Agricultural News
The National Farm Medicine Center Has Kept Folks Safe for 40 Years
Tue, 28 Dec 2021 17:00:04 CST
In the 1970s, health professionals at the Marshfield Clinic, were seeing many illnesses specifically related to farming and ranching. In response, the National Farm Medicine Center was established in 1981 to research and educate rural populations, especially in the agricultural sector.
This year, NFMC turned 40 years old and to celebrate, KC Sheperd, director for Radio Oklahoma Ag Network, spoke with NFMC Communications Manager Scott Heiberger about the center.
"We basically cover agricultural safety and health from a number of different points of view," Heiberger said.
Today, the center prioritizes preventing injuries and fatalities, injury surveillance, community outreach and education, farm microbiome and human immunology and evaluation research.
"50 years ago, there was one way to communicate ag safety and health knowledge," Heiberger said. "Since then, we started realizing that everyone basically knows how to stay safe. The next step is how to get (information) in a format that people are going to actually use."
To figure this out, Heiberger said the center listens to farmers, ranchers, workers and their families.
Since 1997, NFMC has been home to the National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety. NCCRAHS is solely committed to improving childhood agricultural injury prevention. Although farms and ranches offer enriching environments for children, there are real dangers too.
"You have got a place that is so healthy to grow up - mentally and physically - we know that kids who grow up on farms, especially around livestock, have less incidents of asthma and respiratory illness," Heiberger said. "We know that farms are great places to instill in kids senses of responsibility and decision-making abilities."
Sometimes, kids can get into trouble when adults fail to match kids to appropriate tasks for their mental and physical abilities, Heiberger said. Parents who are interested can go to the NCCRAHS website for resources.
To learn more about NFMC, click here.
Hit the LISTEN BAR below to hear KC Sheperd and Scott Heiberger talk about the National Farm Medicine Center and how it has been keeping folks in the agricultural industry and their families safe for 40 years.
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