College of Nursing holds abbreviated health event for farmworkers

The Costa Layman Health Screening, a condensed format of the Costa Layman Health Fair, which was postponed earlier this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, was held on Sept. 10-11 in Trenton, South Carolina.

The health fair, one of two annual health service events by Augusta University’s College of Nursing for Costa Layman Farms, provides health information for the farmworkers as well as hands-on opportunities for education and research for faculty and students. It is an interdisciplinary event that spans over seven different disciplines and involves local agencies and services offering help as needed. Key to the success of this year’s screening were CON students and faculty, CON Dean Tanya Sudia, College of Allied Health Sciences Dean Lester Pretlow, AU Lab and phlebotomists, and certified interpreters.

For this year’s event, the services offered to the farmworkers included vital sign and biometric assessment, with the addition of coronavirus antibody screening to the lab work as part of Dr. Yanbin Dong’s ongoing CHARM study.

Dr. Pam Cromer, CON faculty and director of the Costa Layman Community Health Outreach Program, told The Augusta Chronicle the farmworkers have been on the job throughout the pandemic.

“We knew our workers were somewhat limited in the ability of sometimes seeking medical care,” Cromer said. “They were essential workers and had to be here, and because they are considered one of the vulnerable populations in our area, we just targeted that.”

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