Partnering with promotores: An innovative new practice for increasing disaster resilience in Latino communities

Earthquakes, wildfires, floods, and chemical spills have enormous potential to affect the health of all in southern California, but especially vulnerable Latino populations that are often geographically, linguistically, and culturally isolated from local preparedness and response resources. The UCLA Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center (PERRC) at Loma Linda University seeks to build disaster resilience in families and neighborhoods, which has immediate and long-term impacts on community health. This project uses a quasi-experimental, mixed-methods, community-based participatory research (CBPR) design to assess the efficacy of partnering with promotores (community health educators) as the link between researchers, public health workforce, and community members. The project connects with promotores from one urban and one rural Latino communities to create a disaster preparedness capacity building program. After receiving CBPR and Institutional Review Board training, promotores conducted 446 household surveys, which measured disaster resilience through indicators of social, economic, and ecologic capital and emergency preparedness beliefs, attitudes, and practices. Data was also collected through 25 key informant interviews, 5 focus groups, and 2 windshield surveys. The findings led to the development of a 9-hour, Spanish/English, awareness-level train-the-trainer curriculum that teaches emergency preparedness and response, with emphasis on community planning and integration with the local resources. Promotores also increased linkages with the community at health fairs and table-top exercises. The session will discuss the process and impact evaluations, presenting the approaches used in this PERRC project with promotores as a new potential best practice for increasing disaster resilience among isolated Latino communities.