TAMPA, Fla. — A Bay area man has a heart for helping migrant workers with their health. That’s because of his upbringing.

What You Need To Know

  • Noe Bautista's family migrated to the United States when he was a child

  • The family traveled to many states as migrant farm workers

  • Bautista got medical training after high school and now works as a health care advocate for the Redlands Christian Migrant Association

  • Bautista provides basic health screenings for migrant farm workers 

Noe Bautista’s family migrated to the United States from Mexico when he was a child. They traveled to a lot of states to pick seasonal crops.

“We would migrate to different states. I’ve been to North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia,” he said.

Bautista still takes the opportunity to do part-time work picking strawberries in Plant City. It’s hard work, and Bautista is very good at it. He knows what it was like to work too hard as a young person.

“I suffered heat stress, and I almost fainted because of the heat. My body was dehydrated,” he said while recently picking berries.

Bautista says migrant workers often don’t keep up with health care screenings because they don’t want to take time off work and they are concerned about their legal status. He wants to change that.

“I say why not? Why not advocate for farm workers,” he said. “Why not seek help for them?”

After high school, Bautista decided to get some medical training. Now he works as a health advocate for the Redlands Christian Migrant Association at an office in Mulberry.

He organizes events that will attract migrant workers and then offers free health screenings including blood pressure checks, vision testing and some basic blood work.

“Just relax your arm here,” said Bautista to a migrant on a recent Saturday as he took her blood pressure. He was offering health screenings as dozens of people were meeting with representatives of the Mexican consulate to work on documentation issues.

“I am going to turn the light off and check your vision, okay?” he said to another woman as he conducted a vision test.

“We are providing them services to help when they are not going to go to a clinic and waste a working day to get screened,” he said.

Bautista said people were more willing to get a screening from him because he has walked in their shoes.

“And once they get a screening, they will at least know where they are standing at,” he said.