UT School of Public Health to Tackle Border Health Issues

How can the health of residents living along the Texas-Mexico border be improved? A team of community leaders along with faculty and students at The University of Texas-Houston School of Public Health want to answer this question as part of an ambitious community-based health assessment.

The local community leaders and researchers from UT-Houston School of Public Health, and satellite campuses in El Paso, Dallas and San Antonio, are working closely with local health agencies, health care providers, and public health officials in this assessment of health needs and health care resources.

In the assessment, existing information about the health status of the valley will be examined, and new data will be collected, as needed, to evaluate areas such as health care, mental health, air and water quality, employment and housing. Health professionals and employers will also be interviewed to determine the size of the health workforce and training needs.

This study is the first project for UT-Houston School of Public Health's newest satellite in Brownsville. The new facility on the UT-Brownsville campus is a division of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Regional Academic Health Center, scheduled for completion in fall 2001.

Dr. Jimmy Perkins, assistant dean of the border campus and principal investigator of the study, says the goal of the 14-month study is to broaden public health education along the border and meet the ever-increasing need for a larger public health workforce to serve the growing region.

"Statistics show there are shortages of some health professionals and health services in the valley. People who work with low-income and poverty-stricken families have indicated that there is a lack of available services," says Dr. Perkins. "All communities need to do a better job of identifying these needs and finding solutions. Our job is to facilitate this process for the community. This study allows us to establish relationships with local faculty and community leaders to ease public health problems in the border region."

Dr. Palmer Beasley, dean of the UT-Houston School of Public Health, says the Brownsville campus is an extension of the school's satellite network that will provide education and essential support for the public health workforce in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

"We want to eventually provide educational, research and outreach coverage to the entire region, and intend to work with our Mexican counterparts to ensure the public health needs of both sides are met," says Dr. Beasley. "I envision a time when we have an entire population fully aware of the principles and values of public health."

More than 50 members of the assessment team represent the local community, and include Dr. Tony Zavaleta, vice president for external affairs at UT-Brownsville; Luisa Saenz of the Coalition for Valley Families; and Dr. Paul Villas, director of the Texas-Mexico Border Health Coordination Office.

One of the goals of the community health assessment is to develop a curriculum and other education activities that are sensitive to the health needs perceived by community residents. Future faculty and students will be involved in research and community service projects with potential emphasis in community health, disease control, environmental health, maternal and child health, health promotion and disease prevention.

Dr. Perkins says when the study is completed, he and his colleagues will not only have valuable health information about the border population, but the community will also have valuable tools to help residents become self-empowered in terms of their health.

"This study is about education, research and outreach, and this is the appropriate starting point," says Dr. Perkins.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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