California

California AgrAbility staff participated in the second California Coming Together Conference of the year presented by their partner agency, California Foundation for Independent Living Centers (CFILC), and California Association of Area Agencies on Aging (C4A). Keynote speaker Dr. Dilip Jeste, a geriatric neuropsychiatrist specializing in successful aging, discussed the impact of social isolation and loneliness on mental health. Throughout the conference, staff participated in workshops focused on topics such as veteran behavioral health across the lifetime, COVID-19 and behavioral health, and behavioral health and AT.

California AgrAbility hosted the Western Region Agricultural Stress Assistance Program (WRASAP) Network quarterly meeting. Montana State University (MSU) assistant professors Drs. Michelle Grocke and Alison Brennan shared findings from WRASAP's Agriculture Producer Baseline Survey and recommendations for WRASAP partners and agencies providing services to farmers. The MSU team generated baseline reports of their findings and recommendations for the 13 states and territories in the region.

Throughout the month of October, California AgrAbility staff participated in the National AgrAbility Virtual State Fair (VSF), sharing posts on the VSF Twitter and Facebook pages. Posts focused on family caregivers in agriculture, mental health in farm working communities, and the DICE approach, a tool in the National Assistive Technology Act Data System device lending library aimed at helping caregivers for people with dementia. An interview with California AgrAbility's director Dr. Fadi Fathallah, in which he discussed the importance of improving the health and safety of agricultural workers, was also shared.

California AgrAbility staff attended the first UC Davis Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety (WCAHS) monthly seminar of the fall season. Presenters from the University of California, Davis and San Francisco discussed key findings from a two-phase qualitative study. Presenters emphasized the importance of using information gathered from participant interviews throughout the study to develop and provide culturally and linguistically appropriate COVID-19 resources for Punjabi-speaking farmworkers in California.

Submitted by California AgrAbility