Culture gap cited as obstacle to health care for migrants

PORTLAND – Cultural differences and the nature of seasonal labor combine to prevent thousands of migrant and forestry workers in Maine from receiving adequate health care, according to a recent report.

The Maine Migrant Health Program took up the issue after the deaths of 14 brush cutters in a van rollover in northern Maine nearly two years ago.

In the wake of the tragedy in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, the state worked with the forest industry to institute workplace safety programs for workers involved in planting and thinning forests.

The new report examines the conditions that leave many migrants outside the health care picture.

Migrants, who often speak little English and receive little in the way of health benefits, the report said. As a result, many migrants avoid health care altogether.

Many migrants are focused on making money to send to family members, the report said. And even if injured or ill, they are sometimes unwilling to take time off or to seek treatment.

Dr. Wendy Wolf, director of the Maine Health Access Foundation, said the problems go beyond that.

“These firms that they are working for may not offer health care coverage to workers. But more important, having health care coverage many times is not a priority for [the workers],” she said.

The foundation helped fund the study to fill an information gap on the health care needs of migrant workers, she said.

The report was based on interviews held in 2003 with more than two dozen migrant workers from Mexico and Central America, as well as employers and health care providers in northern Maine.