The Environmental Health/Home Safety Education Project: A Successful and Practical U.S.-Mexico Border Initiative

Abstract

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.

Migration and Health: A Framework for 21st Century Policy-Making

“…Evidence on health promotion programs at border or transit locations for migrants is scant. However, several health education and support initiatives have been established, for example, in US–Mexico border towns [37].…”

A Scoping Review of the Community Health Worker Model Used for Food Systems Interventions Within the United States

“…19-21,26,33,34,40-42,45,48,50,52 One-on-one mentoring between the CHW and participants was included in 7 studies 18,42-45,54,55 and 6 studies used this approach exclusively. 16,22,24,56-58 Multiple studies supplemented group sessions with individualized phone calls or home visits by the CHW to the participant. 17,40,42-45,54 Studies also used newsletters, print materials, or videos to deliver intervention messages.…”

“…63,64 The nutrition education activities included in this review were culturally tailored to priority populations. The results demonstrate that the CHW model can connect individuals to culturally relevant foods through education on food preparation and consumption, [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][25][26][27][28][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58] and these CHW-facilitated connections are emerging into food access efforts, evidenced by the 22 included studies with a food access component. However, the limited number of studies that provided education on multiple food system processes beyond preparation and consumption indicates that the CHW model has not been widely used in broad lens food systems educational interventions.…”

Promotoras as Research Partners to Engage Health Disparity Communities

“…Promotoras have demonstrated effectiveness in health interventions along the U.S-Mexico border 7,10,12–15 and in border colonias. 16–18 Typically, promotoras are used as a linguistic bridge between Spanish-speaking participants and researchers in recruitment or data collection/intervention activities.…”

“…16–18 Typically, promotoras are used as a linguistic bridge between Spanish-speaking participants and researchers in recruitment or data collection/intervention activities. 12–19 Exceptions are a few interventions, 7,9,12 and one review 19 that highlight promotoras’ integral role in research. However, promotoras bring additional skills and experiences, such as being role models and community partners, 6,9,19,20 which continue to be overlooked in the literature.…”