Community-level Environmental Health/All Hazards Emergency Preparedness Program



Program Overview

In 2007/2008 this program became The Community-level Environmental Health/All Hazards Emergency Preparedness Program is funded by the New Mexico Office of Border Health to support environmental health issues affecting border residents and address all hazards and pandemic flu emergency preparedness at the household level. The goal is to build the capacity of the general public to improve their home environment and provide education and resources needed to address an emergency event. The following list highlights the activities completed during January thru March 2008.

Click here to download the Home Safety Toolkit...


Background

The Environmental Health-Home Safety Education Project funded by the New Mexico Department of Health, Office of Border Health is presently in its 9th year. The Southern Area Health Education Center (SoAHEC) initiated this environmental health home safety education project as a pilot project in December 1999. In the first year of funding, SoAHEC entered into a partnership with the Border Environmental Health Coalition (BEHC) to carry out this project. The BEHC contracted with three community health workers (Promotoras) to:

       * Conduct home visits in their own communities;
       * Assess the homes for environmental health and home safety hazards that exist within the home; and
       * Develop an environmental health education plan for each individual home based on the findings.

In Years 1 & 2, the program was only implemented in the southern Doņa Ana County communities of Chaparral, Anthony, and Sunland Park. Currently the project has expanded to the northern part of Doņa Ana County in Hatch, Rincón, and other surrounding communities. Effective July 2001, SoAHEC was successful in creating community health worker positions at New Mexico State University and was able to hire the Promotoras directly through the university and provide them with full benefits.

The Environmental Health Home Safety Education project has recently expanded into Luna County with several Promotoras from the Ben Archer Health Center in Columbus. SoAHEC has provided training and guidance on how to start up a similar Environmental Health - Home Safety Education project in their community, which demonstrates that the project has been successful and can be replicated in other areas.         Continued...