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Cordelia's VISTA Storybook
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My first few months serving as the AmeriCorps VISTA with Capital Area Health Education Center’s (AHEC) Ventanilla de Salud program have already been very rewarding. This particular VISTA position is a unique one, organized by Texas Campus Compact through Texas State which oversees the Capital AHEC. By serving directly with the Ventanilla de Salud, which is the health outreach program of the Mexican Consulate, I get to work on a number of different exciting projects.
My first two months were spent helping to plan and implement Binational Health Week, the Ventanilla’s annual week-long series of free health events. It was fascinating to learn more about this international movement intended to promote the health and wellbeing of the Latino population living in the U.S. I wrote press releases in both Spanish and English, drafted City and County proclamations and attended the presentations of each in the Austin City Council and the Travis County Commissioners Court. I also participated in the media/advertising component of Binational Health Week, visiting the studio of Univision television’s morning show Despierta Austin and speaking about Binational Health Week on two Austin radio stations. The health fair held at the Consulate during Binational Health Week was also a great learning experience because I directly saw how many agencies were coming together to provide services to the Latino population in Central Texas.
After the initial rush of activity for Binational Health Week, my supervisor and I shifted our focus to other goals outlined in the VISTA Assignment Description and long-term goals for the Ventanilla de Salud. In November we began to plan and implement a sustainable outreach model in which we travel to ESL classes around Austin or other audiences (such as clients at Manos de Cristo or residents at Casa Marianella) to present health information and share local resources. The development of this outreach model clearly reflects the need for flexibility and creativity at the Ventanilla de Salud, and at non-profits in general. Although we have direct access to a hard-to-reach population via the Mexican Consulate, we found it challenging to attract people to attend informational sessions or workshops. Thus, we decided to hold the workshops with existing audiences around Austin, such as the ESL classes offered by English at Work. Our health info sessions can directly supplement the Health and Safety portion of their curriculum, while providing crucial education on health topics and resources to the Latino population. This outreach model can also be easily modified according to the specific needs of each audience, so I think it will become a powerful component of the services offered by the Ventanilla de Salud.
I have also created a monthly bulletin board to display in the lobby of the Consulate which focuses on a specific health issue. October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so I displayed information in Spanish on breast cancer, breast self-exam techniques and mammograms, as well as free mammograms offered by one of our partner agencies, El Buen Samaritano. For November, Diabetes Awareness Month, we displayed information on free diabetes education classes offered by Seton Hospital, as well as ways to prevent diabetes. The bulletin board for December, AIDS Awareness Month, includes basic information about AIDS and ways to prevent it, as well as advertisement of free HIV testing in the Consulate, provided by the Wright House Wellness Center. These monthly health topics, along with the monthly health fair held in the Consulate, have been an engaging way to incorporate a degree of direct service into my VISTA work.
I have also begun fulfilling the VISTA Assignment Description of five “Close the Gaps” events which promote higher education and careers in healthcare to underprivileged students, especially Latino students. The first event reached 150 high school students in the College Forward program via their College/Universidad 101 event. The second event reached almost 100 more students at the Hispanic Futures Conference held at Travis High School.
Currently, I am seeking funding for Ventanilla de Salud’s upcoming project “Youth & Art: A Community Mural Promoting Public Health” which will bring together students from the Southwest Key Boys and Girls Club and the East Austin College Prep Academy with a professional muralist to create a high quality, portable mural focused on the theme of a healthy community. This project has allowed me to learn more about grant and proposal writing.
Aside from these projects, the VISTA position with Ventanilla de Salud has also included general learning opportunities, such as a presentation on obesity at the Capitol, workshops offered by Impact Austin and I Live Here, I Give Here, Hispanic Outreach Taskforce meetings, Travis County Underage Drinking Prevention Taskforce meetings, Capital AHEC and Ventanilla de Salud Advisory Board meetings, presentations at various health-related conferences, and many other events. Needless to say, I now feel integrated into the Ventanilla de Salud, and I’m very much looking forward to the remainder of my year of service with such a worthwhile organization. |
