Progress 08/01/22 to 07/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences include: - Farmers with disabilities - Veteran farmers with disabilities - Young adult farmers with disabilities - Farm families - Farmworkers with disabilities - Illinois Rural Health Association - Illinois Extension - Illinois Farm Family Resource Initaitve - Illinois Farmer Veteran Coalition - Occupational therapists - Physical therapists - Rural healthcare providers - Rural health clinics - Carle Health - Illinois Farm Bureau - Community Health Partners of Illinois - USDA- FSA (Farm Service Agency) - Illinois Physical Therapy Association - Illinois Occupational Therapy Association - CRIS Healthy Aging of Champaign and Vermillon Counties - Assistive Technology Unit, Department of Disability and Human Development at University of Illinois at Chicago - Farm Rescue - Illinois Assistive Technology Program Changes/Problems:Illinois AgrAbility experienced a number of challenges in year 1 which delayed activities. The challenges are described below: - Delays in Hiring Project Coordinator: We experienced a delay in hiring the AgrAbility Project Coordinator due to policy and procedural changes and challenges internally. We were not able to finalize a job description until after funds had been allocated. Furthermore, COVID-19 changed the procedures for hiring and interviewing. We were finally able to hold interviews for the position in late 2022 and made an excellent hire early in 2023. - Website Creation and Branding: Per Illinois Extension, AgrAbility utilized Extension's internal marketing communications (MarCom) team to build and brand a new program website so that the website correctly portrayed both Illinois Extension and Illinois AgrAbility. This involved several meetings and website drafts with the MarCom team to ensure branding, photos, text, and layout were accessible, visually appealing, and shared information correctly. For a fairly simple website, this project ended up taking 6 months for the MarCom team to complete. This was due to the MarCom team being short staffed and having too many projects on their hands. AgrAbility's website continued to be pushed aside as the MarCom team didn't view it as a priority during a time when they were also implementing a new design for all existing Extension webpages. During the 6 months of the website being built, Illinois AgrAbility had to continue referring clients and stakeholders to the outdated and unbranded website that did not have the ability to be updated by our team as that website development was outsourced several years ago and a contract with them no longer existed. Illinois AgrAbility is also relying on the MarCom team to help us develop new and branded marketing materials including a brochure, swag items, pop up banners, and tablecloths. Due to the MarCom team being short staffed and prioritizing larger projects, these smaller AgrAbility projects have also been delayed by 2 months or more. - Delay in contract andlicense: Illinois AgrAbility is preparing to get staff trained in a Chronic Pain Self Management course so that we can lead workshops across the state for our various audiences. In order to lead this course we need to have a license and contract signed and agreed upon by both the Univeristy of Illinois Purchasing and Contractsand Self Management Resource Center (SMRC). Illinois AgrAbility began this process in April and to this day, is still waiting on the University of Illinois and SMRC to complete their parts of the contract so Illinois AgrAbility can receive its license. This is a delay beyond our control yet we are having to wait patiently. The University of Illinois Purchasing and Contracts Office (the signee for Illinois AgrAbilitly) has shared that they needed to prioritizefiscal year-end deadlines fiscal year-end deadlines before focusing on contracts. As soon as the contract is signed by both parties then SMRC will work to get our staff trained via a 6-week training process. Once training is complete we are free to organize and lead Chronic Pain Self Management course workshops across the state for the next 3 years when we'd need to renew our license with SMRC. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Professional Development: In year 1, AgrAbility staff had the opportunity to attend several professional development (PD) opportunities across the nation. These PD opportunities provided staff with new resources, knowledge, and contacts that we can utilize as we contiue to move forward and grow our program in Illinois. National Training Workshop in Spokane, WA.- This conference is the premier training event addressing issues of disability in agriculture. Professionals and consumers from all over the country participate in four days of plenary sessions, breakouts, tours, networking and special events. Indiana Assistive Technology Workshop at Purdue University- This workshop offered a full-day technology expo which provided experiential learning opportunities with assistive technology, farm visit, demonstrations and training on assistive technology for ag professionals across the region. Veterans in Farming Regional Workshop in Indianapolis- This regional workshop focused on veterans working in agriculture. The 3-day event included workshop sessions on topics of business planning, marketing your product, farming with a disability, and resources, programs, and benefits for