Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Volume 21, Issue 1, 2019, Pages 136-142

Implementation and Evaluation of a Recurring Interdisciplinary Community Health Fair in a Remote U.S.–Mexico Border Community (Article)

Lee J. , McKennett M. , Rodriguez X. , Smith S.*
  • a School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive #0696, La Jolla, CA 92093, United States, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, United States
  • b School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive #0696, La Jolla, CA 92093, United States, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States
  • c Calexico Unified School District, Calexico, CA, United States
  • d School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive #0696, La Jolla, CA 92093, United States, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to design, implement, and assess a recurring interdisciplinary community health fair in an underserved border town. University of California San Diego (UCSD) medical and pharmacy students, under faculty supervision, worked alongside community partners in Calexico, California to implement a health fair two miles from the U.S.–Mexico border. Demographic and screening data were described from 293 participants from 2014 to 2016. Over 90% (269/293) listed Mexico as their country of birth, 82.9% (243/293) were monolingual Spanish speakers, 75.4% (221/293) had an annual household income of ≤ $20,000, and 58.7% (172/293) described their health as fair or poor. Screening revealed 91.1% (265/291) were overweight or obese, 37.8% (109/288) had hypertension, 9.3% (27/289) had elevated blood sugar, and 11.4% (33/289) had elevated total cholesterol levels. This model could be replicated in other training settings to increase exposure to border health issues and connect patients to local health services. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Author Keywords

Health fair Latino Border health Medical education Underserved

Index Keywords

Blood Glucose mass screening blood pressure human epidemiology middle aged obesity health status hypertension Aged language ethnology Mexico Hispanic Americans Humans Health Fairs Hispanic California male female Socioeconomic Factors pharmacy student socioeconomics Mexican American cholesterol organization and management blood glucose blood level adult health education body mass Students, Medical Body Mass Index interdisciplinary communication medical student Mexican Americans Students, Pharmacy
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85060129916&doi=10.1007%2fs10903-018-0718-5&partnerID=40&md5=25c6432080e084112a6d8065d2a1d349
DOI: 10.1007/s10903-018-0718-5
ISSN: 15571912
Cited by: 1
Original Language: English