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ER Doctor Rep. Raul Ruiz Administers COVID Tests to Farmworkers, Highlights Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19 on Community

August 17, 2020

Thermal, CA – Today, Congressman Raul Ruiz, M.D. (CA-36) – a physician and Southern California Congressman – donned PPE and administered COVID-19 tests to farmworkers in the eastern Coachella Valley. Farmworkers are essential workers who are at an increased risk of COVID-19 infection due to working and living conditions. Congressman Ruiz, who is the son of farmworkers himself, administered today's tests alongside the Coachella Valley Volunteers in Medicine – a volunteer medical group he helped found.

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Dr. Ruiz Testing

Dr. Ruiz administers a COVID-19 test to a farmworker in Southern California.

"We are seeing higher rates of transmission in farmworker communities like in my hometown of Coachella," Congressman Ruiz said. "It is precisely now – when Latino communities are experiencing higher rates of infection and death, when farmworker communities are being devastated by COVID-19—that we must work to bring testing and care into underserved, vulnerable communities."

Today's testing event follows a discussion with HealthConnect One about the health disparities that Latinos are facing across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. The conversation brought attention to the challenges that farmworkers, new mothers, and pregnant women in the Latino community face and included personal stories from Sonia, a Coachella Valley farmworker and Rudi Mondragon, a program coordinator for SisterWeb – a HealthConnect One community partner in San Francisco.

"Here in San Francisco, countless hard-working Latino families who were already struggling to access the vital services they needed to get by - like food, diapers, rent and utility payments - now simply aren't getting those basic needs met," said Rudi Mondragon. "Our community is incredibly loving and resilient and are finding beautiful and creative ways to support each other during this time, but without more support and resources where they are most needed, that work will continue to exact a hefty toll."

You can view photos and video from testing events here.

Background:

Today's testing event is the fourth COVID-19 testing event that Congressman Ruiz has participated in in coordination with the Coachella Valley Volunteers in Medicine to bring COVID-19 tests to vulnerable populations in Southern California.

The coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately impacted the Latino community. In California, Latinos account for nearly 60 percent of COVID-19 cases and 47 percent of deaths despite making up less than 40 percent of the population. A report from the California Institute for Rural Studies (CIRS) determined that COVID-19 was more prevalent in agricultural workers compared to workers in all other industries. The report found a rate of 1,410 positive cases out of 100,000 agricultural workers, while the rate for workers in all other industries was 455 cases per 100,000.

About the Coachella Valley Volunteers in Medicine (CVVIM) – CVVIM is a volunteer medical group that operates a no-cost health clinic in the Coachella Valley. CVVIM offers primary medical and dental services, among many others, at no cost to residents in the Coachella Valley who are uninsured or under-insured. CVVIM is a member of Volunteers in Medicine, a national nonprofit alliance with more than 90 free clinics across the U.S., whose mission is to "provide healthcare services in a compassionate, caring way to our neighbors in need."

About HealthConnect One – HealthConnect One is a national leader in advancing respectful, community-based, peer-to-peer support for pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and early parenting. Since 1986, across more than 50 communities in 20 states, HealthConnect One has worked with maternal and child health organizations, social services providers, hospitals, birth workers, grassroots organizers and FQHCs to design peer-to-peer support programs which increase breastfeeding rates, strengthen parent-child bonding, expand support for mothers and families, reduce C-section rates and achieve better birth outcomes while generating local jobs and leveraging resources.