Public Health Heroes Awards Ceremony

Dolores Huerta has been a well-known figure in the labor, civil rights, and women's movements since the 1950s.

As a grassroots organizer, initially in California, but ultimately across the nation, she has been an incredible force for improving the health and health care of agricultural workers. Between 1960 and 1962, she successfully lobbied for 15 bills, including landmark legislation that allowed farm workers to receive public assistance, retirement benefits, and disability and unemployment insurance, regardless of their U.S. citizenship status. A year later, working with César Chávez, she brought the UFW to life and transformed it from a small organization to a political force boasting more than 400 staff and 70,000 members.

She first received nationwide attention when she directed the great Delano grape boycott of 1968–1970, which resulted in the first collective bargaining agreements for California farm workers. While now taken for granted, these precedent-setting early negotiations established standard contractual provisos such as health benefits, pensions, safe working conditions, and access to clean water and sanitary facilities in the field.

Huerta has long criticized the use of pesticides that jeopardize the health of farm workers, consumers, and the environment and has sought protections for farm workers and their families. Many of these chemicals have been banned elsewhere or slated for "phase out" because of threats to human health.

Despite her "emerita" status, Huerta is no less active. She has established a new foundation to support the training of future organizers and was appointed to the board of UC Regents in the fall of 2003.

Award Presenter

Diana M. Bontá, Dr.P.H., R.N., served as director of the California Department of Health Services from June 1999 until January 2004. Bontá has also served California communities as director of the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, deputy executive director of the Los Angeles Regional Family Planning Council, and regional administrator of the California Rural Health Programs. She has been clinical instructor and head nurse of medical and pediatric units at hospitals in Los Angeles, Buffalo, and New York City. Bontá is a past president of the California Women's Law Center and the Latino Caucus of the American Public Health Association.

The Challenge: Meeting the Health Needs of Our Nation's Agricultural Workforce

Working conditions for California's agricultural workforce have traditionally been abysmal. Planting, nurturing, and harvesting produce is physically gruelling work, requiring awkward, repetitive motion. With payment incentive structures often on a per-piece basis, individuals may feel compelled to work 12-hour days for a living wage. Employers often fail to provide toilet and hand-washing facilities or clean water to drink. Many workers are unfamiliar with the few labor laws in place to protect them and lack the language skills to seek their rights.

Farm workers, and often their children, are regularly exposed to pesticides, which can cause minor problems or acute poisonings and long-term effects (such as cancer and birth defects). If a language barrier exists, workers can’t understand and follow safety precautions and protocols.

Health, disability, retirement, and unemployment benefits are not typically provided. Despite agriculture's importance to California’s economy, this essential workforce has no safety net for injury, illness, pregnancy, or layoffs.

The School of Public Health Responds

With its research and intervention activity, the School of Public Health is in an ideal position to develop innovative approaches to overcome cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic, and other barriers to the health of California’s agricultural workforce. During the 1970s, School faculty were instrumental in identifying the environmental chemistry and route of exposure of organophosphate residues poisoning among California farm workers. This research provided a scientific foundation for the subsequent passage of California regulations protecting farm workers.

Today, the School has CHAMACOS, a community-university research partnership based in the agricultural heartland of California, which investigates the relationship of the environment to children’s health and develops interventions that reduce the incidence of environmentally related childhood disease.

Elsewhere in the School, faculty are studying immigration's effect on health status and have developed an ergonomic manual for agricultural workers, which identifies problem situations and suggests alternative tools and techniques. In the first study to follow migrant farm workers through time to learn about their risk of injury, faculty from the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH) examined the injury experience of migrant farm workers through a whole growing season and found that women who are paid on a piece-rate basis face a much greater risk of injury on the job than those paid by the hour.

In addition, the Labor Occupational Health Program, COEH's community outreach program, is dedicated to improving health and safety in the workplace and offers support in many languages to labor, management, community organizations, health professionals, government representatives, schools, and the general public.