veterans. The last day consisted of touring veteran-owned and operated farm businesses. Training Activities: In year 1, AgrAbility Program Coordinator, Haley Jones, had the opportunity to provide an educational presentation surrounding AgrAbility at threeAging in Agriculture summits throughout the state of Illinois. These summits were hosted by the SIU School of Medicine Center for Rural Health and Social Service Development Farm Family Resource Initiative. Topics presented on by experts at the summits included farm succession planning, rural mental health, and AgrAbility. Nearly 50 farmers from across the state came together to listen, learn, and grow through discussion and questions at these summits. Farmers convenedin the towns of Springfield, Macomb, and Mount Vernon. The AgrAbility presentation covered topics including: - What is AgrAbility? - Who does AgrAbility serve? - How does the program work? - How to reach out if you or someone you know could benefit from the program? The presentations were not only educational and informative but also included some fun and interaction for participants through Illinois trivia, AgrAbility swag items, and resource handouts. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Website In year 1 of the grant cycle, emphasis was put on gettingthe project website updated, refreshed and branded correctly. The Illinois AgrAbility website serves as the landing page for our news releases, upcoming events, contact methods, services, and more. Extra care was put into the wording, graphics, and layout of the site so that Illinois AgrAbility remained a welcoming program for farmers, veterans, and farmworkers from all walks of life across Illinois. The website can be viewed here:https://extension.illinois.edu/agrability Newsletter As clients, stakeholders, health professionals, and families engage with the AgrAbiliity program in Illinois, they will have the opportunity to sign up for our project's quarterly newsletter. This newsletter will consist of project highlights, client success stories, educational resources, partner recognition,and event opportunities. It will be sent out digitally via email and can be mailed hard copy as requested. This newsletter will aid in ensuring that Illinois AgrAbility is kept in the forefront of people's minds as they continue working in agriculture, whether they can benefit from AgrAbility themselves or they know someone who can. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Illinois AgrAbility will focus its Year 2 program initiatives on the following four priority areas: Direct Assistance, Education, Networking, and Marketing. Specific objectives for each priority area are listed below. 1. Direct Assistance In the last year, we have expanded on the technical assistance that Illinois AgrAbility (IA) has been capable of providing in the past thanks, in part, to a dedicated team of experts who are able to provide recommendations to IA clients. Craig Wadsworth is a rehabilitation engineer with the Illinois Assistive Technology Program, one of our non-profit partner organizations. Mr. Wadsworth has been working with IA for the past ten years. He also has a contract with the Illinois Department of Rehabilitation Services that supports the cost of his time and expenses when assisting farm people who qualify for DRS services. Community Health Partnership of Illinois's Outreach Coordinators will provide direct services to referrals to the IA client service managers to farmworkers with disabilities in Illinois. Haley Jones, project coordinator, will assist the client service managers in providing direct assistance. The project coordinator will field calls and emails from potential clients and referrals, connect potential clients with a client service manager, and assist in administering the evaluations (McGill Quality of Life, etc.). Direct services will include on-farm consultation; providing requested materials or information by phone, mail or email; and linking farmers with disabilities to resources and service organizations that may assist them in meeting their needs. Examples include connecting clients with organizations that offer prosthesis that is durable enough for farm work, financial assistance, counseling, peer counseling which connects new clients with former clients who have similar disabilities or financial management. Scarce resources combined with an aging farm population and the subsequent increase in disabilities creates the need for technical and financial assistance not adequately addressed by other health, farm, and government service providers. 2. Education In Year 2, educational activities will continue to focus on the following audiences: farmers with disabilities, veteran farmers with disabilities, migrant farmworkers with disabilities, health professionals, and agricultural stakeholders. Education targeted towards farmers and their families with disabilities, with special focus on our three target populations (farmers with disabilities, veteran farmers with disabilities, migrant farmworkers) will focus on increasing awareness on how assistive technology can help them in their agricultural work and managing their disability, in addition to programs that work to prevent disabilities. We will introduce a Chronic Pain Self-Management course, a six-week, highly participatory program that builds participants' confidence in their ability to manage their