2010-10-12 Farmer health pioneer proves health is most important harvest
Health and safety need to be seen as a crucial part of farming’s bottom line if the industry is to progress, a world expert told delegates at the National Centre for Farmer Health conference in Hamilton.
Professor Kelley Donham said while producers know all about raising crops and breeding livestock, they have never grasped the ‘need to farm health and safety’. He said farmers are too prepared to assume health issues and physical risks are part and parcel of their business – ‘and they are not’.
Professor Donham, who is with the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa, developed the first, and one of the few, didactic teaching programs today in agricultural medicine. It provides specialty training for health care professionals, occupational health professionals, and veterinarians in occupational and environmental health agricultural communities.
A blueprint for the Hamilton-based National Centre for Farmer Health (NCFH), his AgriSafe Network, a group of specialty clinics which deal with the occupational and environmental health issues of farm families and workers in their communities, has spread from one centre to a network across 17 states in the US.
Professor Donham speaks with hands-on experience, as he still owns and operates a farm.
His research has focused on diseases of agricultural workers, particularly respiratory diseases, zoonotic infectious diseases, and intervention methods of prevention.
‘One of the inherent risks for people in regional and rural areas is delayed, or misdiagnosed, intervention in illness,’ Professor Donham said.
‘The traditional healthcare system provides little to zero training in agriculture issues,’ he said.
‘A producer comes in and presents with symptoms which the health provider simply does not, and cannot, recognise.
‘That is compounded by the farmer’s inherent sense of self-reliance, and reluctance to go into detail about their problems, particularly men.’
Professor Donham said once producers took the step to recognise their health and wellbeing as a value-added product on the farm, many of the current problems go away.
He said farmers can worry about a single harvest, or sheep sale, but if they lose their health the result can be the loss of the farm.
‘When you look at it that way, people suddenly grasp their true worth,’ he said.
‘The culture of agriculture means change has to be built into the system, we have to farm and raise the profile of healthcare.’
NCFH director Sue Brumby said Professor Donham struck a genuine chord with conference delegates.
She said to have international speakers of his calibre at the conference helped hammer home the message her Centre has been delivering.
‘Getting farmers and their families to reprioritise their goals, putting health and safety first, has been a major challenge,’ Ms Brumby said.
‘But our conference has provided an exciting focus for showing what has been, and is being, achieved in other countries.’
For further information, please contact the National Centre for Farmer Health on 03 5551 8533
2010-09-16 Radical cure called for. The world arrives to spread the farm health message
Radical cure called for
The world arrives to spread the farm health message
The inaugural National Centre for Farmer Health (NCFH) conference has been swamped by national and international applications from speakers.
Guaranteeing it will be one of 2010’s must-events in the area of rural health and wellbeing.
NCFH director, associate clinical professor Sue Brumby, said she was overwhelmed by the presentations received by organisers and support from sponsors.
With over 60 presenters covering critical areas such as service delivery, mental health, men’s health, climate variability, chronic disease, allied health, diet and disease, the challenges of social interaction (such as alcohol issues in farming communities), farming families, agricultural health and safety and animal health/human health.
“We have selected speakers we feel will deliver the most relevant, and varied, messages to conference participants, arming them with knowledge and positive information they can take back to their farming communities and workplaces, to make a difference”
“Which has seen us invite speakers and delegates coming from the US, UK and Sweden to attend the conference in Hamilton on October 11- 13”
The University of Iowa’s Professor Kelley Donham is focused on agricultural medicine, the specialty field of occupational health dealing specifically with the health and safety of agricultural producers, their families, and employees.
Production agriculture is recognised globally as one of the most hazardous occupations.
UK public health consultant Linda Syson-Nibbs will be speaking on the UK experience of the health and social inequalities experienced by farming communities.
Peter Lundqvist and Catharina Alwall Svennefelt, from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, will present on injury prevention in agriculture from a Swedish research perspective.
Organisers have worked hard to ensure the conference also recognises every aspect of life in rural and farming Australia.
Part of that has been the launching of a national photography competition in tandem with the conference.
“Its theme of celebrating rural life has already attracted a lot of interest – and entries – from around the country,” she says.
“Entries close on September 24 and they will be judged by a panel of award-winning photographers.
“Anyone can enter, with details on www.farmerhealth.org.au.”
The conference has also turned to the stage to help get its message across, with a night at the theatre featuring two comedies by Alan Hopgood AM on the evening of October 12.
