“Pesticide Education for Sunland Park and Neighbors”

The project “Pesticide Education for Sunland Park and Neighbors” will be targeted to 120 low income families with children under 14 years of age living in Sunland Park, Berino, Chaparral, La Union, Chamberino, Del Cerro, Anthony, Santa Teresa, and Hatch, NM.

The Southern Doña Ana County residents confront various conditions that may pose a risk to their children’s health. Factors such as environmental pollution, cultural and language barriers, and socio-economic status below the poverty level are recognized indicators of poor health. Twenty five percent of residents in this area of the Doña Ana County live below the poverty level and 63.4 % are of Hispanic origin (US Census 2000). Many of these families are farmworkers. For many of these residents Spanish is their primarily language, making it harder to access information and services. 

The overall goal of this project is to help Doña Ana County residents minimize risks from pesticide exposure at home, particularly to children. Two health promoters from Sunland Park and Chaparral, working as consultants for CERM, will conduct home visits to 120 low income families with children under 14 years of age to teach them about the health risks associated with pesticide use in and around their homes and to promote safer alternatives.

The health promoter will give two visits to a given home, where she will use a “check list” to discuss the knowledge and practices about pesticides and identify the possible health hazards dealing with pesticides. She will then supply an “action plan” which will include different ways to control pesticides and ways to create a healthier environment. At the end of the first visit a “healthy kit” will be given with other educatinal materials.

After four to six weeks, a second visit will be given to discuss the usefulness of the plan of action, the educational materials, and the healthy kit content. In this visit the health promoters will ask some questions to evaluate changes in knowlege as well as the progress made and barriers for the given recommendations.  More products will also be given to refill the “Healthy Kit.” 

The benefits from taking part of this study would be learning more about the advantages and disadvantages of the use of pesticides at home. The study will identify environmental health risks that most of us take for granted, and give recommendations to control them or eliminate them.