A paradigm for access-to-care solutions can be found in the Farm Worker Family Health Program (FWFHP) in Southwest Georgia, led by Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. The program, in collaboration with other Georgia universities, local community groups, and Philips, serves the primarily Latino migrant community that arrives annually to harvest crops in surrounding counties. These seasonal workers face enormous challenges in accessing adequate healthcare, while laboring as much as 16 hours a day around heavy machinery, pesticides and extreme heat.

“Climate change is accelerating the disparity gap,” said DiLullo, noting that farmworkers now face dangerously high temperatures more frequently, with 2023 recorded as the hottest year in human history.³

The FWFHP goes into the fields to offer physicals and screenings to farmworkers and their families. Among their diagnostic tools, Philips provides Lumify handheld ultrasound units that allow a clinician to complete an ultrasound anywhere.

“With Emory University, we are leveraging technology that is commercially available today,” said DiLullo. “This is a shift in the business model to leverage digital reach into the community.” But, he added, it requires partnership with providers who are willing to go to underserved communities, rather than require those communities to come to them.

This is crucial, given rural Georgia is no exception in its limited healthcare resources. Around 121 million Americans now live in areas that are short on primary care, hospitals, trauma centers and other vital healthcare assets.⁴ Between 2013 and 2020, more than 100 rural hospitals closed permanently.⁵ Research shows that Black people and lower income Latino people are more likely to live in areas with few or no primary care doctors.⁶

Philips’ support in Georgia means its community partners can see more patients, perform more screenings and conduct better data collection and analysis. Over the next year, the program will engage with a projected 9,000 farmworkers and their families.

Screening for cancer when and where it’s needed

In the U.S., Black women are 40% more likely to die from breast cancer than White women.¹⁰ Black men are about twice as likely to die from prostate cancer as White men.¹¹ A key reason for racial disparities in access to cancer diagnosis and treatment is a lack of access to screenings in underserved communities.¹² This means cancers are often caught later in their development when treatment is less likely to be effective.

Jennifer Law, partnerships lead for maternal health and health equity at Philips, cited Philips’ collaboration with the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York, as “an inspiring story of health equity in action.” But, she added, “Every program requires a web of interconnected relationships — a coalition of the willing — to get off the ground.”

Philips and Roswell Park worked together on Project EDDY (Early Detection Driven to You), an initiative to provide mobile low-dose CT scans to populations that are at elevated risk for lung cancer in underserved rural and urban areas around Buffalo. A case in point is Cecil Wilson, a 70-year-old Navy veteran who resides in an assisted-living home in Buffalo. A lifelong smoker, Wilson is a candidate for lung cancer screening, but hasn’t consistently done so due to limited mobility and little access to transportation.

Wilson’s church was a host location for the Roswell Park van-based CT scans. Offered a screening through a trusted source, Wilson gladly participated and came away with much greater peace of mind about his health.

The Roswell Park program showed that bringing local community groups into the equation doesn’t only provide access to care, but builds trust and encourages participation, too.