Greenhouse Worker Vaccination Education Community Collaboration Celebrates Success

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The Workplace Wellness for Agri-Food Workers Taskforce, a collaboration of 16 community partners, is celebrating the success of COVID-19 education and vaccination of temporary foreign workers in our region.

They have worked on several health-related initiatives through the collaboration, including vaccination education and promotion for Temporary Foreign Workers and Employers.

Over 5,000 temporary foreign workers were vaccinated with their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine at the Nature Fresh Recreation Centre Clinics (April 28th to May 6th, 2021) and at the 2-day outdoor pop-up clinics (May 20th and 21st, 2021). Agriculture workers can continue to receive their first dose locally at one of the mass vaccination clinics.

Over 130 farms scheduled vaccinations for their temporary foreign workers while also coordinating transportation, providing educational materials, and addressing vaccine confidence.

Their efforts helped workers and healthcare providers overcome language barriers during the vaccination process through on-site volunteers and the use of We Speak, a language access initiative established in Windsor-Essex that gives providers access to on-demand professional interpretation by phone or video.

The Migrant Worker Community Program (MWCP) also assisted by providing 20 volunteers at the WECHU led COVID-19 vaccine pop-up clinics in Leamington on May 20 and 21, 2021. Their volunteers helped to promote the clinics and provide translation support during the vaccination process for participants. C.A.R.E provided additional translations and support for International Workers and their community partners (The Consulate of Mexico in Leamington, The Windsor-Essex Bilingual Legal Clinic, The Neighborhood Organization, Migrant Worker Community Program and the Temple la Buena Semilla). They hosted an information table and also provided over 140 welcome bags at the Nature Fresh Mass Vaccination Clinic for two weeks.

“This has been an incredibly collaborative effort. The WECHU is grateful for the cooperation and partnership of all stakeholders to ensure that temporary foreign workers in our community have access to credible information and resources in their language and that barriers are removed to ensure vaccinations are truly accessible. They say it takes a village; this effort is a great example of what can be achieved when we come together toward one goal,” said Dr. Ahmed, Medical Officer of Health.