This project addresses the need for increasing (electronic) health information access by border residents in Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, and Willacy counties commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. The Diocese of Brownsville in partnership with the Regional Academic Health Center will provide computer and electronic health information access training to promotoras (health outreach persons). The promotoras will in turn educate residents in their own communities on how to use National Library of Medicine consumer health databases to find information on diseases/conditions with a high incidence along the U.S. Mexico border. The vision is to create a more informed healthcare consumer ultimately resulting in improved health status of the community. [The diocese currently assists clients in this region by means of providing prescription assistance, medication management and diabetic support. Our goals for this program are to (1) Expand Internet access to reliable, quality health information for the public and health providers to begin reducing health disparities. This will be done by establishing a partnership with the Regional Academic Health Center and collaborate with the TX A&M University Colonia Project, and community-based organizations to bring electronic health information to the underserved communities. We plan to develop easy-to-use Internet access to promote the public's understanding of health information resources which are sensitive to cultural diversity issues, educational level, and language (e.g., Spanish); (2) Educate current local promotoras to use NLM services and Medline Plus as a primary source for reliable consumer health information on major diseases/conditions and train promotoras to specifically target minority groups, low income and special populations to use electronic health information effectively. In turn, the promotoras will provide the access and information to residents with minimal or no access. In addition, this project aims to go to the communities that have no access to health information and/or transportation.] ? ? ? ?
