Northwest Community Hospital's 'Promotoras' promote health for Latinos
Just a few years ago, Ana Flores was a student at the Northwest Community Healthcare Community Resource Center in Palatine trying to learn English.
Now, she works for the Arlington Heights-based hospital and health care organization as one of five Promotoras de Salud, or promoters of good health, educating Hispanic people around the Northwest suburbs in Spanish about important health topics such as diabetes, congestive heart failure and breast-feeding.
Flores and her fellow promotoras understand the barriers to health that often face people in their communities.
“It could be that people don't know how to fill out forms at the doctor, or they don't have a doctor so they wait until something bad happens and they wind up in the emergency room,” Flores said. “Or they don't have insurance or they don't have money to pay for the medication they need. Or they don't understand that their condition is something they need to take care of forever — it won't just go away.” Northwest Community's Promotoras program provided health education to 356 people last year, 75 percent of whom had an annual family income of less than $25,000, and half of whom were uninsured. Promotoras also made 1,300 bedside visits to 468 Latino mothers who delivered babies at Northwest Community Hospital, officials said. The program is funded by the health care organization and by United Way.
Flores, a Palatine resident, specializes in congestive heart failure and helps her clients with every part of the condition. She helps them understand that this is a long-term concern and what it means. She arranges for a taxi to pick them up if they don't have transportation to a doctor's appointment. She meets them at the clinic to help translate. She calls them a few times a week to make sure they are taking their medication.
Last year none of her patients were readmitted within 30 days.
Flores' next dream is to become a nurse. She got her certified nurse assistant license through Harper College and is enrolled in the school's medical assistant program.
For all of the promotoras, the work is much more than a part-time job; it is a lifestyle and a passion. Flores recently took one client, a 19-year-old mother of two who had nowhere to live, into her own home.
“As a Latina, you have come from another country and you know the feeling of being alone,” Flores said. “It's a really good feeling to make a difference for families and change someone's life.”
Other promotoras are recognized in the community as someone who can help answer questions or provide resources for problems beyond health.
“I am a go-to person in my community, and because I wear the NCH ID, I am seen as more than just another neighbor,” Promotora Laura Ramirez said. “This means that I am giving knowledge even when I am not working because people are always stopping me to ask about something.”
Another promotora, Violeta Audelo-Solano of Palatine, specializes in breast-feeding. She visits new mothers at Northwest Community Hospital and speaks to them in Spanish about the importance of breast-feeding and how to hold their new babies. She follows up after they leave the hospital for up to a year.
She also helps moms before they come to the hospital and makes sure they know the importance of prenatal care.
“My mother is a nurse in Mexico and for me it is very important to help my community,” said Audelo-Solano, who was hand-picked for the program during her English classes. “I saw this was my opportunity to grow, to help my family and to help the people around me. I love this program so much.”
“This is about not forgetting where you came from,” she added. “I live here, these are my neighbors, and this is my mission.”