STEER: An innovative environmental/public health education program; making the connection outside the classroom

Residents, who live in sprawling unincorporated tracts called colonias along the Texas-Mexico border, commonly face inadequate access to potable water and wastewater services, electricity, and healthcare, placing them at increased risk of environmental exposures that adversely affect health. These border communities exhibit an increased prevalence of acute and chronic disease compared to national averages.

With a unique blend of service, learning, and research, the South Texas Environmental Education and Research (STEER) program of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio works to serve the needs of border residents while increasing awareness of border health issues among health professionals. STEER is a one-month elective course offered at Laredo and Harlingen satellite campuses that gives health professions students a variety of “hands on” experiences, with direct exposure to the many environmental medicine and public health concerns of the border region. Through STEER partnerships in the U.S. and Mexico, students participate in community-based educational programs and learn about the different state, federal and bi-national health programs that affect the South Texas border region.

STEER students have participated in several federally-funded service/research projects. For example, the HUD-funded Environmental House Calls project was conducted in homes of economically disadvantaged families of children with asthma. STEER students helped reduce asthma symptoms by identifying asthma triggers and by providing families with individually tailored low- to no-cost recommendations.

Over the past twelve years, hundreds of young public health and medical professionals have benefited from this rich, rewarding, enlightening educational experience on the Texas-Mexico Border.