to protect
year in review 2018
100% committed
Boots on the Ground
Message from our Chair
In 2018, our AgriSafe team had boots on the ground throughout the United States. The AgriSafe team was able to hit the road and offer education, resources, and training to producers, health professionals, and operators throughout the United States. AgriSafe reinforced its commitment to women who work in agriculture and expanded it's footprint by educating at over 15 ag producer events in Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. Linda Emanuel, Community Health Nurse and Ag Producer, led the charge. Personal protective equipment was issued to women throughout the Midwest with one solitary message, addressing health and safety. AgriSafe expanded its dedication to the needs of women and secured a four year federal training grant under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. We would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge the funding from NIOSH Ag Center- Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (CS-CASH) which led to this funding. AgriSafe team member, Knesha Rose-Davison, was selected to participate in a national advocacy fellowship with March of Dimes to address maternal health outcomes with a special interest in maternity deserts and reproductive health for women working in agriculture. Her experience kept us grounded in the realities facing rural women. Contact us if you would like us to try and walk in your boots-we strive to understand your needs and your health concerns.
Neil Mylet
The state of mental health among American agricultural producers is a crisis that must be met with a rapid response. The agriculture industry is considered one of the top occupations with the highest percentage of deaths by suicide. Key factors that contribute to these rates include financial losses, chronic illness or pain, a sense of work-life imbalance, and/or the physical or social barriers to access mental health services. Agricultural occupations are vulnerable to circumstances that are out of their control such as unpredictable weather patterns, falling market prices, and/or labor shortages. Agricultural producers are viewed as the backbone of society and represent an unyielding force that suffers backbreaking work to provide for others. Even if a farmer attempts to seek care they are among the rural areas that comprise 85 percent of 1,669 federal designated mental health professional shortage areas. Therefore, farmers who may be of the greatest need of any occupational group are going without crucial mental health services. In 2018 AgriSafe mobilized a public health response to the mental health professional shortage by leveraging the strength of its national network of professionals and extensive training history. AgriSafe secured funding from CHS and Farm Credit to develop and launch a Total Farmer Health® campaign that empowers rural primary care health professionals to confront mental illness with evidenced-based mental health screening tools. AgriSafe’s Total Farmer Health® campaign embraces a holistic approach to caring for the agricultural community by focusing not only on the occupational hazards but also individual, social and mental health components that could impact ones health and well-being.
Being Mindful
Natalie Roy, Executive Director
How do you set your intentions for work each day? Are you driven by demands from your superior, a funding agency or do you have flexibility to chart your own course? Or perhaps it’s a combination of many influences. At AgriSafe we strive to be mindful in our work and to continually define our purpose. Employees, volunteers and board members are passionate about our cause and recognize that our work is never done. Our tagline Protecting the People who Feed the World ® is set. I don’t expect it to ever change. However “how” we protect may shift based on the strength of our partnerships, funding stability and innovations in public health. The “what” we will protect will continue to expand and include health disparities ranging from opioid use disorder to flood health threats. Since the health disparities are almost never ending, we need your help to ensure that those who work hard to feed the world are not forgotten. We must be mindful and consider how emerging health threats can impact the farmer, farmworker or rancher in a way that is different than those who don’t work in agriculture.
Farm Safety Week-Everyday
Designed with women in mind, AgriSafe created yoga and pilates exercises that can be easily done on the farm. A team of professionals certified in yoga and pilates worked closely with AgriSafe staff to create a simple to follow list of core exercises for the beginner yogi. These are downloadable posters aimed to be posted in a barn or other work setting. They serve as a reminder that to prevent ergonomic injuries the body must be prepared through strengthening and stretching the muscles.
Grain Handling Safety
The AgriSafe Network celebrated National Farm Safety and Health Week 2018 with a great line up of webinars inclusive of the theme, "Cultivating the Seeds of Safety." The line-up appealed to everyone - ag producers, healthcare professionals, educators, trainers, and safety professionals. AgriSafe was featured on national media outlets RFD-TV, and Rural Radio Network. The week of health and safety webinars featured over nine speakers, and 214 attendees from 17 states, District of Columbia, two provinces and Argentina.
service
We are 100% committed to protecting the people who feed the world
Homegrown: Protecting our Youth
Stacey Jenkins, Distance Education
Taking Time for Self Care
AgriSafe in partnership with the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety (NECAS) offered health and safety training to grain handling workers through training workshops. Training topics include confined space grain bin entry, prevention of grain dust explosions, respiratory protection program and prevention strategies. Over 895 agricultural producers including workers in high-hazard grain operations were trained for a total of 1,023 contact hours.
Local educators are the most valuable resource to train students in there community. With that strong conviction, AgriSafe relaunched a path for training youth, through a new trainer exchange platform. The approach is simple, give local Ag educators the tools to teach agricultural health and you then give a community an expert who is "homegrown". AgriSafe staff also attended the inaugural Child Agricultural Injury Prevention Workshop hosted by the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute and the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety in Marshfield, WI. This workshop was timely and aligned with the relaunching of our Invest in Your Health program, targeted to youth 16 – 23, who work in agriculture. In addition, staff attended the 2018 National FFA Conference to demo our newly revised curriculum and offer a fun and educational experience for thousands of FFA students.
