[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 9, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1190]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   IN RECOGNITION OF MS. EMMA TORRES

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. ED PASTOR

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 9, 1999

  Mr. PASTOR. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to 
call my colleagues' attention to the accomplishments of Ms. Emma 
Torres, who was recently chosen as a 1999 Robert Wood Johnson Community 
Health Leader. At a time when health care issues top our national 
agenda, Ms. Torres' tireless dedication to addressing health care 
inadequacies among migrant farmworker communities is truly exemplary.
  Emma Torres was born in Mexico, the daughter of migrant farmworkers, 
and worked alongside her parents in the agricultural fields of 
California and Arizona. Inspired by the hardships of migrant life and 
her struggle to obtain adequate healthcare for a husband who later died 
of leukemia, she developed an interest in improving health services for 
migrant workers. A young widow and mother living in poverty, she 
managed to complete her education and began to serve her community as a 
community health worker.
  For more than ten years, Ms. Torres has worked in various aspects of 
health promotion and has become an effective advocate for migrant 
farmworkers. She has provided instrumental leadership in strengthening 
the role of uncredentialed yet competent community workers to fill 
health care gaps in medically neglected communities. These lay health 
workers, recruited from within the communities they serve, are uniquely 
able to provide information in a family-oriented and culturally 
competent manner. Ms. Torres has successfully utilized such workers in 
initiating and implementing a cancer prevention program and a regional 
Migrant Network System which emphasizes pre-natal care and teenage 
pregnancy prevention. In 1994, having developed a reputation as a 
leader in her field, Ms. Torres was appointed by the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services to serve on the National Council on Migrant 
Health.
  Most recently, Ms. Torres has taken on the leadership of Puentes de 
Amistad, a community-based substance abuse prevention initiative in 
Yuma County, Arizona. The program reaches out to local communities 
composed in large part of agricultural workers engaged in seasonal 
employment. Ms. Torres works with eight staff members and 29 
``promotores,'' lay health workers, going into the fields and peoples' 
homes to educate them about substance abuse, pesticide poisoning, HIV/
AIDS and TB, often working with entire families to resolve problems. 
She and her staff address the issues of mobility, poverty, and language 
barriers that for too long have hindered health care access in this 
region of the country.
  It comes as no surprise that Ms. Torres was among the ten outstanding 
individuals awarded a grant this year from the Robert Wood Johnson 
Foundation's Community Health Leadership Program. She has shown 
tremendous leadership in addressing some of the most difficult facets 
of health care outreach and is making a difference in the quality of 
life of many southwestern Arizonans. It is my hope that through this 
well-deserved national recognition, Ms. Torres' work will become known 
to many and serve as an example of how we can begin to address some of 
our nation's most pressing problems by recognizing, supporting and 
following the lead of creative and committed individuals within our 
communities.

                          ____________________