Professor Brumby says these plays use humour to explore the effects diabetes and prostate cancer have on individuals and their families.
“Sponsored by DiabetesVic and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, the plays will be followed by a forum with medical professionals,” she says.
Ends
Further Information contact Sally Stevenson 03 5551 8533
National Centre for Farmer Health
Media releases – 2010
Neil Barr: Social transition – for richer for poorer
Organisation: Department of Primary Industries
Keynote presentation: 
Social transition – for richer for poorer [PDF 3.38mb]
The structure of the farm sector and rural communities has changed over the past 20 years. This presentation will include a look at some data from the past 6 population censuses, 20 years of agricultural censuses and 15 years of land transaction data. The geographic focus will be the basalt plains of SW Victoria. I’ll go through the forces behind those changes. Then I’ll look ahead to what the forces of change might be in the next 10 years and muse on which of the past changes we can expect to continue and what new might be around the corner. In this discussion we’ll look at the terms of trade, gender roles and the food value chain, the demographic transition of the baby boomers and migration policy, housing challenges in our major cities, changing climate and the impact of a prolonged mining boom.
Prasuna Reddy: Diabetes and depression: a difficult furrow to plough
Keynote presenter: Prasuna Reddy
Organisation: Flinders and Deakin Universities
Abstract:
Diabetes and depression is a devastating combination – for the patient, a difficult furrow to plough – which is why the TrueBlue project is so important. In Australia, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes has more than doubled since 1981, being almost 1.5 million now. At least half of those who have diabetes are unaware of their condition. By 2023 diabetes will be the leading contributor to the Australian burden of disease, with major morbidity from its complications. The prevalence of depression in diabetes has been shown to be at least double that of patients without diabetes. Despite the evidence, depression among diabetes patients is under-recognised, under-diagnosed, and under-treated.
The TrueBlue project – which was piloted in Hamilton, Horsham, and Mount Gambier – demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of training practice nurses to identify and manage depression among patients with diabetes and heart disease. As a result of this successful pilot study a full scale clinical trial, funded by beyondblue, was set up to measure the effectiveness of this model in practices in New South Wales, South Australia, and Victoria. The trial will not be completed until 2011, but early and encouraging results are available for this conference.
Ross Pilkington: Farm fatalities – the last straw
Keynote presenter: Ross Pilkington
Organisation: WorkSafe
Abstract:
On average approximately one third of all work related fatalities each year in Victoria
occur on farms, this equates to 20 deaths in 2009. Yet less than 5% of the Victorian workforce works on farms.
This disparity is a major concern to WorkSafe and is why significant resources continue to be placed into the agriculture sector in an attempt to reduce harm in the industry. Anecdotal evidence shows that an ageing workforce, combined with use of machinery and the perception that farmers view risks and injuries as a normal part of farming are major factors in why injuries continue to occur in the agriculture industry.
It is WorkSafe’s view that safety on farms can be improved through increased Occupational Health and Safety awareness and farmers committing to control harmful factors on their properties. This strategy further develops the industries ability and capacity to manage harm to people and allow for the implementation of systems and physical controls in their work activities. The presentation will explore the mechanisms of Incentive, Assistance, Enforcement and Persuasion that WorkSafe use to improve safety in the broader Victorian community. Farms, like any other industry and workplace in Victoria are required to meet the same legal standard. This view, once accepted by the farming industry will lead to farmers taking ownership of the issues at their workplaces (family farm).
The paper also looks at the question of what is a workplace in relation to a farm – “Workplace or Home”
WorkSafe will then discuss the common myths of safety in farming and propose a “way forward” to a safety first paradigm of Zero Harm.
Linda Syson-Nibbs: Evidenced based practice – to do or not to do
Keynote presenter: Linda Syson-Nibbs
Organisation: Derbyshire County PCT, Derbyshire, UK
Abstract:
In the UK the health and social inequalities experienced by rural communities remain largely hidden by traditional health indicators. These inequalities have been compounded by the economic decline in farming which was accelerated in UK hill farming by the 2001 foot and mouth disease crisis. Despite the widely acknowledged link between poverty and ill health the impact of this economic decline has received little attention.
This first part of this presentation will describe a participatory heath needs assessment of a hill farming community in the Derbyshire Peak District National Park. A social model of health was used as an assessment framework and a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed including a controlled population survey of farmers registered with one general practice (n=500). The findings showed significant psychosocial ill health with farmers having an overall health status that was significantly lower than social classes IV and V and the UK mean.
