If you have spent any time in Latin America, you likely are familiar with the enthusiastic saying, “¡salud!” Salud means health in Spanish, and it’s often used as a toast, as in “to your heath!” That makes ¡Salud! the perfect name for an innovative and much-needed nonprofit organization that helps provide health care for vineyard workers in the Oregon wine country. As part of our occasional series on innovators in the world of wine, I was lucky to catch up with Maria McCandless, manager of the Tuality Healthcare Foundation, who gave me the story on ¡Salud!

Q: What is Tuality Healthcare?

A: We are a nonprofit, full-service health care system located 20 miles west of Portland in Hillsboro, Oregon. We have two hospitals, a cancer center, a nationally recognized stroke center and a variety of clinics. We also have a philanthropic arm, which is the Foundation, and that is where we manage the ¡Salud! services program.

unnamed[1] (3)Q: What is ¡Salud!?

A: Our mission is simple: We work to provide access to health care services for Oregon’s seasonal vineyard workers and their families. Our services are offered in four counties in and around the north Willamette Valley.

Q: How did the idea for ¡Salud! come about?

A: In 1991, one of our doctors was chatting with Nancy Ponzi (of Ponzi Vineyards) and they had this idea to do something similar to the Hospices de Beaune, which is an annual event in Beaune, France where winemakers auction off their upcoming vintage and all proceeds go to local hospitals. When we shared this idea with other winemakers, they were really interested in helping their seasonal workers who couldn’t get insurance because they move from crop to crop and were only around during harvest time.

Q: How do wineries participate in the ¡Salud! program?

A: There are over 100 wineries that support ¡Salud! in a variety of ways. There are 45 who are part of our ¡Salud! Vintners Circle, which means that they make a special cuvee for our annual auction. Others donate auction packages, some donate a part of their tasting room fees and others give us a percentage of their wine sales profits.

Q: Tell me a little bit about your auction.

A: It’s a two-day event. The first day is a big board auction, which is where people come and taste the wines and then they buy futures of wines which won’t be available for the next year or two. Then the second night is a dinner and auction where we have live and silent auctions. [Note: There are still tickets available for this year’s auction on November 13 and 14.]

¡Salud! mobile wellness clinic in action for flu shots, Willamette Valley, Oregon
¡Salud! mobile wellness clinic in action for flu shots, Willamette Valley, Oregon

Q: How many workers are you able to reach?

A: We have identified roughly 4,250 seasonal workers and their family members as clients. These folks get a card that gives them priority access to federally funded health care clinics, a stipend for health care services at the clinics and help with education and patient navigation. We also have a mobile wellness van that goes out during the summer months to provide screenings [cholesterol, diabetes, etc.] If we find an issue, we will make appointments for the workers to get care. Typically we screen around 1,000 workers and their family members annually. Also, we have two nurses who are available 24/7 to help with workers’ health care needs.

Q: What percentage of vineyard workers are you helping?

A: It’s hard to say as so many of the workers are seasonal, but we believe we are affecting roughly half of the workers out there.

Q: Does ¡Salud! distinguish between documented and undocumented workers?

A: It doesn’t matter to us.

Q: I read that for each dollar contributed, ¡Salud! is able to deliver $3 worth of health care. How does that work?

A: We have partners such as Medical Teams International and Pacific University who provide dental clinics and dental hygiene. We give them a small stipend and they take our patients on at a steep discount, effectively meaning that we cover their costs but they don’t make money. Also, our clinicians negotiate medical bills on behalf of our clients thereby saving them a lot of money. So as a result of these partnerships and our negotiating power on behalf of our clients, we know that $1 in donations equals $3 in health care.

Q: Are any other wine regions doing something similar?

A: Not that we are aware of.

unnamed[1] (2)Q: So what are the options for vineyard workers in other states who have medical needs?

A: They can go to the ER [average visit in the Willamette Valley costs roughly $600], they could go to an urgent care center [average cost is $130] or they could go to federally qualified health clinics [average cost $50-$130 depending on the worker’s pay]. A ¡Salud! client could go to one of the federally qualified health clinics and only pay between $15 to $50. Another good thing about being enrolled in the ¡Salud! program is that our clients get priority access in the clinics, which are typically very full.

Q: It’s common to talk about the provenance of our food and its impact on the earth, yet we don’t seem to have any dialog around the people who work on farms. What do you make of that?

A: I’ve heard it said a million times that we are eating off of these people’s backs. Their labor allows us to eat and drink and yet people aren’t talking about farmworkers’ health. We would love to have other wine-growing areas and agricultural industries pick up our model and fund similar types of services and we are happy to talk to anyone who is interested.

Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is
So that, my friends, is an overview of ¡Salud!. It’s time that we wine drinkers not only start talking about the health care needs of vineyard workers, but also do what we can to help improve access.  You can add your support by donating to ¡Salud! and by buying from winemakers who support the organization (see a list of wineries that participate in the ¡Salud! Vintners Circle below). You could also gently ask your favorite winemakers if they are supporting something like ¡Salud! in their region. If not, show them this article and suggest they contact Maria.

Who says a bunch of wine drinkers can’t start a revolution? ¡Salud!unnamed[1] (4)

¡Salud! Vintners Circle:

Adelsheim Vineyard
Alexana Winery
Amalie Robert Estate
ArborBrook Vineyards
Archery Summit
Argyle
Ayres Vineyard
Ayoub
Bergström Wines
Bethel Heights Vineyard
Big Table Farm
Brittan Vineyards
Brooks Winery
Chapter 24
Chehalem
Cristom Vineyards
Dobbes Family Estate
Domaine Drouhin Oregon
Domaine Serene
Dukes Family Vineyards
Dusky Goose
Elk Cove Vineyards
Erath Winery
Evening Land
Seven Springs Estate
Gran Moraine
Hamacher Wines
Hyland Estates
Lange Estate Winery and Vineyards
Patricia Green Cellars
Patton Valley Vineyard
Penner-Ash Wine Cellars
Ponzi Vineyards
R. Stuart & Co.
Raptor Ridge Winery
Résonance
ROCO Winery
Scott Paul Wines
Shea Wine Cellars
Soter Vineyards
St. Innocent Winery
Stoller Family Estate
Trisaetum
WillaKenzie Estate
Winderlea Vineyard & Winery
Witness Tree Vineyard
Willamette Valley Vineyards (SB note: while not in the Vintners Circle, Willamette Valley Vintners is a special partner with Salud and supports multiple Salud programs)

 

Photo credits to Andrea Johnson Photography and Carolyn Wells-Kramer.

 

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