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by Carey King
A local nurse recently brought $25,000 back to Jackson County
for her efforts to improve the lives of migrant farmworkers in
the area.
Josie Ellis of Dillsboro, a nurse at the Jackson County Department
of Public Health, received the Nancy Susan Reynolds Award for
her grassroots leadership in advocating "on behalf of people,
issues or concerns that otherwise may be without effective voices."
Ellis
She accepted the award Nov. 22 in Winston-Salem.
The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation has awarded the prestigious prize
to three "extraordinary North Carolinians" each year
since 1986.
Ellis works 15- and 16-hour days in an effort to be the voice
for Jackson County's estimated 1,200 migrant workers who harvest
tomatoes, strawberries and Christmas trees.
That means going deep into Jackson, Macon, Swain and Transylvania
counties to provide health care to migrant workers through the
North Carolina Farmworker Health Care Program. That means connecting
migrants with churches and organizations that can help provide
them with food and clothing. That means writing grants to fund
outreach programs, and enrolling migrant children in school.
"Mexican farmworkers are the single most exploited group
in America. Their average life expectancy is 47 years old. They
are the poorest of the working poor. They make $7,000 a year,
working six or seven days a week. They live in deplorable conditions,"
Ellis said.
Though essential to the local economy, farmworkers often go unnoticed
because they live in camps on farms with no transportation to
stores and services, Ellis said.
Like many area residents, Ellis spent most of her years unaware
of the harsh realities of migrant life.
She lived in Jackson County as a young child, then spent every
summer in the area with her grandparents while growing up. Ellis
graduated from high school here and then majored in Spanish at
Western Carolina University.
After moving to Oklahoma to earn her nursing degree, Ellis came
back to Jackson County because of her memories of it as a beautiful
place where "all people were kind." She returned four
years ago to raise her children and was hired by the health department
to focus on pediatric health.
Soon after, however, Ellis met a child whose experiences here
had been much less than kind.
"He couldn't qualify for Medicare because his family had
just moved here from Mexico. Not only did they not qualify, but
they were too poor to afford medical care," said Ellis.
"I got to know his family, and then I found out about a lot
more families like theirs," she said.
At that time, Ellis was the only nurse on the health department
staff who could speak Spanish.
A program to immunize farmworkers against measles sent Ellis to
the migrant camps and showed her that lack of immunizations was
just the tip of the health needs iceberg. She saw small children
working side-by-side with their parents, constantly exposed to
pesticides, who lacked good nutrition or adequate sanitation.
Ellis wrote grants to fund outreach programs and began to locate
migrant farms in the area so she could take health care to the
fields and packing houses.
In the three years she's invested in the cause, the lines between
day job and life's work have blurred.
After a health department check-up detected a serious heart problem
in a 6-year-old boy, Ellis located a physician at Wake Forest
University Baptist Medical Center to perform surgery free of charge.
She took the family to Winston-Salem, got them a hotel, and stayed
with them to assist with translation and follow-up care.
She took a van-load of children to Georgia to find a clinic that
provided free dental care.
She recruited more than 200 WCU students to provide after school
care for farmworkers' children.
While some farmers have welcomed Ellis, others have not. When
she tried to address poor living and working conditions by passing
out literature about workers' rights, Ellis was threatened with
guns on the premises of some farms. At home, she's received threats
through anonymous phone calls.
Ellis says those threats are unfounded and are simply based on
fear of the new and different.
"I would not be in these beautiful mountains if my family
had not been immigrants. We are a nation of immigrants, and this
group deserves the best chance for a better life," she said.
Ellis won't name names of those against her work, but speaks gladly
of those who support the farmworker effort.
Two of Ellis's most dedicated helpers are Dr. Mark Heffington
of Cashiers, who volunteers his services at the migrant camps,
and Jennifer Maynor, who takes care of administrative duties.
In addition, Cullowhee United Methodist Church has donated $50,000
in medical and food supplies. Scotts Creek Baptist Church and
the Community Table are big supporters, as are student nurses
from Western Carolina who spend part of their rotations with Ellis
in the camps.
The Rotary Club of Cashiers and Highlands recently donated $60,000
to the cause, which means Ellis can expand services with a mobile
medical unit in the spring.
And $20,000 of the Reynolds award will go towards building a community
health center for farmworkers.
Ellis' plans for the center include a clinic, child care and tutoring,
plus room for volunteer attorneys to help migrants learn and stand
up for their rights.
"The Jackson County Farmworker Health Program has no political
power," but the living and working conditions that determine
farmworkers' health are political issues, Ellis said.
"The single largest determinant of health is poverty. I would
like to see farmworkers get to the point where they don't have
to ask for the basic care they need. I would like to see them
elevated to a living wage," she said.
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