- Video shows farm workers in the fields, health screenings, Agricultural Family Fund meetings
- Eddie Khanna began his new nonprofit Agricultural Family Fund after seeing farm workers in the morning while on his long runs in McFarland. He realized the health risks farm workers deal with and wanted to help by offering free health screenings to those who may not be able to afford it.
It’s not just limes that grow in the fields in Bakersfield, it’s new ideas too, and with that new idea, a group of Stockdale High students plan are giving back to underserved farm workers in Kern county.
It’s a hard days work in the fields.
“I was running through the fields here. I used to come out here somewhat frequently to the fields, especially early in the morning," Eddie Khanna, the CEO of Agricultural Family Fund said.
For Stockdale High senior Eddie Khanna, it’s about a ten mile run.
For the local farm workers, it's harvesting just before 6 a.m.
“I just saw them, again, out here working early, and that’s something that stuck out to me especially because I was out early, earlier than sometimes my parents might even wake up,” Khanna said.
Khanna recognized his privilege, something he says farm worker families may not have.
Together with Daniel Puga, he got to work, researching ways to serve the farm worker community.
“We’re young," Puga, the chief marketing officer for Agricultural Family Fund said. "We have a lot of time on our hands. We wanted to give back. We want to help, and it’s important for us to take initiative.”
They started a new nonprofit Agricultural Family Fund to provide healthcare screenings to farm workers who can’t afford it.
“We just kept at it even through like you said studying, college apps, working, all of that. We knew that this was important,” Puga said.
It’s long hours in places like this that contribute to a greater risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, and kidney damage, all illnesses Khanna and his team are trying to prevent.
“If it’s the heat, the cold, just being outside, definitely here in Shafter or just Kern county it’s very dusty, so I think it’s just a lot of different factors,” Jessica Manzo, the health services coordinator with Dignity Health said.
More than 90% of farm workers are immigrants and close to 60% of immigrant farm workers are undocumented.
Of this population, 35% of undocumented farm workers and 20% of documented farm workers cite cost or lack of insurance as a barrier to health care.
“If they don’t have that insurance, it would be harder for them to have access to get their checkups on a normal basis,” Manzo explained.
Partnering with Dignity Health, Agricultural Family Fund hosted their first health screening at Sill properties on Tuesday for people like Manuel Royz.
“How could I not come? I also need get a checkup to know how my health is,” Royz said.
Royz took four quick exams on site which Khanna intentionally chose to make screenings quick and accessible for farm workers.
That's something Royz expresses gratitude for while feeling overlooked after extensive hours working in the fields.
“These farm workers, in reality, in this country, we don’t even have help from the government,” Royz said.
It’s a year's worth of labor for Khanna and his team, planting small seeds to make a big difference.
“I think that we should also try to give back to the people that do so much for California.”
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