For more than 30 years, the Georgia Farm Worker Family Health Program has united health care students from across the state to deliver vital services in rural Southwest Georgia. Mercer University College of Pharmacy students play a key role in this effort.

From June 9-20, 19 Mercer students began their long days at a local school, joining an interprofessional team to conduct wellness visits and screenings for children from farm-working families. In the evening, they traveled to a different farm site with the mobile clinic. They worked alongside faculty to deliver culturally sensitive, person-centered care, gaining firsthand insight into health disparities in rural communities.

The program emphasizes immersive interprofessional education, bringing together students from pharmacy, nursing, physical therapy, dental hygiene and psychology to provide care, reflect as a team and debrief on patient cases under faculty guidance.

“We provided essential health care services to more than 1,200 children and adults in a critically underserved community,” said Kazmir “Kaz” Conway, Pharm.D. candidate, ‘27. “I also improved my counseling skills and expanded my medical Spanish vocabulary.”

Dr. Tonya Pearson, clinical assistant professor, led Mercer’s participation, supported by Dr. Katelynn Mayberry, clinical assistant professor, and Dr. Kenric Ware, clinical associate professor, in collaboration with Dr. Kenneth Mueller from Emory University School of Nursing. They say this hands-on experience builds empathy, teamwork and clinical competence.

“In the College of Pharmacy, we emphasize the importance of understanding different cultures and how to be caring and compassionate to all. This program helps students put that training directly into practice in serving this community,” said Dr. Pearson. “It is a blessing to engage our pharmacy students in an experiential educational program that challenges their professional growth and inspires students to serve in a manner true to Mercer’s heritage to ‘use their gifts and talents to serve the needs of humankind as an expression of love to God and neighbor.’”

Conway added, “Our motto for the week was, ‘If you ate today, thank a farmworker.’ After this experience, I couldn’t agree more.”

The Georgia Farm Worker Family Health Program thrives thanks to strong partnerships with local school systems and public health districts, which ensure year-round care for farmworker families and highlight the vital role of mobile health in rural communities.

By delivering care directly to the fields and homes of farmworkers, the program continues to remove barriers to quality care and prepares Georgia’s future health care professionals through transformative real-world learning.