MODELS FOR PRACTICE
FOCUS
AREA: EDUCATIONAL AND COMMUNITY-BASED PROGRAMS
Program Name: Saludando Salud (Greeting Health)
Location:
Healthy People 2010 Objective: 7-11
Web Address: www.rndc.org
Blueprint: The majority of the
population served by Saludando Salud (Greeting Health) is underinsured and
uninsured, with an annual family income of less than $20,000. Program services
and activities occur in the clinic/hospital setting, patient/client home,
schools, community, and via the radio.
Saludando
Salud provides services such as:
·
culturally specific health promotion and disease
prevention campaigns and education;
·
culturally and linguistically appropriate health
promotion/education and disease prevention resource information;
·
local Spanish medical interpretation trainings;
·
bilingual community health advisor/outreach
services at regional clinics serving the un/underinsured;
·
consultation and in-services to local health
care providers on how to better serve the Latino population;
·
weekly bilingual radio show providing current
health promotion and disease prevention information;
·
weekly bilingual Latino teen radio show focusing
on alcohol, tobacco, and other drug prevention;
·
youth leadership and the Latino culture; and
·
quarterly newsletter for regional health care
providers with Salud program information, cultural, and resource information.
The
number and nature of partnerships and organizations involved with Saludando
Salud varies with respect to specific projects and funding. Salud has received
funding through foundation, state, and federal grants. Partners/organizations
who have worked with Salud include the local Latino population; local and
metro-based Latino programs/organizations; local hospitals and clinics,
including Mayo Health System facilities; public health department; Minnesota
Department of Health; state health plans/foundations; local elementary, middle,
and high schools; local community education and recreation; University of
Minnesota Extension offices; the local state university; the local public radio
station; and local county boards and commissioners.
Saludando Salud operates as a bicultural,
bilingual team. The
staff have backgrounds and experience in migrant work, Latino outreach, health
education/promotion and social work, and they are from the region. Saludando
Salud currently has four paid staff positions: coordinator, prevention
specialist (alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs), community health advisor
(outreach worker), and health promotion specialist. Salud does not receive in-kind
or donated staff. Salud pays support staff (primarily accounting staff) through
an indirect rate calculated into each of Salud’s grants.
Region
Nine Development Commission is a local unit of government serving the nine
counties of Blue Earth, Brown,
Making a Difference: Saludando Salud continues
to be sustained through state, federal, and foundation grants. Partnerships and
collaboration with health care providers, health plans, the local university,
and other Latino organizations and agencies have expanded the number of
available funding opportunities. Salud programming began as a demonstration
project but is now considered ongoing. Salud program evaluation is also an
ongoing process, which measures a variety of project-related objectives and
outcomes through quantitative data collection, client satisfaction surveys, and
focus groups.
Beginnings: The original stakeholders in
the program were a consortium of health care providers, including public
health, from the counties of Sibley and Watonwan, the Region Nine Development
Commission, and local county commissioners. Region Nine Development Commission
and local county commissioners are still involved with Salud.
New
stakeholders continue to be added as grant and foundation funding become
available. New funding allows Salud to extend services to additional
communities and counties. Since Salud is a community-based program,
stakeholders from all service areas are partners in the planning and
implementation of project activities. Local collaboration and ownership are
necessary for effective and sustained change. Local politics, resistance of
some health care providers to the project, changes in funding, and project service
areas are all reasons why some original stakeholders are not currently
collaborating with Salud. Dropouts of new stakeholders are minimal and are
primarily due to the lack of available time for stakeholders to participate.
Challenges and Solutions: Sustaining program funding continues to
be a challenge. Building partnerships and collaborating with other
agencies/organizations has proven beneficial in obtaining funding. Salud was
first funded through the Office of Rural Health and Outreach - Health Resources and Services
Administration (HRSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Salud’s
current funding is through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Minnesota
Department of Health, the federal Community Access Program (CAP), and local
contracts. Program focus has never changed; however, program services and
activities continue to grow and develop with additional funding opportunities.
Salud only seeks funding that supports its mission and goals.
Saludando
Salud is seeking funding to place additional community health advisors, health
education/promotion and school-based programming in several counties with high
Latino populations.
Solutions
that Saludando Salud uses are collecting evaluation data to demonstrate program
effectiveness, networking and collaboration to connect with potential funders,
one-one one outreach to the Latino population, a Spanish radio show, conference
presentations, Saludando Salud newsletter, and state and national publications.
PROGRAM CONTACT INFORMATION
Gina
Borchardt
Saludando
Salud (Greeting Health)
Region
Nine Development Commission
Phone:
(507) 389-8873
Fax:
(507) 387-7105
E-mail:
gina@rndc.mankato.mn.us