Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic Community HealthCorps*AmeriCorps Members

Community HealthCorps*AmeriCorps members at the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic alleviate poverty by improving the capacity of the clinic to provide quality health services and programs to medically underserved people in Toppenish, Washington.

Originally established as a provider of health care for migrant and seasonal farm workers, the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic impacts the lives of thousands of adults and children each year by providing comprehensive medical, dental and social services in several Pacific Northwest communities without regard to an individual’s ability to pay.

Yakima Valley’s Community HealthCorps*AmeriCorps members address health issues that affect the Toppenish community beyond the basics of medical care. AmeriCorps members support patients by providing chronic care home visits, health education, transitions of care services after hospital discharge, case management, interpreting, and access to prescription assistance programs. Each year, AmeriCorps members conduct over 600 home visits to educate patients about asthma and how to manage it, work with patients to complete over 1,200 applications to receive prescriptions for a reduced fee or free of charge, and partner with Habitat for Humanity to build homes in Yakima county for low- income families.

Additionally, AmeriCorps members plan and host annual days of service events for the community. For the past four years on Make a Difference Day in October, AmeriCorps members have assisted the Loving Sunnyside Initiative with cleaning up and painting homes of low-income, senior and handicapped residents in the Sunnyside Community. On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, they collaborate with local community leaders and businesses to host a peace march and motivational speaker presentation for Toppenish. Moreover, for the past three years, they have joined with Seattle’s Sea Mar Community HealthCorps program during the national AmeriCorps week to hold a community health fair and service projects such as their 2013 graffiti-painting project in Toppenish.

The Community HealthCorps*AmeriCorps members at the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic have been serving the community since 2004. They continue to make a difference in lives of the clinic’s patients and the community each day.