Health Promotion in the Time of COVID-19
Health Promotion in the Time of COVID-19
This is part of an ongoing series of the AzPRC health promotion efforts in the time of COVID19
The staff and instructors of the Vivir Mejor program at Mariposa Community Health Center in Nogales Arizona remain dedicated to the program’s participants.Coronavirus is sweeping the nation and world, closing schools, shutting down businesses, and changing the landscape of all of our social interactions. Yet even with the challenges of practicing social distancing, the staff and instructors of the Vivir Mejor program remain dedicated to the program’s participants.
Toni Bernal, the program’s community health worker, dedicates herself to participant’s wellbeing during this global pandemic, even while working from home. Unable to make face-to-face visits in person, she makes regular phone calls to the program’s 75 participants, checking in on their families, their health, and how they are feeling. For participants particularly vulnerable to coronavirus who are often afraid to leave home, Toni makes deliveries, including weights for home exercise and a healthy plate picture to provide continued support of nutrition goals.
Toni Bernal CHW
“I am very grateful that thanks to staff and instructor resourcefulness and technology, participants can still stay engaged”
-Rosie Piper, Health Promotion Manager, Mariposa Community Health Center
vivir Mejor’s exercise teachers also remain dedicated to participant’s wellbeing, despite the challenge of canceling in-person group fitness classes. Instead, receiving encouragement from Cecy Navarro, Health Education Coordinator at Mariposa Community Health Center, the instructors recorded videos of their aerobics, Zumba, and yoga classes. Participants received these videos via a group chat in WhatsApp so they can be accessed remotely. The Zumba instructor took it a step further. To make her class extra fun and engaging in this tough time, she began her routine with Ariel de Cuba’s “Quédate en casa” (“Stay home”), a song encouraging people to stay home during coronavirua.
“Gracias, maestra, es como si las tuviera a todas en mi casa” -Vivir Mejor participant
Zumba instructor: “No sales para nada” (“Don’t go out”)