The Colonia Health Worker Programs offer seasonal and year-round programming to experienced Promotoras and Promotores in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. They provide a wealth of community-based health promotion services in isolated colonias – unincorporated rural neighborhoods common in the border region. The length of the season allows for more intense training and outreach, yet permits farmworkers who migrate, including Camp Health Aides, to participate.

Migrant Health Promotion offers comprehensive, collaborative training annually for its own Promotores(as) as well as for those from several organizations in the Valley. Training topics include Popular Education, outreach techniques, leadership, personal safety and dozens of health-related issues.

In 2009, Migrant Health Promotion initiated a more easily replicable variation of the Colonia Health Worker model, which supports active members of the community to work as Lideres Comunitarios (community leaders).  These leaders are available to provide education and support to their neighbors, but do not have the same training and reporting expectations as the Promotores(as).

"This is a job done from the heart, for the well-being of the whole community."-Carmen Soto, Promotora

Results

Each year, Promotores(as) from Migrant Health Promotion touch the lives of thousands of families in Valley colonias. For instance, during the 2007-2008 program year, four Promotoras provided 1,741 people with one-on-one education on the importance of folic acid.  An additional 10,746 were reached through health fairs, radio presentations, and other community events.

In counties positioned along the U.S-Mexico border, the extensive use of candles, pottery, and medicines from Mexico that contain lead make health education to colonia residents extremely important.  During a one-year program in 2007-2008, the No Más Plomo (No More Lead) program provided over 2,600 individual encounters and group presentations to educate residents about sources and consequences of lead poisoning and methods of prevention.  No Más Plomo Promotoras also helped residents gain access to screening and treatment for blood lead poisoning.

LEARN MORE about how our programs are improving health outcomes.

Materials

Nuestro Futuro (Folic Acid/Acido Folico) Curriculum

Profile

Mirian Perez, Promotora

Awards

• Salud Award, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health--2009
• Gloria Steinem Women of Vision Award--2008
• Border Models of Excellence, sponsored by the United States-Mexico Border Health Commission
• Outstanding Community Health Worker Program of 2002, sponsored by the Texas Community Health Workers and the Health Education Training Centers Alliance of Texas
• Innovation Collaboration, sponsored by the Texas Department of Health
• Invaluable Contribution to the Colonias Program, sponsored by the Center for Housing and Urban Development, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University

View a complete list of Migrant Health Promotion's Awards & Honors.

Stories from the Program

• Maria Davila and Viviana Tamez, Promotoras in the Nuestra Salud (Our Health) Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection and Prevention Program, visited the house of a woman in Mission, Texas early in the outreach season. During their visit, they discussed the importance of annual exams and conducted a brief health assessment using the Women's Health Assessment tool. The woman complained of pain in her breast and informed them that being uninsured prevented her from consulting a doctor. The Promotoras quickly arranged an appointment for an annual exam at Planned Parenthood, which were available free to uninsured women as a part of the collaborative Nuestra Salud Program. The woman kept all of her appointments, receiving an annual exam, a mammogram and more tests that confirmed a diagnosis of breast cancer. Through case management services of Nuestra Salud, the woman learned of her treatment options and started on the road to recovery. Grateful for the work of the Migrant Health Promotion Promotoras and their collaboration with Planned Parenthood, she invited Maria and Viviana to her home for two group education sessions on breast and cervical cancer before the end of the outreach season in May.

• Ana Maria is a Promotora in Hidalgo County. She goes into the colonias and motivates the residents to participate in her home-based weekly diabetes educational sessions which cover nutrition, diabetes, and physical activity.  Martha, one of the participants wanted to lose weight.  She weighed 220 pounds when Ana first met her, and was starting to feel hopeless because she did not know where to start. Ana began by talking to her about the benefits of exercise and how she could eat healthier by not eating foods with high fat content. Ana showed Martha label models specifying the sugar content on sugared drinks as Martha likes to drink soda. She also used food models and talked about portion sizes. As a result, Martha started to drink less soda and started doing physical activity.  So far she has made important lifestyle changes and lost 11 pounds in eight weeks.

• Elva Mirales tells her own story from participation with a Colonia Health Worker Program:

I would like to tell what the program La Voz Latina has done for my life. I lived a life of four walls because I never left the house and I concentrated on housework, caring for my children, and serving my husband. Without any incentive to live, I had sunk into depression and felt sick. My husband had always made me feel worthless. He told me to be grateful because he married me. I believed him and lived that way for 16 years. One day by the grace of God there was a community meeting of La Voz Latina. Since that day I have not missed a single meeting. On an impulse I climbed out of the pit where I had been living and came to realize that I have a voice and I have rights as a woman….Thank you to the program for inviting me to Washington DC for the training by the National Latina Institute in which they taught us how to speak with political representatives. I never in my dreams imagined myself in the Capitol, speaking with political authorities. It was a dream come true, to be in the offices of Congresspersons and Senators speaking about the importance of women’s reproductive health. To be the spokesperson for all the women who live in the Valley filled me with satisfaction.  Now I am a different woman, one who knows what matters. I know how to use my voice and speak and that all is due to La Voz Latina. Now I have a marvelous job. I do my housework and care for my children and my spouse but they know that I have rights. I can stand before my children with self-pride. They say that their mama is very important and my husband realizes that I cannot be marginalized and abused anymore. Now I feel capable of telling women that still there is time to leave that layer of bitterness, of depression and ignorance and to come and be educated, and like me to become a woman with a voice.