Health Promoter/Promotor de Salud Work Group

CRECIENDO JUNTOS – GROWING TOGETHER

Health Promoter/Promotor de Salud Work Group

Register for the Spring 2010 Community Health Promoter Training Class in Nelson County! CJ’s Health Promoter Work Group is now recruiting Latinos for the Spring 2010 Community Health Promoter (CHP) training in Nelson County. An Information Meeting about the training program will be held Wednesday, March 17, 6:00 - 8:00 pm at The Nelson Center in Lovingston, on Route 29 South. The eight week training program begins April 6 and runs through May 27 with classes every Tuesday and Thursday from 6:00 - 8:00 pm at Trinity Episcopal Church on Oak Ridge Road in Lovingston. Students will be educated on topics such as dental health, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, pregnancy and child birth, child health, cancer, family planning, sexually transmitted diseases, nutrition, and emotional health. They will learn to perform health assessments and offer health education and referral assistance to families in their communities. Throughout the course and upon graduating, the new Health Promoters will volunteer at least twenty hours in their communities, gaining valuable skills and offering medical aid to those in need. To register, call Amalia Sillas at 434-263-7321.

In May 2007, the CJ Health Promoter Work Group was formed with the objective of providing Charlottesville and Albemarle County Latinos greater access to health care with a Lay Health Promoter program.

Since then the group has organized a Latino Health Survey, a large Help Fair, two public panels addressing the Health Promoter model, and extensive training for Latino Health Promoters.

As of December 2009, the 12 health promoters graduated in November 2008 had 485 encounters with 264 people as part of their homework. Of these 264, 89 lived in the City of Charlottesville and 175 are from Albemarle County. Adding health activities at the October 2009 CJ Help Fair, in Southwood, and at migrant camps, a total of 452 people were seen for 673 encounters between August and November 2009. The 24 Health Promoters trained by the work group in 2008 and 2009 have conducted 18 health screenings with an average of 20 people per screening. Screenings were held in Latino grocery stores, hair salons, meetings and other sites.

Among its many other activities, the CJ Health Promoter Work Group is organizing an encounter in 2010 between Latino Health Promoter groups in Charlottesville, Richmond and Harrisonburg.

Individuals and agencies interested in joining or supporting the group or requiring more information should contact its coordinators: Jan Wolfe (RHOP), wlfwmn@gmail.com; Nila Saliba (UVA Cancer Center), ns7e@virginia.edu; or Aaron Miller (SARA), aaron@saracville.org

Contents

Work Group Members
Founding and present membership

Activities
Past and present work group initiatives

Meeting Notes, Updates, Media Reports & Emails

Resources & Contacts – English

Recursos en Español

Graduation: Health Promoters Class of 2008.