An Innovative United States–Mexico Community Outreach Initiative for Hispanic and Latino People in the United States: A Collaborative Public Health Network

Abstract

Collaborative partnerships are a useful approach to improve health conditions of disadvantaged populations. The Ventanillas de Salud (VDS) (“Health Windows”) and Mobile Health Units (MHUs) are a collaborative initiative of the Mexican government and US public health organizations that use mechanisms such as health fairs and mobile clinics to provide health information, screenings, preventive measures (eg, vaccines), and health services to Mexican people, other Hispanic people, and underserved populations (eg, American Indian/Alaska Native people, geographically isolated people, uninsured people) across the United States. From 2013 through 2019, the VDS served 10.5 million people (an average of 1.5 million people per year) at Mexican consulates in the United States, and MHUs served 115 461 people from 2016 through 2019. We describe 3 community outreach projects and their impact on improving the health of Hispanic people in the United States. The first project is an ongoing collaboration between VDS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to address occupational health inequities among Hispanic people. The second project was a collaboration between VDS and CDC to provide Hispanic people with information about Zika virus infection and health education. The third project is a collaboration between MHUs and the University of Arizona to provide basic health services to Hispanic communities in Pima and Maricopa counties, Arizona. The VDS/MHU model uses a collaborative approach that should be further assessed to better understand its impact on both the US-born and non–US-born Hispanic population and the public at large in locations where it is implemented.

Research on the Driving Factors of Constructing Innovative Thinking Environment from the Perspective of Online Community

“…e academic community generally believes that the dissemination of information in the online community is related to the learning behavior of members in the group, and the learning behavior is determined by the three elements of individual characteristics, behavioral characteristics, and cultural environment and their interaction [11]. In recent years, some studies have paid attention to the application of network community education function in the field of ideological and political education and believe that its concealment and targeted advantages can be used as a new carrier of ideological and political education in colleges and universities, and an ideological and political education model under the network community should be actively constructed [12]. The younger generation of Chinese has become a powerful force in Internet democracies and has stronger spending power Compared with the "previous generation" Chinese born in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, the "younger generation" born after the 1980s has become the main force of Chinese netizens and has stronger spending power than the previous generation.…”

Advancing Access to Healthcare through Telehealth: A Brownsville Community Assessment

“…The focus group participants [see Figure 5 ] also highlighted several key considerations when developing a regional telehealth plan: there is a need to integrate measures of accountability, regional approaches must engage with rural colonias , a hybrid option would make the system more robust, and citizen representation is essential for equitable engagement. Research suggests that culturally tailored interventions can lead to enhanced treatment engagement and improved treatment effectiveness [ 51 , 52 ]. What some might acceptable is contextualized and interlinked with prevailing social and cultural norms, therefore understanding and designing for such norms would therefore be critical to a successful plan implementation [ 53 ]…”

Post-COVID19 strategies to support the health care interactions of U.S. Mexican immigrants and return migrants with the Mexican health system

“…Even though the Mexican government has funded this program directly, VDS operate in coordination with multiple public and private organizations in their local jurisdictions, such as U.S. local health care providers. The VDS are located within the 49 Mexican consulates in the U.S. located in 25 U.S. states, and through 11 Mobile Health Units (Flynn et al, 2021). In 2018, approximately 1.5 million individuals received culturally and linguistically sensitive services in a VDS, 2 million individuals attended orientation and information sessions, 1.8 million health screenings were conducted, 48 thousand vaccines were administered, and 316 thousand health referrals to local health care providers and insurers were issued (Flynn et al, 2021).…”

“…The VDS are located within the 49 Mexican consulates in the U.S. located in 25 U.S. states, and through 11 Mobile Health Units (Flynn et al, 2021). In 2018, approximately 1.5 million individuals received culturally and linguistically sensitive services in a VDS, 2 million individuals attended orientation and information sessions, 1.8 million health screenings were conducted, 48 thousand vaccines were administered, and 316 thousand health referrals to local health care providers and insurers were issued (Flynn et al, 2021). These services were delivered in a safe and trustful environment (Rangel Gomez et al, 2017;Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores 2017).…”