Listen to this note:
More than two dozen farmworkers from around Half Moon Bay gathered Tuesday night to learn about ways to stay safe from electrical hazards, as well as about recently expanded health care opportunities.
HALF MOON BAY, Calif. — More than two dozen farmworkers from around Half Moon Bay gathered Tuesday night for a community event that highlighted ways to stay safe around downed power lines and other electrical hazards. Speakers also provided information on the recently expanded Medi-Cal system. Of California .
Organized by Ethnic Media Services and Peninsula 360 Press, the event aimed to address the need for greater and better access to critical safety and healthcare information for the farmworker community.
Mayor Joaquin Jimenez, Half Moon Bay’s first Latino mayor and a longtime advocate for the city’s farmworkers, opened the event and highlighted the many challenges they face.
Describing the conditions they work in as a form of “modern slavery,” Jimenez said farmworkers are too often at the mercy of employers on whom they depend for everything from wages to housing, food and health care.
Greater access to information in their own language is a key piece of helping to improve conditions, he said.
Most farmworkers in Half Moon Bay, a small coastal community about 40 miles south of San Francisco, are from Mexico or Central America and speak Spanish as their primary language. There is also a small group of Chinese farm workers whose presence went almost completely unnoticed until a tragic shooting last year that claimed the lives of seven people, five of them Chinese.
Tuesday’s event was a unique opportunity to bring the two communities together to share information and celebrate their contributions to the city and county.
Held inside the impressive Half Moon Bay Public Library, speakers included retired PG&E lineman Felix Morales, who wowed the gathering with an electrified model made to look like Half Moon Bay’s Main Street. Morales demonstrated the risks when someone inadvertently comes into contact with a power line or other energy source and offered tips on how to stay safe.
Grabbing a small twig, Morales showed how even a recently fallen branch or tree can be “grounded” when a bolt of white-hot electricity jumps from the wires to the twig. He also spoke of the need to be cautious when digging to avoid buried power lines and to be careful around overhead wires when placing irrigation pipes and other farm equipment.
Residents are urged to dial 811 for any safe digging projects. Customers should contact PG&E and 911 if they encounter downed power lines or other electrical hazards.
It is estimated that up to 4,000 people nationwide suffer electrical injuries each year. With winter storm season still in full swing here in California, farmworkers face additional risks given the threat of falling trees and damaged power lines.
A second workshop on health care featured Rommel Silva, outreach supervisor for the San Mateo County Department of Human Services, who spoke about California's recently expanded Medi-Cal system, which as of January 1 of this year is available to all eligible residents, regardless of immigration status.
The expansion, part of California’s Health Care for All initiative, makes Medi-Cal — the state’s version of the federally funded Medicaid program — available to all qualified residents, including undocumented immigrants, ages 26 to 49. Previous expansions broadened care to include older adults and children.
The expansion includes a dramatic expansion of health care services offered through what is known as Full Scope Medi-Cal, which includes medical, dental, vision and mental health treatments, along with a variety of other services intended to address the broader health care needs of low-income Californians.
Previous studies have found that dental care and mental health treatments are among the top priorities for undocumented farmworkers in California, which this year became the first state in the nation to make federally subsidized health care available to all eligible undocumented immigrants.
Representatives from community organizations including Self Help for the Elderly, Casa Circulo in Redwood City and Chinese for Affirmative Action were also on hand Tuesday. Boards with information about health care and other services were also made available.
The event was sponsored by PG&E and closed with a lion dance in celebration of the Lunar New Year and in recognition of the Chinese farmworker community, followed by a traditional dance group from Guatemala. Attendees then enjoyed Mexican and Chinese food and were invited to take a closer look (still at a safe distance) at Morales’ model.
You may be interested in: Joaquín Jiménez, from Mexican migrant to mayor of Half Moon Bay
