UAMS College of Public Health, Mexican Consulate Team Up for Public Health Initiatives

By Jon Parham

Along with an initial $30,000 commitment from the Mexican government presented to UAMS today, the College of Public Health and the Mexican Consulate in Little Rock also signed a memorandum of understanding to team up for future efforts to boost health education and screening programs.

“Our overall charge is to improve the health and well-being of Arkansans, and this effort is an outstanding opportunity to reach a specific and growing demographic group that allows us to make an immediate difference,” said Jim Raczynski, Ph.D., dean of the College of Public Health. “I look forward to many years of successful collaboration.”

Andres Chao, consul of Mexico, said the “Ventanilla de Salud,” or Health Window Program, is a grand opportunity to provide health information and screenings to Mexicans living in Arkansas.

“Similar programs to the one that will begin in Little Rock have already begun in more than 40 locations within the United States to a great degree of success,” Chao said. “We are sure that this program is an important first step towards the well-being of Mexicans residing in Arkansas and an important addition to the broad range of programs that address health disparities in minority populations. This program will provide Mexicans in Arkansas an opportunity to be stakeholders of their own health and we want to be a part of such efforts.”

Raczynski said the $30,000 in funds and the signed memorandum of understanding provide the opportunity to begin looking at long-term collaborations with the Mexican Consulate that will extend beyond a grant received in December 2009 that initiated the relationship.

A grant of $80,961 was awarded to UAMS to provide basic health care resources such as flu vaccinations and cholesterol screenings at the Mexican Consulate in Little Rock each year. The grant was used to create the Ventanillas de Salud program this year. The grants are part of more than $1.5 million awarded last year to 33 health improvement programs in the state by the Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas.

“This agreement and grant we’ve announced today lay the foundation to extend what the Blue & You Foundation helped get started with the health screenings and educational programs through the Mexican Consulate,” Raczynski said. “There are a lot more good things that will come out of this.”

UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Related Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a 540,000-square-foot hospital; six centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has 2,775 students and 748 medical residents. Its centers of excellence include the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute and the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including nearly 1,150 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com.