LANSING, Mich. – Michigan health officials have launched a new bilingual hotline for the state’s migrant workers and their families.
Michigan’s migrant workers and their families can get information about the COVID vaccine and other health-related matters by calling 1-833-SIAYUDA (1-833-742-9832).
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More than two-thirds of the approximately 90,000 migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their family members in Michigan have limited English language proficiency, according to a study from the University of Michigan.
“We aim to make health care in Michigan client-centered, which includes providing information in the person’s primary language when available to ensure timely health services,” said Dwayne Haywood, senior deputy director of the MDHHS Economic Stability Administration. “The Farmworker Hotline is a translation tool to help keep farmworkers healthy and reduce health-related work absences that could result in loss of earnings needed to support their families.”
The MDHHS Farmworker Hotline is funded by the CDC. It will be answered by MDHHS Migrant Affairs’ staff who are fluent in both Spanish and English. Staff will answer vaccine questions and connect farmworkers to vaccination clinics and resources. They can also provide MDHHS program information based on other questions.
Translation services are available for farmworker calls in languages other than English and Spanish.
Michigan officials said the goal of the MDHHS Farmworker Hotline is to “help Michigan provide bilingual residents with tools to prevent disease, improve health outcomes and increase well-being.”
More information is available at michigan.gov/migrantaffairs or michigan.gov/help4migrants.