Houston Nonprofit ProSalud Promotes Health Awareness and Healthcare Access Among Hispanic Immigrants

Published: July 12, 2023

Founded in 2000, Houston nonprofit ProSalud has spent more than 20 years providing health education and healthcare access to Hispanic Immigrant communities in Houston, Texas. ProSalud trains Community Health Workers (CHWs) to serve as a bridge between these communities and the health care system by improving health awareness and access to local resources using print materials, presentations, health screenings, community events and other venues.

“I started ProSalud after seeing Community Health Workers in action in El Salvador back before they became prevalent in the US,” said ProSalud Founder and President Peggy Goetz, MD. “For me, the purpose of ProSalud has always been to provide people with up-to-date information so that they can make decisions for themselves. I think there’s a justice in that.”

The CHWs at ProSalud are what is known as promotores de salud, or promotoras, lay health workers who work specifically in Spanish-speaking communities. They come from similar backgrounds as the communities they serve and have built a great deal of trust that makes the communities more receptive to the information the CHWs provide.

“Our promotoras are really impressive,” Goetz said. “They go to health fairs, schools, churches, laundromats, anywhere there are community organizations or events where they can reach people. And because they are all immigrants themselves, I think they are able to relate to the experiences these other families are going through immigrating to the United States.”

ProSalud also frequently partners with academic institutions on health promotion and prevention programs, such as the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the UTHealth Houston Center for health Promotion and Prevention Research (CHPPR).

“I see ProSalud as a bridge between the community and academics, because it’s really a two-way street,” said Goetz. “Information shouldn’t just come from the researchers to the community, but the community should be involved from the very beginning. It’s important for researchers to involve community members and CHWs, to see what the community wants to see and make sure the initiative is going both ways.”

CHPPR investigator Lara Savas, PhD first partnered with Dr. Goetz and ProSalud in 2010. CHPPR investigators and ProSalud have collaborated on a number of projects over the years, and are currently collaborating on COVID-19 testing and vaccination projects as well as Salud en Mis Manos (Health in my Hands), a breast and cervical cancer prevention program geared towards Latinas.

“I really respect and support Dr. Savas’s approach to research with a community-based participatory framework,” said Goetz. “With the projects I’ve worked on with Dr. Savas, she is always interested in the experiences CHWs have had using their programs, how things work in the field, and what changes and improvements can be made to tailor the programs to the community. And she’s really committed to going back and sharing the results of research with the communities involved.”

Thanks to collaborators like ProSalud, the Salud en Mis Manos program has reached more than 8,800 people and helped Latinas access more than 3,000 breast and cervical cancer services since February of 2020.

“Through our work with Dr. Goetz and ProSalud,” said Savas, “we have expanded Salud en Mis Manos into a comprehensive multi-component evidence-based program that includes social marketing campaigns for community-based organizations to disseminate, certified CHW training to deliver breast and cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination education to build the CHW workforce capacity, health coach navigation protocols that CHWs use to help medically underserved women overcome structural barriers to accessing services, and implementation support tools to help CHWs conduct cancer screening and HPV vaccination needs assessments, and to track implementation of the program. Dr. Goetz has hosted many School of Public Health student practicum students and mentored undergraduate interns and Rice students who have worked on our public health projects in community settings, and has served on our PRC (Prevention Research Center) community advisory board. She has been a true champion of developing the CHW workforce in the greater Houston area, as well as developing networks to support CHW outreach in our communities, and has been an invaluable colleague and true friend throughout the years.”

You can learn more about ProSalud by visiting their website.