health and maintain active and fulfilling lives (LeFort, Gray-Donald, Rowat, & Jeans, 1998). Topics covered in the program include appropriate use of medications; techniques to deal with problems such as frustration, fatigue, isolation, and poor sleep; and appropriate exercise for maintaining and improving strength, flexibility, and endurance. Illinois Extension educators will receive the appropriate certification to lead the course. This new course will be offered in all four years of the project. Illinois professionals that serve the target populations lack awareness and knowledge of the specialized needs of farmers with disabilities and the resources that are available through IA. Education targeted towards health professionals, including physical and occupational therapists, rural medical students, primary care providers, and social workers, will increase understanding of the unique challenges and hazards of agriculture and special modifications and considerations for farmers with disabilities. Education targeted towards agricultural stakeholders, including Extension educators, Farm Bureau staff, IA Ambassadors, and Farm Service Agency staff, will increase knowledge about services and resources that IA can provide and will better prepare these individuals and their respective organizations to refer their farmer members with disabilities to IA. These educational programs will be offered in all four years of the project. 3. Networking Continuing to expand and strengthen collaborations with various organizations with interest and resources that would benefit farm people with disabilities is essential. This is also critical in the long-term sustainability of the program that can provide both financial and in-kind resources. We have identified several opportunities to network throughout Illinois. We will continue to grow the Illinois Ambassador program, which is off to a slow start given busy schedules and competing priorities. We will continue to convene the Advisory board twice a year and look forward to an in-person meeting and discussion. Results from networking objectives and activities will be used by IA staff for future planning and modifying efforts as needed. Information will also be shared with NAP and other SRAPs through the AgrAbility newsletter and at the National Training Workshop (NTW). 4. Marketing Marketing efforts are critical to increasing awareness of Illinois AgrAbility, maintaining support from the program, and recruiting clients. Year 2 will include an increase in marketing initiatives.Press releases will be circulated through Illinois farm media outlets (Illinois Farm Week, Illinois Farm Bureau newsletter, rural radio) highlighting a client story, event, or educational program. Illinois Extension has a very talented, professional marketing team that has access to over 400 media outlets in the state. With the help of this team, we are able to amplify the Illinois AgrAbility story and ensure state-wide distribution of information. We will evaluate these efforts by examining traffic to the IA website and the number of client referrals to IA from each effort (captured during initial meeting with potential client on CMS). Illinois AgrAbility originally proposed to update IA display boards for each partner and interested collaborator in Year 1. However, we will continue with these initiatives in Year 2 as we did not expend the entire budget and realize materials are consistently needing updated. We will also distribute current and new marketing materials, including Spanish versions, that promote public awareness of IA education, networking, and assistance to Extension offices and to agricultural stakeholders.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In the first year of the project, Illinois AgrAbility (IA) worked on setting the program up for success. A program coordinator was hired to complete the Illinois AgrAbility team in January 2023.Within the first 4 months of having a full team on board, IA met to discuss goals, began a program rebrand with the University of Illinois Extension, formed an Advisory Board, began taking in client requests, and attended many networking and educational events across the nation. Illinois AgrAbility focused its program initiatives on the four priority areas: direct assistance, education, networking, and marketing. Direct Assistance- Illinois AgrAbility worked to set its foundation so that the program can provide direct assistance to farmers, veteran farmers, and farmworkers across the state. Despite waiting on marketing and promotional materials to launch, Illinois AgrAbility continued to be available to serve clients. Within just two months of the IA team becoming fully staffed and onboarded, IA received client requests from 4 individuals across the state, who are experiencing different limitations and disabilities. From these 4 potential clients, IA has completed one farm site visit and two virtual (phone or Zoom) meetings with 2 clients. One client, Thomas from central Illinois, who suffers from Chronic Inflammation Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP), received a free farm site visit from IA. Despite Thomas being in the beginning stages on his journey with AgrAbility, his mother, Sue, followed up after the visit to share the impact of Illinois AgrAbility on her son, "It was uplifting for Tom to finally have someone check up on him." An important accomplishment