	2004 Regional Hero Dolores Huerta President, Dolores C. Huerta Founder CoFounder, United Farm Workers Movement Vice President Emerita, UFW AFL-CIO	Other 2004 Heroes International Larry Brilliant, M.D., M.P.H. National Steven A. Schroeder, M.D. Organizational The East Bay's Health Departments
2004 Regional Hero - Dolores Huerta Dolores Huerta has been a well-known figure in the labor, civil rights, and women's movements since the 1950s. As a grassroots organizer, initially in California, but ultimately across the nation, she has been an incredible force for improving the health and health care of agricultural workers. Between 1960 and 1962, she successfully lobbied for 15 bills, including landmark legislation that allowed farm workers to receive public assistance, retirement benefits, and disability and unemployment insurance, regardless of their U.S. citizenship status. A year later, working with César Chávez, she brought the UFW to life and transformed it from a small organization to a political force boasting more than 400 staff and 70,000 members. She first received nationwide attention when she directed the great Delano grape boycott of 1968–1970, which resulted in the first collective bargaining agreements for California farm workers. While now taken for granted, these precedent-setting early negotiations established standard contractual provisos such as health benefits, pensions, safe working conditions, and access to clean water and sanitary facilities in the field. Huerta has long criticized the use of pesticides that jeopardize the health of farm workers, consumers, and the environment and has sought protections for farm workers and their families. Many of these chemicals have been banned elsewhere or slated for "phase out" because of threats to human health. Despite her "emerita" status, Huerta is no less active. She has established a new foundation to support the training of future organizers and was appointed to the board of UC Regents in the fall of 2003. Award Presenter Diana M. Bontá, Dr.P.H., R.N., served as director of the California Department of Health Services from June 1999 until January 2004. Bontá has also served California communities as director of the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, deputy executive director of the Los Angeles Regional Family Planning Council, and regional administrator of the California Rural Health Programs. She has been clinical instructor and head nurse of medical and pediatric units at hospitals in Los Angeles, Buffalo, and New York City. Bontá is a past president of the California Women's Law Center and the Latino Caucus of the American Public Health Association. The Challenge: Meeting the Health Needs of Our Nation's Agricultural Workforce Working conditions for California's agricultural workforce have traditionally been abysmal. Planting, nurturing, and harvesting produce is physically gruelling work, requiring awkward, repetitive motion. With payment incentive structures often on a per-piece basis, individuals may feel compelled to work 12-hour days for a living wage. Employers often fail to provide toilet and hand-washing facilities or clean water to drink. Many workers are unfamiliar with the few labor laws in place to protect them and lack the language skills to seek their rights. Farm workers, and often their children, are regularly exposed to pesticides, which can cause minor problems or acute poisonings and long-term effects (such as cancer and birth defects). If a language barrier exists, workers can’t understand and follow safety precautions and protocols. Health, disability, retirement, and unemployment benefits are not typically provided. Despite agriculture's importance to California’s economy, this essential workforce has no safety net for injury, illness, pregnancy, or layoffs. The School of Public Health Responds With its research and intervention activity, the School of Public Health is in an ideal position to develop innovative approaches to overcome cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic, and other barriers to the health of California’s agricultural workforce. During the 1970s, School faculty were instrumental in identifying the environmental chemistry and route of exposure of organophosphate residues poisoning among California farm workers. This research provided a scientific foundation for the subsequent passage of California regulations protecting farm workers. Today, the School has CHAMACOS, a community-university research partnership based in the agricultural heartland of California, which investigates the relationship of the environment to children’s health and develops interventions that reduce the incidence of environmentally related childhood disease. Elsewhere in the School, faculty are studying immigration's effect on health status and have developed an ergonomic manual for agricultural workers, which identifies problem situations and suggests alternative tools and techniques. In the first study to follow migrant farm workers through time to learn about their risk of injury, faculty from the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH) examined the injury experience of migrant farm workers through a whole growing season and found that women who are paid on a piece-rate basis face a much greater risk of injury on the job than those paid by the hour. In addition, the Labor Occupational Health Program, COEH's community outreach program, is dedicated to improving health and safety in the workplace and offers support in many languages to labor, management, community organizations, health professionals, government representatives, schools, and the general public.