Occupational Health Nurses in Agricultural Communities

  • Fornshell, Pam

The Ohio Occupational Health Nurses in Agricultural Communities (OHNAC) Project has as a mission to reduce the high number of agricultural injuries and illnesses that occur in this state. The mandate for this mission comes from statistical data that maintain agriculture as being one of the most hazardous occupations.

One mechanism to accomplish the reduction of injuries and illnesses is to establish a relationship between health care professionals and the community. The desired purpose of the relationship and resulting interaction is spontaneous spawning of education.

The interaction and education process fosters awareness, influences attitudes, and helps identify alternatives, so individuals can make more informed choices about lifestyle and behavioral changes.

This proposed poster display will demonstrate the OHNAC project's achievement of this process. In addition, it illustrates Ohio nurses interacting with their communities and building collaborative relationships to create awareness and foster education. It is the belief of the project that only by establishing these strong community links will the project be able to effect change.


This research abstract was extracted from a portion of the proceedings of "Agricultural Safety and Health: Detection, Prevention and Intervention," a conference presented by the Ohio State University and the Ohio Department of Health, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control/National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

P. Fornshell, Clinton Memorial Hospital, Wilmington, OH.

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