Office of Border Health
New Mexico Department of Health - Division of Policy and Performance
New Mexico Outreach Office
What we do
The work of the USMBHC is centered on capacity building, and the State Outreach Offices (OROs) are located in key sites in the ten U.S. and Mexico Border States to provide that leadership on the local level. A significant portion of USMBHC resources are used to support the administration and programming of the Outreach Offices. The State ORO Offices offer technical support and opportunities for community partners to join together in addressing border health challenges. The ORO Office also serves to support USMBHC Section members in their respective membership roles.
Mission and Role of the NM-ORO
The role of the New Mexico Outreach Office of the USMBHC is to work with state and local binational and border public health agencies and organizations in support of USMBHC activities, such as Border Binational Health Week, NIIW-Vaccination Weeks of the America, Healthy Border 2010 program areas. The three areas of focus for the OROs are: Access to Care, Research and Data Collection, and Health Promotion and Education.
Staff
The Outreach Office Coordinator is responsible for providing management and coordinating functions for the NM-ORO. Other tasks include:
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Working in collaboration with OBH staff, Region 5, local public health offices, medical service providers and other partnering organizations to organize border-wide BBHW events.
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Coordinating border-wide health promotion in New Mexico for NIIW and BBHW.
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Representing the NM-Outreach Office at the monthly meetings of community meetings.
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Development of training programs for selected public health themes and audiences in the bi-national setting, in collaboration with OBH staff, Region 5, local public health offices, medical service providers, community health councils, and other partnering organizations, including Mexican counterparts as appropriate.
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Organization and facilitation of meetings, conferences, symposia, workshops, short-courses, health fairs, and other similar activities included in annual plans of the NM-ORO and OBH.
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Supervision, monitoring, and evaluation of contractors and control of the quality of expected products and services.
Programs and Projects
- Healthy Border 2010 Program—The Outreach Office is responsible for implementation of the Healthy Border 2010 agenda within New Mexico. Healthy Border 2010 aims to improve health in the United States-Mexico border region, The Healthy Border 2010 program was established as the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission’s binational agenda of health promotion and disease prevention during the Commission’s second meeting in March of 2001. The Healthy Border 2010 agenda establishes 10-year objectives for binational health promotion and disease prevention in the border region. The program also serves as a basis for the development of bilateral, border-wide and community health improvement plans.
- Binational Health Fairs
Health Promotion and Media Production
In developing health promotion materials, we must take into account the level of educational attainment and cultural values of the bilingual population we work with to ensure that people are listening to the health messages we develop. All posters, flyers, tickets, and announcements are bilingual, and these materials are reviewed by several health committees before dissemination. In addition, the office looks at where and how the information will be distributed—through schools, on the radio, or in newspapers, depending on the target audience for the health messages. All health promotion efforts are evaluated for their ability to produce an effect on programs or events.
