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WASHINGTON STATE AGRABILITY: BUILDING A NEW EXTENSION PROGRAM DURING COVID-19

Extension Education

Don McMoran
Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Faculty- Director
Washington State University
Burlington

Abstract

Affiliated with the National AgrAbility Project, the USDA-funded Washington State AgrAbility Project (WSAP) based at Washington State University Skagit County Extension serves farmers, ranchers, and agricultural workers throughout the state inhibited by injury, illness, or disability. The program helps ease the return to work and daily living activities and reduce the rate of secondary injury. In early 2020, WSAP was developing assistive technology lending library kits and home/worksite assessment protocols while delivering trainings and demonstrations in person. At these events, WSAP was presented alongside the topics of farm stress, agricultural behavioral health and suicide prevention. With the emergence of COVID-19, in-person outreach was severely limited. Initially, we intended to embed coexisting farm stress and behavioral health programming into WSAP outreach. However, with an elevated focus on behavioral health and excessive stress brought on by the pandemic, farmers and stakeholders were eager for behavioral health messaging which opened the door for WSAP to present to more audiences. For example, WSU Skagit County Extension was invited to share behavioral health information at Washington Farm Bureau PPE giveaways which provided opportunity to promote WSAP as well. At these events WSAP distributed bilingual Spanish-English information on the program and approximately 500 First-Aid kits including suicide prevention wallet cards to farmers and farmworkers from multiple counties. WSAP also gave presentations to County Farm Bureaus in WA Farm Bureau’s Safety & Claims division, reaching over 140 individuals. Additionally, WSAP partnered with the Department of Veterans Affairs and non-profit Growing Veterans, delivering webinars and an in-person outdoor presentation following social distancing guidelines, including an assistive technology demonstration. Given the difficulty of developing an outreach-based program under the circumstances of COVID-19, WSAP’s resiliency relied on a diversified and well-connected Extension system and seizing relevant opportunities to collaborate. We anticipate that WSAP will continue to be resilient and utilize its position and knowledge of holistic agricultural health to further the WSU Extension mission of “engaging people, organizations, and communities to advance knowledge, economic well-being, and quality of life by fostering inquiry, learning, and the application of research.”[1]


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[1] Washington State University. WSU Extension. Available at https://extension.wsu.edu/.

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Poster has NOT been presented at any previous NACAA AM/PIC

This poster is being submitted for judging. It will be displayed at the AM/PIC if not selected as a State winner. The abstract will be published in the proceedings.

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Authors: D. W. McMoran, K. VanValkenburg, K Seymour, S. Bachtel, S. Thorstenson
  1. McMoran, D. Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Faculty- Director, Washington State University, Washington, 98233
  2. VanValkenburg, K. Washington State AgrAbility Coordinator, WSU Skagit County Extension, Washington, 98233
  3. Seymour, K. Grants Coordinator, WSU Skagit County Extension, Washington, 98233
  4. Bachtel, S. Marketing and Communications Support, WSU Skagit County Extension, Washington, 98233
  5. Thorstenson, S. Program Support, WSU Skagit County Extension, Washington, 98233