Kaiser Permanente has partnered with us to transform Watsonville’s community health center, Salud Para La Gente, to serve as a workers’ compensation provider."

Read more of Inda's own description of the Agricultural Workers’ Access to Health Project.

As a result of her efforts, hundreds of farm workers in Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties have received medical care and financial support for job-related injuries and illnesses.

Recently, a book was published to help community health centers provide services to patients with on-the-job injuries. The manual follows Salud's model, Inda said.

"We're hoping to see changes in the state of California," she said.

Earlier this month, Inda received the Outstanding Migrant Public Service Award from the National Association of Community Health Centers for her efforts with work-related injuries.

Marc Pimentel, chair of Salud's board of directors, said Inda's project is uniquely tied to Salud Para La Gente's mission to provide responsive health care to the communities it serves.

Dr. José A. Chibrás-Sainz, Salud's Chief Medical Officer, added praise for Inda.

"She's just really a pillar of our society," he said.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here