I NTERVIEWING :D ELMY D URAN, BSW T OPPENISH F ARM W ORKERS C LINIC C OMMUNITY H EALTH S ERVICES Presented by: Karla Jimenez

W HAT SERVICES DOES THE ORGANIZATION OFFER ? “At CHS (community health services) we offer three programs, one of them is the maternal support services, Infant case management, and mother and child health.”

W HAT ARE YOUR JOB DUTIES AND WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY CONSIST OF ? “ It’s really different everyday. For the most part I try to be in the office from 8- 10am, I usually go to Grandview on Wednesdays. I also work at the Wapato clinic. I usually try to see my clients during the day. I do have an office day when I make phone calls, get appointments in my schedule and make sure my schedule is up to date. I also make sure I have everything ready for the home visits and I keep all paperwork up to date.”

W HAT DO YOU LIKE MOST AND WHAT DO YOU LIKE LEAST ABOUT YOUR JOB ? “ What I like most about my job is the flexibility, I don’t have to be in the office all day. It’s the one on one with the clients, the fact that you build relationships. Most of my clients are Hispanic so the culture is very different from Native Americans and other cultures that I’ve worked with, so I like the diversity that I have with the clients. What I like least is probably the paperwork that goes along with each case.”

I F YOU COULD CHANGE SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR JOB WHAT WOULD IT BE ? “ I would change the amount of time that I have to see a client, because we are a corporation we are limited to what we can do sometimes. We have an amount of time that we have to meet a month. It is doable but some of our clients require a little bit more, so sometimes I feel limited because of the amount of time I have. I wish I could do more for them sometimes.”

W HAT DO YOU SEE AS THE CAUSES OF CHILD ABUSE, NEGLECT AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ? “Sometimes the lack of education and the environment. It’s kind of generation through generation, you see domestic violence and the cycle repeats when you have kids. Poverty and the limitations that our clients have makes them more exposed and they may tend to repeat that cycle. Sometimes it’s the lack of knowledge of the resources that you have in the community or the lack of a support system.”

W HAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF INTERVENTION ? “ The essential elements of interventions are probably knowing and assessing really well the situation, knowing your clients and knowing the type of things they are exposed to. Also keeping in mind that you are there to help your clients and that you should seek the best for them.”

W HAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF PREVENTION ? “Education. I think you can prevent a lot of things if you educate people. The fact that you have access to resources, and access to education. I believe the more knowledgeable they are the more able they are to handle situations.”

W HEN YOU IDENTIFY A CASE OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE OR CHILD ABUSE WHAT TYPE OF STEPS DO YOU TAKE TO HELP YOUR CLIENS “We do a lot of referrals to other agencies. We work with La Casa Hogar in Yakima and an agency in Sunnyside as well. We have clients that have been picked up and taken to shelters. We do a lot of emergency calls like reports to CPS if we see a child is being neglected. It’s part of our assessment when we go to people’s homes.”

W HAT DO YOU THINK FUTURE SOCIAL WORKERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT ? “It’s easy once you’re in the profession to overlook certain things. Neglect sometimes is obvious and sometimes it’s not. Having in mind that you can be neglected emotionally and physically. At your place of work you may be limited as to what you can do but you should make the best of what you have to seek the best for your client.”

D O YOU RECALL A CASE OF CHILD ABUSE OR NEGLECT THAT HAD A PARTICULAR IMPACT ON YOU ? “ Yes, child abuse or neglect can happen as soon as the mother is pregnant. I had a case where a woman was a drug addict and was using drugs during her pregnancy and we had to call CPS to remove the child at birth. This was very difficult because the best thing is for a baby to be with his/her mother but in this case the mother chose to neglect her baby by putting him at risk and not providing the best health for him, so we had to step in and seek the best for the baby.”

R EFERENCES Delmy Duran, BSW CHS Case Manager Toppenish Farm Workers Clinic 518 West First Ave