Elizabeth Picking, Missouri AgrAbility, visited an Amish community in her region to take pictures of assistive technology made for a farmer to use draft animals for farm work. Only pictures of assistive technology will be used by Ned Stoller, Assistive Technology Professional, Michigan AgrAbility Project, who is updating the Plowshares Technical Report "Assistive Technology for Horses and Horse Drawn Equipment."
Submitted by Tevin Uthlaut, Elizabeth Picking, and Karen Funkenbusch
Pharm to Farm, a Missouri AgrAbility partner, and UMKC School of Pharmacy have published electronic educational brochures for Missouri AgrAbility clients to educate about safe use of medicine on the farm. The brochures include: 1) Do you have Asthma or COPD? This brochure addresses the importance of inhalers for farmers with respiratory conditions, 2) Smokeless Tobacco: Why Consider Quitting? This brochure addresses the risks and costs of chewing tobacco and provides strategies to quit, and 3) Blood Thinners and You: A Guide to Blood Thinners and Bleed Risk in Agriculture This brochure addresses safety considerations with blood thinners on the farm.
Missouri AgrAbility Project was highlighted as a partner by MU Extension health outreach specialist Chiquita Chanay who shared about resources and programs for Missouri farmers and ranchers during an Interprofessional Rural Health Panel for 35 student pharmacists enrolled in the rural health & agromedicine course at UMKC School of Pharmacy. Panelists included rural pharmacists, a rural health administrator, an ag producer, a flight nurse, and MU Extension. The seminar focused on team-based strategies to foster collaboration among interprofessional team members in rural communities to connect farmers and ranchers with resources and care needs to improve safety and health.
Kelly Cochran, PharmD, BCPS, a Missouri AgrAbility partner, shared about partnerships to enhance farmer access to pharmacist services and highlighted collaborations with Missouri AgrAbility Project and University of Missouri Extension when teaching 25 health professions students at University of Iowa and 35 pharmacy students at University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Pharmacy for their respective Rural Health & Agricultural Medicine courses. She will also be sharing about the Missouri AgrAbility partnerships when she teaches in the Agricultural Health & Safety Core Course at University of Iowa in June.
Pharm to Farm and UMKC School of Pharmacy have developed podcasts for AgrAbility clients. Student pharmacists enrolled in the rural health and agromedicine course have prepared rural health and safety podcasts addressing a variety of topics with interviews from experts and engaging firsthand experiences from Missouri farmers. The podcasts are in the final stages of editing and will be available to Missouri AgrAbility clients through the web link.
Pharm to Farm and UMKC School of Pharmacy are collaborating to plan a rural health screening to serve over 200 individuals in an agricultural community with MU Schools of Medicine and Nursing as an Interprofessional Clinical Rural Immersion program. Twenty-five students from medicine, pharmacy, and nursing will conduct mental health screenings, assess blood pressure, body mass index, and pre-diabetes risk factors, as well as provide cancer screenings and education. The event will be on June 9 from 11-3:00 p.m. and will be in collaboration with the MU School of Medicine Simulation Van. Missouri AgrAbility brochures will be shared with participants.
Submitted by Kelly Cochran