Toxic Tour

In addition to our interviews on Friday, Jeannie, Geraldean, Nolan, and I drove around in the Farmworkers' Association van with Nina and Michele from the Orange County Health Department, on what Jeannie was calling a "Toxic Tour of Apopka." Geraldean narrated the landscape through the pouring rain, pointing out houses of recently deceased farmworkers, or orange groves where young girls ran (and, some say, still run, for the Hispanic farmworker population) from cruel overseers to avoid sexual assault.

Apopka strikes visitors first and foremost with its rural character-- just twelve miles north of Orlando, patchy efforts at upscale development lie interspersed with old farmland and weed-choked wilderness that reminds me much more of the South Carolina I grew up in than Florida. The farms, abandoned in 1998, still offer evidence of their existence-- the illegally buried pesticide containers that rise to the surface during periods of intense rainfall, or roads set back from Highway 441 that lead through orange groves and sod farms to land that is being "reclaimed" for wetlands. Like buried landmines, everywhere there are signs reminding people that pesticides are still in the soil, and that hunting or fishing are activities not to be undertaken, yet this is too little, too late for the people who worked the land for so long, toiling in the fields as the fine mist of organo-chlorines wafted over their faces from planes high above.

On Sunday we interviewed a woman who worked the farms back in the 1950s and 1960s, always wearing a hat to protect her face, even though supposedly nobody knew back then, no employer or crew supervisor informed them that they should leave the fields. Her face was smooth, nut-brown, almost unlined for a 77 year-old woman, but her arms and legs bore the strange, patchy discoloration symptomatic of pesticide-related skin disorders. "I was always vain about my face," she told us. And in many ways, her story was all too familiar: diabetes, inexplicable and painful skin conditions, arthritis, children and grandchildren with excessive numbers of allergies, learning disabilities, lupus. Slightly less than half of her children she buried before her. She didn't go into the reasons why.

Interview at Edna's House

On Thursday Rachel, Jeannie and I visited the home of Edna, a widow to a former Apopka farmwoker. Edna waited for us expectantly and greeted us with a motherly smile. “C’mon, “C’mon in!” She repeated from the timid and worn wooden stairs outside her front door, waving to us in her pink floral dress and gold bejeweled sandals. Edna walked Rachel, Jeannie, and I into her home after greeting us warmly on the wooden stairs built on top of her overgrown yard. Meeting her was like reuniting with a relative or an old friend; someone we hadn’t seen in years but managed to somehow keep in touch. Edna left a comb in her smoothed hair and invited us to sit down in the front room of her home. The small room was outfitted with two worn couches and a small television. One wall was covered with wood-grain shelving paper, while the others were a faded dull yellow with occasional cracks and holes. Various knickknacks and decorative elements filled the room for a more personal touch; a lamp missing a lampshade adorned a small side table, and the seats of the couches were covered with pillowcases to hide their wear. The walls featured pictures of relatives and a canvass of a waterfall.

Once settled and after figuring out how to operate the video camera, we asked Edna to tell us her story. She began by telling us about her husband, who had worked on farms since he was a young boy, and suffered a stroke late in his life. After speaking for only a short while two of her daughters, Whitney and Sandra, entered the house and sat with us. Whitney and Sandra were more emotionally charged than Edna; a lifetime of hardship left them outraged with their country, questioning how such a wealthy nation could have such poverty and little assistance for those in need. Whitney and Sandra picked up where Edna left us, describing their father’s and their own skin problems from contact with pesticides, and their lack of medical care. Whitney and Sandra suffer from serious medical problems but cannot find treatment because of the overcrowded dental clinics and limited expertise of the health clinic. Sandra’s children also need specialist attention as they have behavior issues such as difficulty with anger management and A.D.D.

As health concerns of this community become increasingly apparent, so do serious social concerns. Whitney and Sandra are not eligible for Medicaid—the $323 a week Sandra earns is too much money for assistance. Frustrated for having worked her entire life and having only a stack of medical bills to show for it, Whitney began to cry. “Our daddy spent his whole life working on the farms, and we have nothing to show for it.” At that moment I realized the extent of the hardship these women had faced. Edna’s outlook on life was slightly more positive because of her faith in God, it kept her strong in difficult times, especially while taking care of her husband after she suffered from an aneurism.

When we got up to leave we all hugged and Edna, Whitney, and Sandra thanked us for listening to them. We told them we were happy to listen but we want to do more—we want to take action to help end their suffering and marginalization. As we walked out the door and onto the damp wooden stairs, we could hear Edna’s motherly voice behind us.
“Hold on to the handrail now!” Edna said gently, expressing her concern for our safety, as if guiding a child through a treacherous path. I felt regardless of age or how long one knew Edna, she considered everyone her children, and looked after them accordingly. How is it a mother to everyone she meets cannot get a larger system of support for herself?

Orange County Health Department

Geraldean Matthews was originally the one in charge of the Pace grant that Michelle is taking over for the Orange County Health Department, but apparently Geraldean's health has not been good these days. As Nolan points out, it's interesting that Michelle's job is concerned with inspections-- inspecting the sanitary conditions of public pools and food sites (say, where a day camp feeds kids). It sounds like Apopka was tacked on to her existing job duties-- yet another example of how people already overworked and doing multiple other projects have to work on Apopka as a side project. Orange County also seems very interested in the Parks & Recreation aspect of Apopka-- no green space-- but Jeannie pushed for the healthcare agenda, and Michelle seemed to be listening. We've got another meeting next week with some "key players" in Apopka and in OCHD to discuss this-- it's exciting that Jeannie has been able to bring us to the table with these issues.

