A non-profit that provides health care to migrant farm workers in Western North Carolina says one of its patients was recently kidnapped during a return home to Mexico.
The non-profit Vecinos has a clinic in Cullowhee and also provides services to workers in the field and at the camps where they sleep. Vecinos Executive Director Marianne Martinez says during recent outreach visit, the patient told coordinators about the incident.
“He had to go home for a personal matter, and when he crossed the border, he ended up being picked up by a drug cartel. They robbed all of his money. Just totally beat him up,” Martinez said.
Martinez says he was able to escape and is now back in Western North Carolina working the harvest. But she says his story reflects how many temporary workers suffer from trauma and PTSD -- while access to behavioral health services are limited or non-existent.
Martinez says there are only three bilingual therapists in North Carolina’s eight Westernmost counties.
Vecinos launched its behavioral health program in January and is seeking contributions for a new mobile unit that would offer private counseling sessions to workers in the fields.