The second part of this presentation will go on to describe the implementation and evaluation to date of Farm Out, a Primary Care Trust public health programme of interventions to address identified health needs. The initiatives developed include the use of the local agricultural market as a tandem outlet for health provision, the conduct of a photographic public mental health project targeting young farmers and the establishment of a Farming Life Centre to support psychosocial wellbeing.Created: March 27, 2014
John Martin: Farmer health, social connection and community resilience: bohemians or bedfellows?
Keynote presenter: John Martin
Organisation: La Trobe University
Abstract:
The nature of rural society has meant that farmers regularly associate in informal ways with their neighbours discussing farming practices, prices and how policy impacts their livelihood. This informal, bohemian association, typical of writers, artists, and craftspeople, is essential for farmers to develop a perspective on the many issues and choices they have running their family business. With such a common set of issues farmers – often represented in popular culture as individualistic, self determining and stoic in the face of the environmental and economic adversity they encounter – are, in fact, bedfellows in their common story of addressing these challenges and their survival. Understanding the role of social connection and community resilience and its impact on the health and wellbeing of farming families and Australian rural communities is an important outcome of the Sustainable Farm Families program. In this presentation we reflect on the social and policy impacts of this innovative farming family health and wellbeing program; discuss the implication for farmer health policy more generally and predict the impact on the security of our nation’s food and fibre in the absence of public policy that recognises and responds to the increasing turbulence facing Australian farming communities.
Joe Graffam: Opening the gates on farmer health
Abstract:
This address begins by focusing on the issue of health inequities associated with regional, rural and remote communities including mortality and morbidity rates with specific reference to both physical and mental health conditions. It then addresses inequities in health services across those communities. It is argued that in addition to redressing the inequities in health services availability, prevention and health promotion can play an important part in reversing health inequities and improving health within regional, rural and remote communities. Improved ‘health literacy’ and lifestyle change are major contributors to health gains. The presentation concludes by drawing attention to the importance of continuing research, commitment to lifelong learning, evidence based practice, and strong university-community partnership in health promotion and health care delivery.
Marisa Gilles: Rural workforce – the art of boundary crossing
Boundary crossers understand the culture and language of community and health service domains and have the trust of both. Rural professionals living within the communities they serve are ideally placed to harness community capacity so as to influence community-level determinants of health. I will analyse two case studies of rural health professionals acting as boundary crossers against indicators of capacity for communities and external agents such as health services working in partnership. A more explicit evidence base for inclusion of community health development in the jobs of rural health professionals is needed.
Kelley Donham: Agricultural Medicine and Environmental Health – linking the land to lives
Agricultural medicine is the specialty field of occupational health that deals specifically with the health and safety of agricultural producers, their families, and employees. Production agriculture is one of the most hazardous of occupations – worldwide. Agriculture is a most basic industry. A small percentage of the population in developed countries is engaged in production agriculture, and the trend is for fewer and older people making up the population. However, the approximate two percent of the population of developed countries involved in agriculture in developed nations produces the vast majority of the food and fibre that feeds and clothes the world. Therefore, the production agricultural population is an extremely important population, and one that must be preserved and sustained. The essence of the field of agricultural medicine is to do just that.
Agricultural medicine is a multidisciplinary field, involving physicians, physician assistants, nurses and veterinarians among others. Agricultural medicine is not usually taught in general health care curricula, and thus a special curriculum for students in graduate training and post graduate health care providers must fill this void. The topics of Agricultural Medicine includes the cultural dimensions of those working in agriculture, which is necessary for providers to understand in order to be an effective provider of health services to this community. Agricultural medicine also includes the essence of production practices in one’s region so that the provider understands how things are done in order for the provider to link the occupational exposures to the condition presented before them. Further topics include diseases and conditions commonly linked to agricultural exposures and systems diseases including the respiratory, musculoskeletal, and nervous systems, the skin, pesticides and other toxins, and general environmental effects. Diagnosis, treatment and prevention are covered, both for the individual and for the community.
This presentation will cover in depth the history and current status of training of agricultural medicine in various countries around the world. Special emphasis will be paid to the developing field with suggestions for best practices of agricultural medicine in Australia, in the efforts to develop a national Australian program.
Rob Grenfell: I’ve got the sugar!
Keynote presenter: Rob Grenfell
Organisation: Victorian Department of Health