To the Point
US farmworkers’ safety during COVID-19, plus a new model for mental health treatment
Coronavirus among farmworkers is a threat to America’s food supply chain. Are these workers being protected? Also, courts in Miami-Dade County are keeping people with mental illnesses out of jail.
By Warren Olney • • 1h 1m ListenFrom Florida to California, COVID-19 poses a threat to some of America’s most essential employees: farmworkers. Are they able to maintain social distancing? Do they have face masks? Can they wash their hands?
Irene de Barraicua of Lideres Campesinas, a group representing women farm workers, explains challenges to staying healthy in the fields.
Dave Puglia, the head of the Western Growers Association, says what’s at stake is nothing less than America’s food supply.
Also on this podcast, “The Definition of Insanity” is a documentary about how Miami-Dade County courts are treating people with mental illness, and how that system can change. . You can watch it on PBS this week.
Judge Steven Leifman explains his new strategy, and how local cops and sheriff’s deputies are buying into it.
Political scholar Norm Ornstein lost a son who suffered from mental illness. And so, he developed a personal interest in mental illness, which led him to meet Leifman. Together they worked on the documentary. Orenstein’s mission is to spread awareness about anything — and everything — that’s being done to help those with brain diseases.
