NIAGARA COUNTY: Farms put on frontline of swine flu fight

By Jason Torreano
Niagara Gazette

April 28, 2009 11:08 pm

— The Niagara County Health Department is taking a proactive approach when it comes to swine flu. The department put in phone calls Tuesday morning to area farms that employ migrant workers — providing farmers with information about the flu and possible symptoms.
Daniel Stapleton, the Niagara County health director, said the most important questions deal with where people may have lived or visited.
“Do you have any migrant workers yet?” Stapleton said the department asks local farmers. “Where are they from? What is their recent travel history?”
At this time of year, typically a slow season — few Niagara County farms have more than five migrant workers.
“The most important thing is the travel history,” Stapleton said. “If a person has either traveled to Mexico or has been in contact with someone who is sick.”
Russell Farms in Appleton employs about 80 migrant workers during the peak harvest season. Most of those workers are Mexican, though many remain in the United Sates during the offseason, Peter Russell said.
“Most of the workers in the area, they’re here year-round,” he said. “They live here year round. They’ve lived here for years.”
County health officials say their aim isn’t to cause a panic — it’s to provide information to people like Russell, Stapleton said.
“We need to remember that the flu season is still upon us,” he said. “So we need to make sure we clarify the difference between seasonal flu and swine flu.”
Russell says despite the fact a lot of his work force lives in Florida and Texas during the offseason, some may venture farther south to Mexico.
It’s the travel that county health officials want to stay on top of — and help with — if symptoms of swine flu present themselves.
“They said if there’s any issues, anything they can help with, they want to be involved, they want to help anyway possible,” Russell said.
It’s staying involved and staying on top of any new developments that county officials say will help keep swine flu at bay.
“This is what we plan for and this is what we do,” Stapleton said. “We’re here to protect the citizens of Niagara County.”
Jason Torreano is a videojournalist with YNN Buffalo (Channel 9 on Time Warner Cable). He can reached at jason.torreano@twcable.com.

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