In speaking of health care for migrants three pointls

'In speaking of health care fOr migrants, three pointls
need emphasis:.
Availability.
quality
-,pOntinuity
With regard to availability; the Palm Beach County
Health Department has done an .excellent job with the-liMit.-,
ed amount of designated for the prOgramhowever,
more
,
personnel are needed and somemeans. to provide for
payment of hospitaliietion before a person developi into
an emergency case. In order 'to provide trUlybomprehensive°-
careto themigrent Population; more Facilities are needed,
but. above everything else ve,Sheuid have better coordina-
tionat'the.National and State levels ofthemoneland ef*
fort being deVated to migrant health. PrOgraMdcare-teing
funded through H.E.W., 0.EX., the Department -of Cbtmerce" :
and through the Office of EddeatiOn.
EaCh seems -too approach
the-problem as ifthey were-the may ones in the business.
Tha:most good could be done by .expanding and iMproving. the.-
programs thgt have beenpPerating'in the health field, for
a long time
.
0
4Nr
6
With regard to quality, I feel that impro
nts in
facilitiee.and in numbers,of professional peoPie.ehould
result in better quality but they ebouldbeJpeopie who are
committed to full -time duty in PrOVidinghealth care for
the migrants.
When we speak of.migrants4W:eTretalliinig.
aboutTA Populationthatrequires a lot,of'underStanding;
They have many needs in addition to health, such as educe,.
tionand social handicaps.
They-need:to be talight how to
take care of themselves.I.-
7
. .
If availability and quality are iMProved', thAn'contin-
uity Will improve, but great iffiprovementpanbe brought

about by provision of some kind of health insurance that
will cover the cost of care when the migrant is out of the
area where health projects operate.
In testimony I piepared for the President's Committee
on Health Education, I said that the 'Migrant ies the most
displaced
and
undefined person there is i.s.e
is
labeled
as a migrant,,a seasonal farm
worker,.
a nen4-migrant and
14*
a general nobody.
label, him as a
person
:Who
truly
needs
help.

66
Senator STEVENSON. The next witness on thii panel is Olga Villa,
who has worked with mi
ants in Florida and Texas and I un
a so in i
io,
c gang I rnois, ani
isconsm.
Ms. Villa, do you have a statement? Do
you want to read it, or
summarize it
Ms. VILLA. I would like to
express some thoughts off the top of
my head before I go into the prepared statement. With the growing
level of consciousness and identity of farm
workers themselves across
the country, we will see
many reactions, many reactionary Measures
taken in funding the
programs, and I am talking about consumer pro-
grams. I am specifically talking about consumers in boards that
are
so desperately and critically needed to go along with the migrant
health programs. If we are talking about self
determination and not
.raking them empty words, keep this in mind
as I am reading this
statement, and also my statement is going to take
you into another area
of the country. Many people have read about it. Many
people have
spoken about it. Many people haye visited this part
of the country, the
Midwest.