SFG / DTA Scholars: “The role of Promotores in accessing existing oral health services – Bi-national model”

The SFG / DTA Scholars program was one of the first rounds of projects the DTA Foundation (ADTA Foundation at the time) funded as an organization, in partnership with the Santa Fe Group. The following is an excerpt from the 2004 project report.

“Community Voices” is a community-based health organization which works on both sides of the Texas border to improve medical and dental health of residents in and around El Paso. Training and then utilizingpromotores (culturally-grounded health workers), this project established a mechanism to assist underserved persons to access oral health care through outreach services and education. The project worked with dental students and dental hygienists to provide some services and to develop materials and training programs. Forty-seven promotores participated in the training program, representing 12 of 14 promotora agencies in El Paso County. Training covered not only basic oral health issues, but those relating oral health with smoking and diabetes as well. Field evaluation was not incorporated into this project, but anecdotal information suggests the expanded role for promotores to be welcomed and useful. As noted below, the project attracted a great deal of attention and resulted in the training of health workers from Central America as well as from the immediate project area. Long-term, the project seeks to develop policy recommendations suitable for improving dental care access among underserved and minority populations.
The Pan American Health Organization committed funds for expanded training in conjunction with a US-Mexico Border Diabetes Prevention and Control Project. The Centers Disease Control also expressed a desire to participate in expanding the impact of this project.