A variety of environmental health issues occur within homes along the US/Mexico border region. Individuals living in this region are often not aware that specific issues, including pesticide safety, occur in their homes and may not understand the potential adverse effects of pesticide use on their families’ health. The Environmental Health/Home Safety Education Project created by the Southern Area Health Education Center at New Mexico State University, utilizes promotoras (community health workers) to educate clients on pesticide safety issues. Data from 367 pre/post tests and home assessments were collected from 2002-2005. The data were analyzed to detect changes in clients’ knowledge or behavior as they related to protecting themselves and their families against unsafe pesticide use and storage. Statistically significant changes occurred with both knowledge and behavior in regards to safe pesticide use. Through this culturally appropriate intervention, the promotoras provide practical information allowing clients to make their homes safer.

The Environmental Health/Home Safety Education Project (Proyecto de Salud Ambiental y Seguridad en el Hogar) has been developed in response to a wide array of severe and often preventable environmental health issues occurring in and around homes on the U.S.-Mexico border. Utilizing well-trained community members, called promotoras , homes are visited and assessed for potential environmental hazards, including home fire and food safety issues. Data analyzed from project years 2002 to 2005 shows a significant impact in knowledge levels and initial behavior change among targeted participants as it relates to fire and food safety issues. Since the initiation of the project in 1999, hundreds of participants have improved their quality of life by making their homes safer. The project has proven to be sustainable, replicable, flexible, and attractive to funders.

Issue. New Mexico uses evidence-based approaches to help tobacco users quit, including a statewide free telephone quitline. The state Tobacco Use Prevention and Control program’s goals include identifying and eliminating disparities. Priority Population. About 500,000 of the state’s residents are Hispanic or Latino people who speak Spanish at home. Among them, about 16% of adults smoke cigarettes, meaning approximately 60,000 potentially need quitting support. Method. Data indicated gaps in utilization of Spanish-language quitline services. An equity-focused quality improvement approach was used to address this gap in collaboration with Nuestra Salud (“Our Health”), a community-based organization supporting Spanish-speaking people throughout New Mexico. Formative research in Spanish-speaking communities was conducted during 2013. Based on these findings, a culturally grounded DEJELO YA (“Quit Now”) media campaign was developed and launched in 2015. Nuestra Salud led complementary community-based outreach. Service intake data and a 7-month evaluation survey from 2014-2016 were assessed descriptively to evaluate changes. Results. Quitline call frequencies increased by 31% among Spanish-speaking Hispanic/Latinos from 2014 to 2015, in comparison to 3% among non- Hispanics. Successful quitting improved for Spanish speakers from 32.9% in 2014 to 46.4% in 2016, while remaining stable among all English speakers (31.3% in 2015). Satisfaction with services was similar and unchanged for Spanish and English services (80.0% and 78.1%, respectively, in 2015). Implications for Practice. Implementation of an organically developed Spanish-language campaign was associated with improved quitline service utilization. Collaboration with a community-based organization in a quality improvement process was key. Sustained progress requires resources and attention to service capacity.