Meeting with the Orange County Health Department

Last Thursday we met Jeannie at the Orange County Health Department office to meet with officials and discuss the problem in Apopka. We arrived earlier than Jeannie, which allowed us time for noting ethnographic details. Department of Health is located in a building adjacent to the EPA office, and is accessible only after driving through the EPA parking lot. The two parking lots are divided by a tall chain-link fence, featuring a gate that allows for one narrow entrance and exit to the OCHD parking lot. The limited access, tall chain-link fence, and dismal low-stature building contributed to an aura reminiscent of a rundown dentition center. It was also alarmingly ironic that the offices lacked landscaping, but instead featured palm trees sprinkled throughout small patches of grass preserved among the vast paved parking lot.

Shortly after entering the building, a diesel truck parked outside the office. This was a standard size Ford truck, but I could tell by the sound of the engine it ran on diesel fuel, and upon deducing this I realized the man had left his truck running while waiting inside. Rachel and I were both disgusted—here we were in the Health Department office, next to the Environmental Protection Agency office, while one man simultaneously wasted natural resources, money, polluted the environment, and endangered the health of others. We pointed out this inconsiderate wastefulness to Jeannie when she arrived.

Once Jeannie arrived our meeting began. We met with Michelle, an environmental specialist, and Nina, a Masters Degree student working in the office. Michelle, though generally lowkey, seemed extremely interested in the project. She was not aware of the conditions in Apopka, and from her job description had very little extra time to learn about community issues. Michelle and Nina are both inspectors, but have been assigned to the Apopka case in addition to their regular duties; as with the Farmworkers Association, it seems there are few staff members, and a multitude of concerns worth addressing, causing the few involved people to become overextended in their efforts. After meeting for nearly two hours, we decided to set up meeting to take a “toxic tour” of Apopka, driving around all of the pollution sites, and setting up a community meeting to discuss healthcare endeavors. We look forward to the tour this Wednesday.

Initial Contact

This past week we have made some very exciting initial contacts. We spoke to a person from TAP-IN, the organization that matches retired hospital staff with free clinics, and even though the organization is not yet in Florida, they hope to enter the state in 2009. We spoke to Dr. Bill Staub, who was able to give us a lead on an organization that constructs and organizes free clinics called the Volunteers in Medicine Institute.

I also made contact with a woman from Orange Regional Medical Center, one of the largest hospital networks in Central Florida. I spoke with a woman named Geeta, who was very nice but very unaware of the health problems the former farmworkers faced, and was quick to dismiss the urgency of this problem. She assumed the clinic in Apopka was sufficient both in treatment and price regulation, and felt Florida Hospital had several branches in Apopka. After explaining more, she became slightly less dismissive, and asked me to send her more information. She also explained ORMC is not for profit hospital, making it a healthcare system willing to reach out to communities, however, getting their assistance is very competitive as many communities plead their cases for help. Geeta was also confused by how a collaborative project between ORMC, Rollins College, and The Farmworkers Association of Apopka may work. I will have to find examples of such models to send to her.

Overall we are making great first steps towards progress. I hope one of our contacts leads us somewhere!

Pondering Non-Profits and Organizing the Next Step

During our last meeting with Jeannie we listened in on conference call with representatives from other non-profit organizations. The phone call lasted over an hour, and it became evident to me why some organizations may have difficult making progress or getting organized. Many of the people on the telephone were reluctant to make decisions or offer advice, they insisted on clearing these actions with organization leaders. I found this to be a rather curious scenario: many non-profits revolve around helping the powerless, yet it seemed employees of the organizations were unsure of their own power or uncomfortable making decisions. I also began to wonder of the effectiveness of a non-profit if a large hierarchy exists; then again structure is always necessary for any organization to run efficiently.

After the telephone call Jeannie suggested we begin contacting local hospitals and finding information about options for bringing specialists to the Apopka community. General medical care already exists in the community (though it could certainly use great improvement). Although a clinic is located in Apopka, it does not offer the specialist attention desperately needed. General practitioners and their facilities are not equipped to deal with lupus, cancer, severe skin disorders, and the various other medical concerns of the Apopka farmworkers.

Prevention of Occupational Health Hazards in Other Regions

As we wait to hear back from officials at Tap-IN and CARE, we have continued to research similar projects to find inspiration for a solution. An anthropologist named Thomas Arcury has done a lot of work surrounding Latino and African American Farmworkers. He has written several articles about his work, which focuses a great deal around North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, and the Midwest. In one of his articles, Arcury addresses preventive measures African American farmworkers take to avoid injuries while on the job. Interestingly, Arcury writes that many workers already have preventative knowledge, information that was noticeably absent to Apopka farmworkers. In regards to chemical use, one informant tells Arcury about protective clothing the workers wear. “They wear the gloves, the cap, and they put on the coveralls. And then they go on and after they spray the tobacco, well then I think it’s three days you don’t go in it under three days. You know, you have to stay out of it, out of the crop” (1997, 171). This scenario is drastically different from the Apopka farmworkers who worked in fields recently sprayed with pesticides, attributing to their multiple skin problems. Apopka farmworkers were so unaware of the hazards of their work that they often used old drums once containing pesticides as converted grills to cook food. This discrepancy of information also raises a great deal of questions, such as why was this information not reaching Apopka farmworkers? Who is responsible for insuring farmworker safety: the individual worker, the farm, or a government agency?

The Farmworkers Association of Florida had managed programs about occupational hazards associated with being a farmworker, but were those programs well received? Arcury makes note of some workers who avoided necessary precautions when using machinery because of resistance to change or not wanting to spend extra money to make the equipment safer (1997, 170.). As we learn more about the situation in Apopka it becomes increasingly clear how this population has been forgotten and left behind in various ways.