For many agricultural workers in rural Western North Carolina, accessing healthcare today means more than finding a clinic. It also means navigating technology — patient portals, telehealth appointments, emails, messages, passwords, and online health information — often while facing language barriers, long work hours, limited internet access, and isolation.
This year, Vecinos’ Outreach Team launched a Digital Literacy pilot initiative designed to help farmworkers feel more connected, informed, and confident navigating their health.
The pilot began with two small groups of agricultural workers in Andrews, North Carolina. The goal was simple but meaningful: help participants learn practical digital tools that could make healthcare more accessible and help them feel more in control of their own wellbeing.
Together, participants learned how to:
- create and use an email account,
- access the patient portal,
- communicate directly with providers and nurses,
- request appointments online,
- attend telehealth visits,
- and better understand their laboratory results.
As one outreach team member shared during the final class and graduation celebration:
“The goal of these classes is for participants to enroll in the patient portal so they can view their lab results, communicate with the clinic, and request appointments. There are many things patients can do through the portal that help them feel more in control of their health.”
The classes also introduced participants to digital safety, internet navigation, translation tools, and even basic ways artificial intelligence can help patients better understand health information and communicate questions to providers.
What made the experience especially meaningful was not only the technology itself, but the confidence participants began to build along the way.
“The interest they’ve shown in the classes has been something very beautiful to see,” the outreach team member reflected. “Even those who struggled at first were able to learn, even if it was just the beginning.”
At the end of the final session, participants received graduation diplomas celebrating their effort and participation — a small but powerful recognition of what they had accomplished together.
One participant shared:
“For me personally, this benefits me a lot because I work so much. In my free time, I can now look at my results there, and I think it’s a very good option.”
Moments like these reflect something larger about Outreach at Vecinos.
Sometimes improving health begins with something as simple as helping someone send a message to their doctor, understand a lab result, or feel less afraid of technology. Sometimes reducing isolation begins by sitting together in a small classroom, asking questions without shame, and discovering that healthcare can become a little more accessible, understandable, and human.
Through initiatives like this, Vecinos continues working to ensure that rural and agricultural communities are not left behind in an increasingly digital world — and that patients feel not only supported, but empowered to participate more actively in their own health and wellbeing.