Part of the Learn & Serve Hispanic Healthcare Pilot Program

SEE ALSO
	• Learn & Serve Hispanic Healthcare Pilot Program

The Office of International Public Service and Outreach (IPSO) and the College of Public Health, Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, at the University of Georgia formed a partnership on access to health care outreach programming targeting the immigrant community. The goal of this program is to improve access to reliable health care information for the 225 families of Pinewood Estates North while at the same time providing practicum, internships and service learning opportunities for university students. The program began in January of 2005 as a student-led volunteer project; currently, graduate and undergraduate interns in the Department of Health Promotion and Behavior coordinate the seminars.

Marissa Stone discusses a healthy diet and infant care with the audience.

Diana Santiago lists dangers in the home from the audience recall of points raised in the video, "Safety in the Home."

In the spring semester 2009, Brittany Holston and Ashley Reed, undergraduate and graduate students, respectively, in the Department of Health Promotion and Behavior coordinated a series of four seminars for the Latino community in Pinewood Estates North as a continuation of the Learn & Serve Hispanic Health Care Pilot Program. The topics included diabetes, safety in the home, nutrition, and stress management. Healthcare professionals from local outreach programs presented information to the Latino community at the Athens-Clarke County Public Library's Community Learning Center in Pinewood Estates. Forty-five families participated in the health care seminars during the spring semester.

Translation services are provided, when needed, by Mexican graduate students attending the University of Georgia under a Training, Internships, Exchanges and Scholarships (TIES) project awarded to IPSO and funded by USAID.

Marissa Stone enjoys holding an infant after her seminar on safety in the home.		Members of the community complete a questionnaire about the healthcare seminar.
Brittany Holston, an undergraduate in the Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, collects questionnaires about the health care topics after each seminar.		Diana Santiago translates Melanie Cassity's explanation of proper diet, meal portions, and healthy eating at the diabetes seminar.

H. Marissa Stone, Certified Family Life Educator, Child and Family Development, presented two health care seminars for the Latino community at Pinewood Estates North Library and Community Learning Center on February 25, 2009 and March 5, 2009, respectively. Marissa's first seminar was about, "Safe from the Start," or Seguros Desde el Inicio, in Spanish, with a focus on infants.

In the second seminar, Marissa presented a video about "Safety in the Home" and led a discussion of the main points in the video. Diana Santiago, Training, Internships, Exchanges, and Scholarships (TIES) graduate student from Mexico, translated and listed the main points of the seminar on the white board. The video in Spanish was an excellent way to illustrate and communicate with the community about safety in the home.

In the third seminar, Katie Calkin, MPH, CHES, Health Educator, Athens Regional Medical Center, discussed family and stress management on March 17, 2009. This topic required some innovative approaches to the topic. Katie utilized flip charts to start the discussion on how to address stress management in the family. Katie concluded the seminar by leading the audience in a breathing exercise designed to reduce stress. The participants enthusiastically joined in the breathing exercise.

In the final seminar of the spring semester, Melanie Cassity, RN and Diabetes Educator, Athens Regional Medical Center, presented a talk on diabetes on May 7, 2009. First Melanie presented a video about diabetes in Spanish and then opened up a discussion about diet, carbohydrates, and diabetes using "food serving props" to illustrate the impact of food consumption on this disease. The audience responded very well to the discussion of diet, consumer preferences for certain foods that may be high in carbohydrates, and the impact of soft drinks on glucose levels in the body.

Melanie Cassity, Diabetes Educator at Athens Regional Medical Center, discusses the risk of diabetes with the Latino community at the Hispanic Health Care Seminar.		Diana Santiago, TIES graduate student from Mexico, explains information in the pamphlet "Could you be at risk of having diabetes?"
Katie Calkin, Health Educator, Athens Regional Medical Center, discusses family and stress management at Pinewood Estates.		Katie Calkin's stress management chart

Overall the health care seminars were a success. The health care outreach professionals were able to reach the Latino community and provide them with useful information. The Latino community received practical information about health care services in the area and expanded their vocabulary of medical terms in English. The student interns gained practical experience in coordinating and promoting health care outreach programs. Finally, exchange students from Mexico learned some very valuable pedagogical techniques to convey health care information in a bilingual setting, which they can use upon returning to Mexico.