California

California AgrAbility has been working with Dignity Health and the Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety to develop a Spanish educational booklet (novella) on farming and diabetes. Diabetes is a disease that California AgrAbility staff often see comorbid with arthritis in program participants. Although there are many resources on diabetes, there is not one focused on agricultural working families. The novella draft will be shared with potential collaborators interested in sponsoring printing.

California AgrAbility has kept busy participating in webinars such as Conn Maciel Carey's webinar series on OSHA. Staff learned about new regulations that will be implemented in the following months and the beginning of 2019. The "Heat Illness Prevention for Indoor Workplaces" initiative will be implemented the first day of 2019, regulating the working conditions for employees in conditions 80 degrees Fahrenheit and over. The new regulation would be similar to the existing "Heat Illness Prevention for Outdoor Workplaces." Staff also joined the Safe Animal Handling on Diary Farms webinar by the AgriSafe Network. Staff learned more about the behavior of cows and their tendencies as well as best practices when working with cattle. One best practice highlighted was techniques to avoid being kicked, such as maintaining a safe distance and avoiding sudden movements that could scare the cow. For more information, check out Dairy Care 365^®.

California AgrAbility staff attended the monthly RISE Collaborative Meeting. The members of this collaborative meeting are actively doing referrals among agencies; a couple success stories were shared. For the spotlight of the meeting, Yolo County Hospice presented. They encouraged attendees to talk to family members about planning for death. Five Wishes is a resource they showcased to help ease this process because it changes the way to talk about advance care planning by focusing on what matters to the individual.

Submitted by Sara Wat