Education. and Welfare. Abraham Ribicoff. in testifying before the Senate Subcommittee on Migratory Labor last year. described some of the health problems of migratory workers. He said: Migrant workers and their families are more vulnerable than the general population to illness and accidents as a result of their substandard living and working conditions. their own ignorance and poverty. and community neglect. Meeting their health needs is an almost impossible task for many of their work communities. Some have meager health resources even for permanent resldents. Many require far greater expansion and adaptation of service to the migrants special situation than is now realistically possible if they are to serve the health needs of migrant workers and their families effectively. This bill would give the Federal Government a more active role in helping communities to establish migrant health services. Federal grants to public or nonprofit agencies could stimulate the development of special services for migrants which might never be developed simply because the money required is not available. Federal project grants and technical assistance would be used in conjunction with established community health services to encourage and assist them in family health service clinics geared to meet the special needs of the migrant and his family. This bill also provides for special project grants to develop improved methods of providing health services for migrants and for training personnel especially to serve them. Mr. Chairman. in 1843 Thomas Carlyle described the life of the worker of his day in the following words: It is not to die or even to die of hunger that makes a man wretched. Many men have died. But it is to live miserably and know not why. to work more and gain nothing. to be heart worn. weary. yet isolated and unrelated. These words could have been written today to describe the life of the migrant farmworker in the United States. H.R. 12365 is a step in the direction of changing that life and bringing the migrant farmworker into the 20th century. I urge all my colleagues to support this measure.
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