Title: APHA Annual Meeting Session Report
Author:
Section/SPIG: Health Administration
Issue Date:
Azella C. Collins, MSN, RN is a public health nurse who has worked in the community professionally for 30 years. She has worked in HIV/AIDS for the past 21 years. For the past three years she has coordinated activities to eliminate perinatal HIV transmission in Illinois. Collins can be reached at: <ACOLLINS@idph.state.il.us>.
The session that was most thought-provoking and the one that helped me to re-focus a few of my service scopes was 5119.0 "Needs and Barriers to Developing an Academic Program for Hispanic Promotores at the US-Mexico Border" Neida Mier, PhD, Elaine M. Hernandez, MEd, MPH, and Karen Denison, MPH.
Members of the lay work force who are indigenous to the communities we serve provide necessary insight -- they assist community planners by ensuring that the programming is culturally and linguistically appropriate. In Illinois we have a large migrant Hispanic population, and many times in our rural counties we are unable to find Hispanic workers who are able to provide health education. The development of a promotores program in rural Illinois is an exciting idea and would serve to inform our programming. It was extremely rewarding to learn that they are proficient in 44 different community health and public health topics. In addition to providing assistance with our population, the use of promotores also serves to provide employment and increased education for members of a very marginalized group of people.
[Editor's Note: Thank you for the Session information, Azella. Good session presenters are always worth knowing about].