Program ModelsColonia Health Worker Program
Promotores and Promotoras who participate in the Camp Health Aide Program take on new roles when they migrate to South Texas in winter. Instead of presenting a wide array of health topics for their neighbors in a migrant camp, they become experts in specific health topics and bring their health messages door-to-door in rural colonias. Colonia Health Worker Programs are named for their focus on underserved, border colonias. The majority of Promotores(as) in these programs migrate during the summer months and participate in Texas-based, seasonal programs between December and April of each year. Approximately 25 percent of the Texas Promotores(as) participate year-round, bringing essential health information to the Rio Grande Valley community - even in the heat of the South Texas summer.
Migrant Health Promotion offers comprehensive, collaborative training each December for Promotores(as) from several organizations in the Valley. Training topics include Popular Education, outreach techniques, leadership, personal safety and dozens of health-related issues. Promotores(as) who work with Migrant Health Promotion in the Valley choose among programs dealing with specific health issues such as diabetes, children's health and insurance, women's health or HIV.
"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. In 2001, for instance, four full-time Promotoras educated 5,856 women about breast and cervical cancer and referred 951 women for gynecological exams, mammograms and other services. As a result, 768 individuals, or 81 percent of those referred, received health care.
LEARN MORE about how our programs are improving health outcomes.
Profile
Awards
- 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.
A Story 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.