Charlotte Halverson, Clinical Director
$ 80,784.00 $ 157,329.00 $ 238,113.00 $ 129,633.00 $ 64,713.00 $ 110,187.00 $79,531.00 $ 384,064.00
$ 395,636.00 $ 15,250.00 $ 9,638.00 $ 149.00 $ 420,673.00
Total Expenses
Grant Income Membership Dues Misc Income Interest Income
2018 Financial Statement
value
80% of our funds were allocated directly to program services Return on investment for corporate contributions was 10 X original sponsorship
Support & Revenue
Nurse Scholar Reaches Coast to Coast
$ 384,063.00
Change in Net Assets Net Assets at beginning of year Net Assets at end of year Program- Training & Tech Program- Communications & PR Program Resource Development General Administration
AgriSafe celebrates the power of rural nurses with the launch of the first 2018 Nurse Scholar program. AgriSafe was formed in 2003 by rural nurses who believed that together they could improve the health and safety of farmers and ranchers. Today, AgriSafe builds on that foundation by offering the first of its kind-distance learning opportunity for nurses who care for patients engaged in agricultural production. Webinar based programs (18 hours), presented by experienced health and safety educators, enable rural nurses to increase their knowledge base in identification and assessment of diseases related to agricultural work exposures. An innovative partnership with Northeast Iowa Community College as the Iowa Board of Nursing CNE approver was formed to offer CNEs for this program. In 2018, Twenty-three nurses from coast to coast completed all the course requirements to be awarded CNEs and attain AgriSafe Nurse Scholar status. "These learning sessions have been so valuable and will greatly influence my practice in rural primary care. Thank you so much! I wish all rural nurses could have access to this training."- Jean Matthews, MSN East Carolina University, College of Nursing Greenville, North Carolina The AgriSafe Network gratefully acknowledges the support and partnership of CHS, Inc and Northeast Iowa Community College.
80% Direct Program Costs 20% Administrative
2018 Interns
Jillian Paist, MPH
Although public attention after floods is focused on protecting crops and livestock, AgriSafe believes that farmers must first protect themselves. Over the past three years AgriSafe has been on the forefront of offering support to flood and hurricane impacted areas such as the Carolinas in September & October 2018. after two Hurricanes Florence and Michael, hit their coasts. The longstanding partnership with North Carolina Agromedicine Institute was critical in flood response and recovery. AgriSafe shipped 28 boxes that included over 650 Tyvek suits, 200 safety glasses and heavy duty cut proof gloves to ag producers in need during the recovery process. In addition , AgriSafe hosted a webinar on September 20th "Safe and Healthy Recovery After A Farm Flood."
Samantha Furnish, MPH Candidate
Flood Response
Xinyue Gu, MPH
AgriSafe hosted interns from : Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine LSUHSC School of Public Health Western Kentucky University. Interns contributed to advancing our reach in the areas of Opioid Misuse Prevention, Wildfire Recovery, Data Collection and Evaluation, Social Media and traditional media expansion, and story collection. Thank you for your enduring contribution to AgriSafe’s mission!
800+ hours of volunteer service from our 2018 interns!
Opioid Use Disorder
Opioid use was recently declared a public health emergency due to the risks involved with misuse and addiction, as well as the prevalence of fatal overdoses. Agricultural workers are exposed to an increased risk for opioid use disorder (OUD) due to the severe occupational injuries and illnesses that typically present with the nature of this work. During the summer of 2018, AgriSafe began to address the impacts of OUD in the agricultural industry. A Think Tank was conducted on "Defining the Rural Health Care Professional's Role in the Prevention of Opioid Misuse." Our opioid work then expanded through a training partnership with the University of Mississippi Extension service.
Wildfires
Rui Li, MPH
OO
General public health wildfire advisories did not adequately address the health concerns for those who work in agriculture. The lack of sound guidance and the increase in wildfires throughout the western United States in 2018 steered AgriSafe to host a virtual Think Tank to gather input from key partners. The Think Tank covered the rising issue of wildfires and the health impacts they impose on farmers and ranchers and also explored various health concerns including respiratory health, mental health, heat illnesses, deterioration of water quality, and injuries due to relocating livestock. Think Tank results were used to create a unique resource Wildfire Health Threats- Risk Factors for Farmers and Ranchers. This resource includes common risk factors, prevention tips and related facts sheets.
Michael Corrieri, MPH
Facebook 2017 2018 % Increase Total Reach 30,700 53,500 74% Likes 810 952 18% Followers 785 948 21% LinkedIn 2017 2018 % Increase Followers 50 83 66% Page Views 141 222 57%
thankful for our partners
AgriSafe Network 8342 NICC Dr, Peosta, IA 52068 www.agrisafe.org (866) 312-3002