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JoAnn J. Binko, MEd, PhDCand, Johnson & Johnson Community Healthcare Scholar, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, Hampton House, rm 725, Baltimore, MD 21218, 410-751-5296, jbinko@jhsph.edu, Cynthia Calderon, Outreach Coordinator, La Esperanza Clinic, 1630 S. Chadbourne, San Angelo, TX 76903, and Christina Bermea, LVN, Community Health Educator Coordinator, La Esperanza Clinic, 1630 S. Chadbourne, San Angelo, TX 76903.
Background. Hispanic women contract cervical cancer almost twice as often as other women an indication that not enough Hispanic women are receiving Pap screenings. Unfortunately, low-income, medically under-served women are the least likely to receive important preventative services such as a routine Pap smears. The Healthy Chicks Women to Women Services is a community health education program for low-income, medically under-served Hispanic women in the Concho Valley of San Angelo, Texas. The goal of the program is to address health disparities, improve access to services and resources, promote positive health behaviors, and ultimately improve the health outcomes for these low-income women. Methods. The Healthy Chicks campaign focuses on reducing the health disparities in cervical cancer through the use of Promotoras, peer Hispanic women health educators. Promotoras reach out to women in isolated and underserved neighborhoods to provide health information, referrals, and peer support for changing health behaviors. Promotoras refer women in need of cervical cancer screening to the La Esperanza clinic and assist them with appointments. Using a conceptual framework approach, they have refined their field and clinic survey forms to determine barriers to care. Conclusion. Promotoras in an isolated, low-income and medically underserved area working to increase the number of women who receive Pap tests, have also gained skills in designing a monitoring and evaluation plan using a conceptual framework approach, as well as in data collection, entry and analysis. The technical capacity of the promotoras has increased as a result of their participation in the Healthy Chicks Project.
Learning Objectives:
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.