Pesticide exposure represents a significant occupational health hazard for farmworkers, and handwashing is one strategy to reduce exposure via the dermal route. After learning about recent research findings regarding the lack of handwashing utilized by North Carolina farmworkers in the field, the North Carolina Farmworker Health Program approached the student and faculty member who conducted the research to partner and improve handwashing education, with the goal of reducing pesticide exposure among farmworkers. The resulting handwashing educational toolkit was the product of a participatory development project that engaged farmworker health outreach workers with university partners in every stage—from needs assessment to method and message selection and, ultimately, educational material development and evaluation. This promising project serves as a model for a sustainable partnership among a student, faculty member, and community organization and underscores the importance of respect, equality, and distributed power in collaboratively responding to a community-identified need.
Farmworkers contribute significantly to North Carolina's communities and economy; however, they incur significant occupational risks with limited workplace protections. Many barriers complicate their access to health care services. Recommendations include increased number of outreach workers, extended clinic hours, strengthening workplace protections, and inclusion of farmworkers in community needs assessments.
The following information is missing from the Funding section: Natalie Parletta (formerly Natalie Sinn) was supported by NHMRC Program Grant funding (# 320860 and 631947).
Reviewed by: George Wallace: An Enigma: The Complex Life of Alabama’s Most Divisive and Controversial Governor by Mary S. Palmer Gayle Thomas George Wallace: An Enigma: The Complex Life of Alabama’s Most Divisive and Controversial Governor. By Mary S. Palmer. Point Clear, AL: Intellect Publishing, 2016. Xvi, 323 pp. $19.95. ISBN 978-1-9451-9002-5. An astonishing forty-three years passed from the time this book was begun and its release in 2016. At the very least, it demonstrates that perseverance has rewards. Mary S. Palmer began writing this book in 1973, with periodic revisions, and after overcoming a series of obstacles sent the manuscript to the publishers in 2015. The author, through her research and particular writing style, thoroughly catalogs the passions and complexities of the demagogic, controversial George Wallace. Palmer begins her book with an investigation of Wallace’s early years in his hometown of Clio in Barbour County, Alabama. The folksy atmosphere of Clio allowed Wallace to develop the people skills that served him well throughout his political career. The Wallace family and their neighbors endured hard times during the Great Depression; money was scarce. Palmer masterfully demonstrates how the circumstances of his birth influenced and shaped Wallace’s unpretentious and somewhat dismissive attitude regarding possessions and money. Palmer interviewed countless Wallace associates, took several trips to Montgomery, and traveled as far as Maryland in her research for this biography. Her reliance on interviews with Wallace, his friends, his adversaries, his supporters, and others who had intimate knowledge of noteworthy events gives the reader an insightful peek into the complicated life of George Corley Wallace. Palmer even invited Wallace to add personal comments about the biography. Judging from his remarks, he held a favorable opinion of the book. Readers will find Palmer’s depiction of the creative means Wallace utilized to solve the financial challenges of college interesting. Shortly after high school graduation, he went to North and South Carolina and sold magazines; at night, he earned extra money by boxing. At the University of Alabama, his friend Ralph Adams allowed Wallace to live free in his boarding house. In return, Wallace served meals [End Page 281] and handled rent collection from the other boarders. Further, he earned fifteen dollars a month working for the National Youth Administration. During the summer, Wallace worked for the county giving rabies inoculations to dogs. He was determined to pay for his own education and graduate free of debt, a goal he accomplished. Wallace received his LL.B. from the University of Alabama School of Law but lacked the money to open a law practice. After graduation, he drove a dump truck while he waited to report for mandatory military service. Wallace’s years of mandatory military service and his marriage to Lurleen Burns do not receive the same attention as do other aspects of the Alabamian’s career. Palmer covers his entire life but devotes the majority of the book to Wallace’s colorful political life. One can argue, based on this author’s account, that George Wallace’s interest in politics began while he was still a teenager. His father, George Sr., served as chairman of the Barbour County Commission, and George Jr. delighted in discussing politics with his father. When he was fifteen years old, George served as a legislative page at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery. Mary Palmer carefully details Wallace’s preliminary steps into the political arena. He chose to launch his political career by running for the Alabama legislature. Her meticulous description of the first Wallace campaign entertains. Of particular interest, Lurleen did not vote for her husband in his first political contest; she was only nineteen and too young to vote! The author presents the chronology of Wallace’s time spent in the political spotlight in an informative and easy to follow format. The picture Palmer paints of Wallace successfully captures the essence of a relentlessly multifaceted individual. Wallace mostly ignored Lurleen and his children while he pursued his political goals with obstinate determination, seemingly oblivious to anything not linked to his political ambitions. However, the author leaves the reader to speculate the possible impact of Wallace’s inattentiveness...
'/%3e%3c/defs%3e%3cpath fill='%23012169' d='M0 0h10080v5040H0z'/%3e%3cpath stroke='%23fff' stroke-width='.6' d='m0 0 6 3m0-3L0 3' clip-path='url(%23b)' transform='scale(840)'/%3e%3cpath stroke='%23e4002b' stroke-width='.4' d='m0 0 6 3m0-3L0 3' clip-path='url(%23c)' transform='scale(840)'/%3e%3cpath stroke='%23fff' stroke-width='840' d='M2520 0v2520M0 1260h5040'/%3e%3cpath stroke='%23e4002b' stroke-width='504' d='M2520 0v2520M0 1260h5040'/%3e%3cg fill='%23fff'%3e%3cuse xlink:href='%23d' x='2520' y='3780'/%3e%3cuse xlink:href='%23a' x='7560' y='4200'/%3e%3cuse xlink:href='%23a' x='6300' y='2205'/%3e%3cuse xlink:href='%23a' x='7560' y='840'/%3e%3cuse xlink:href='%23a' x='8680' y='1869'/%3e%3cuse xlink:href='%23e' x='8064' y='2730'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e)