LEARNING ON THE BORDER

For one week, 15 master of public health students can step outside of the classroom and fight public health disparities while living in communities along the United States-Mexico border.

BHSI students and professors before departing the College of Public Health for Douglas. Image taken by Dr. Antonio Zapien.

The students are a part of the Border Health Service Learning Institute a one-credit course offered during the second summer session through the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

Based on a community’s economic development, health status, and recommendations from local health organizations and community leaders, the group determines which border community and which organization to work with, said Cecilia Rosales, associate professor of public health, who is one of the professors for this course

“Border communities lack a lot of infrastructure and they lack a lot of direct service, especially in health care,” Rosales said. “There’s a great disparity in access to services. The idea is to provide additional labor even for a short period of time […] and provide students ‘hands-on’ experience to better understand those disparities.”

In the past, BHSI students have worked with a woman’s cooperative where women in need of work in Agua Prieta, Sonora make piñatas and recycle Christmas cards to resell to the public, she said. They also worked at the No More Deaths migrant aid station helping recently deported migrants return home and providing basic necessities, she added.

Students learning about dengue fever (top) and students at a migrant aid station on the Agua Prieta/Douglas border (bottom). Images taken by Cecilia Rosales.

"It was interesting how intimidated they [community members] were by the whole concept of them teaching masters-level students,” Rosales said. “They gained just as much from the whole experience and they were very empowered by the fact that they realized how much they really did teach the students.”

The group plans to work with community organizations in Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora for the upcoming summer session, she said.

Currently, the physical and mental affects of migration, chronic disease, and communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and dengue fever are some of the major public health issues plaguing the border, Rosales said.

The course is funded through the Community Campus Partnerships for Health, the Arizona Area Health Education Centers Program, and the Arizona Department of Health Services, Office of Border Health, she said.

Deportees being escorted by border patrol officials. Image taken by Allison Jacobs from the group's van. Jacobs was advising the deportees to stop by the migrant aid station across the line.