was developing an online client intake form to streamline the process for clients and better inform the IA team of client needs. Upon receiving a phone call, email, or word of mouth referral/request from a potential client, the client is asked to complete a brief online form. This form enables our team to collect the initial and necessary information to more accurately and efficiently meetthe needs of our clients through AgrAbility. The client can complete the form over the phone with IA if that is requested. Education- Educational activities have focused on the following audiences: farmers, veteran farmers, migrant farmworkers, farm families, health professionals, and agricultural stakeholders. In year 1, Illinois AgrAbility focused on two items within education: awareness/knowledge of program and educational resources for clients, health professionals and stakeholders. In year 1, the IA team sought out and attended a variety of events across the state that surround agriculture, farmers, healthcare, etc. Attending and participating in these events allowed us to present to potential clients, partners, and stakeholders about AgrAbility and what we can do for those who work on a farm. A few important events included: Rural Mental Health Summit hosted by Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and Illinois Extension. Illinois AgrAbility hosted a booth with information and handouts for the 25 healthcare professionals in attendance from across Illinois. Aging in Ag Summits facilitated by Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Illinois. Illinois AgrAbility gave a 30-minute presentation, three times in three towns, about AgrAbility and what we can do for farmers, veterans in farming and farmworkers in IL. We reached over 50 farmers throughout the three summits. National Training Workshop in Spokane, WA. Networked with 250 farmers, staff, and partners involved in AgrAbility nationally. Indiana Assistive Technology Workshop at Purdue University. Networked with 30 healthcare professionals, AgrAbility staff, and partners. Veterans in Farming Regional Workshop in Indianapolis. Networked with 30 staff, veterans, and partners involved in AgrAbility. Additionally, Illinois AgrAbility is currently obtaining a license from University of Illinois and the Self-Management Resource Center to offer Chronic Pain Self-Management, a six-week, highly participatory program that builds participants' confidence in their ability to manage their health and maintain active and fulfilling lives. The license will allow for four University of Illinois Extension staff (Burcham, Ridgley,Jones and 1 more) to get trained to facilitate and lead this course across the state. Topics include but are not limited to appropriate exercise for maintaining and improving strength and endurance, balancing activity with rest, tools for overcoming worst-case thinking, how our minds affect pain and how we can use our minds to lessen pain, negative emotions, healthy eating, and more. This course is open to anyone throughout Illinois who is experiencing chronic pain. Finally, IA developed an educational resource about assistive technology that will be available at booths and online. Networking- Illinois AgrAbility continued to expand and strengthen collaborations with various organizations with interest and resources that would benefit farm people with disabilities. This is also critical in the long-term sustainability of the program with organizations that can provide both financial and in-kind resources. In year one of our grant cycle, Illinois AgrAbility convened an Advisory Board. The board is made up of 14 different organizations throughout Illinois that all have the mission of serving our agricultural community through their work. The advisory board met twice in year 1 to discuss networking opportunities and the future of Illinois AgrAbility. Additionally, Illinois AgrAbility participated in a number of events to connect with partners and potential clients during year 1. These include, but are not limited to: Farm Bureau Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL Ag Mental Health Summit, Springfield, IL Aging in Agriculture, various locations around IL Illinois State Fair, Springfield, IL Farm Progress Show, Decatur, IL National FFA Convention, Indianapolis, IN Women in Agriculture Conference, Davenport, IA National Training Workshop, Spokane, WA International Society for Agricultural Safety and Health Annual Meeting, Tampa, FL Marketing- In year 1, Illinois AgrAbility has worked to enhance awareness of Illinois AgrAbility and brand recognition of Illinois AgrAbility among farmers, potential clients, agricultural leaders, and the public. IA continues to work with University of Illinois Extension to rebrand and refresh all outdated Illinois AgrAbility handouts, digital resources, and tangibles. These include: New logo correctly branded with Illinois Extension Informational postcardsfor distribution at events, booths, etc. Facebook page Promotional/informational brochure Promotional/informational social media graphics for Facebook 'Connect with AgrAbility'card Resource guide for assistive technology Website Online client intake form Pop up banners (4 total) Swag items including pens, magnifying tools, and touchscreen gloves Press release announcing re-launch of Illinois AgrAbility
Publications
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