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 specific objectives of the project are:

1. To adapt the Healthy Environments and Living Places (H.E.L.P.) for kids protocol, developed by the Environmental Protection    
    Agency, to focus particularly on the topic of pesticides.

2. To find 120 families that meet the selection criteria (low income, with children 14 years of age or younger, using pesticides) 
    through presentations, referrals, and home visits.

3. To complete 120 initial home visits with participating families:

During this visit, the health promoters will perform a “home assessment” to recognize the presence of environmental health risks that might result from the use of pesticides. A sample page of the questions contained in the assessment instrument is included in Appendix 1. The information obtained from the assessment helps the health promoters to tailor the information and resources given to each family. An “action plan and recommendations” instrument (sample included in Appendix 2) is then given to the families to help them minimize and control the health risks that could possible be associated with the use of pesticides.

To provide more user friendly educational instruments, the health promoters will also provide the comic books “Fuera químicos, ya llegó la alternativa,” developed by CERM, “Dígale adiós a las plagas,” developed by Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and “Aunque cerca sano” developed by Migrant Clinicians Network (if there are farmworkers in the family).

Also during this visit, the health promoters will distribute a “healthy home kit” with safer alternatives to pesticides: pest traps, boric acid, vinegar, baking soda, etc; and show the families how to use them to reduce the health risks associated with pesticides.

4. To complete 120 follow-up visits with participating families:

After 4-6 weeks from the initial visit, the health promoters will visit all families a second time. During this visit, the health promoters will conduct an evaluation to explore participant perceptions on the utility and helpfulness of the in-home education, comic books, and products from the “healthy home kit.”  They will also employ the same instrument used during the first visit to assess changes in knowledge and behavior towards reducing health risks from the use of pesticides. Some extra products for the healthy home kit will be given to complete the intervention and thank the families for their time and effort in participating in the project.

5. To conduct presentations at health fairs and other community events.

The health promoters will participate in health fairs, community meetings, and events (estimated 15) to disseminate information about pesticides in general, the specifics of the project, and to distribute educational materials among attendees.

6. To conduct process and outcome evaluation:

Process: Project staff will meet monthly to discuss and evaluate progress and will perform monitoring visits with the health promoters. The number of attendees at meetings, trainings, visits, and presentations will be documented as well as the number of educational materials distributed.

Outcome: Data collected during the initial and final visit will be entered into a database and analyzed to document changes in knowledge and practices; barriers towards implementing the recommended alternatives; and the perceived usefulness of the project to participating families.

7. To disseminate results:

Project staff will share project results with health agencies, schools, community clinics, and any other organizations interested in them.

Obstacles to a successful program could be: Not finding enough families that meet the selection criteria and are interested in the program, people not understanding our messages, partners or family members that are uncooperative and unwilling to implement some of the recommendations given including changing habits or risky behaviors.

At the conclusion of the project, we hope to have evaluation instruments that show that families increased their knowledge about the dangers of using pesticides at home. We hope that they find the visits, educational materials, and alternative products useful, and that they are able to make some changes that reduce their risks related to pesticide exposure at home.