Funded through the Health Resources and Services Administration
NCHP’s Proyecto Para Prevenir COVID-19 was awarded funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to provide prevention/education information, and vaccinations to residents on the Arizona-Mexico Border, and Colonias. NCHP partnered with JSI Research and Training Institute and 100 Angels and administered educational information and vaccinations in Pima, Cochise, Santa Cruz, and Yuma counties.
Throughout our implementation of the program, NCHP saw great success in the border counties and completed 57,071 outreach contacts which was 32% above our initial goal. These contacts were captured by Promotoras which were hired members of the local communities. These Promotoras completed outreach daily to provide information regarding COVID-19 and our vaccination sites to the public, while also providing scheduling information and when needed, provided transportation assistance to sites for vaccine administration. Vaccine sites were setup throughout the counties and NCHP assisted with 29,340 vaccines throughout the duration of the program, which was 50% above what was proposed during our initial grant writing process. Total area served was approximately 389 miles.
NCHP utilized Newspaper, TV, Radio, paper handouts and Social media advertisements to reach more community members and have a greater impact. During out program we reached 130 cities and 199 zip codes. All Promotoras were bilingual and all information was available in English and Spanish to meet the needs of the communities in the area.
NCHP made a point to stay up-to-date with vaccine information released by the CDC and pass along that information to the communities we served. Because of this, NCHP successfully provided 2,885 pediatric vaccine doses in a very short amount of time following vaccine approval for children & adolescents. Frequent communication between NCHP and Promotoras was imperative to our success and allowed us to tailor information and package it in a manner that was received well by local communities. NCHP was able to get informational materials into the above listed communities within one week of the pediatric authorization. The pediatric vaccine was seen as being crucial for slowing the transmission among family members and protecting some of the most vulnerable population.
Proyecto Para Prevenir successfully met and/or exceeded all our goals. Our emphasis initially with this program was to encourage vaccinations & boosters, dispel untruths about the virus and the vaccine, and encourage proper hygiene practices to slow the spread of the virus.
Due to the evolution of the pandemic and the new normalcy that is post-pandemic life, NCHPs focus has shifted to adopt the mindset of a yearly/seasonal COVID-19 vaccine—much like the yearly flu vaccine.
With the completion of this program, our focus now is to prevent the spread of ALL seasonal viruses and colds by promoting proper hand hygiene, cough & sneeze etiquette, encouraging proper vaccinations & boosters for many viruses, and overall wellness education.
For further information please call (520)795-9756 or email [email protected].