Atlanta, Georgia, 19th of May of 2014.
Announcement of collaboration between the Consulate General of Mexico in Atlanta and Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University
The Consulate General of Mexico in Atlanta and Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health are pleased to announce, the beginning of a collaboration between both institutions to actively provide health and wellbeing programs for the population of Mexican origin in the states of Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee, through a program called Ventanilla de Salud (VdS).
The goals of this program are to provide to those who visit the Mexican Consulate preventive health information, free medical tests and exams, and help finding a medical home, or clinic where an individual can assist on a regular basis and where his/her health is treated in a holistic manner. This collaboration will also extend these services, through the Mobile Unit of the Consulate, to different cities and towns in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee.
The Mexican population accounts for two thirds of Hispanics in many states in the Southeast United States, including Georgia. Most of this population is young and through the services offered by the VdS, this program intends to reach them in a timely manner, to help them prevent chronic diseases.
In addition, the program will allow public health students from Emory and from associated educational institutions, such as the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico, to have an opportunity to practice their training under supervision when providing their services to the users of the VdS. Providing health services in Spanish to the Mexican community, will give them access to a wider cultural training that in the near future, will contribute to improving the quality of these services among the Latino community in general.
Declarations of the Consul General of Mexico Ricardo Cámara:
For the Consulate General of Mexico in Atlanta, this agreement with Emory represents a big step forward in our mission to give protection and assistance to Mexicans living in the states of Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama.
Through this collaboration, which is unprecedented in this region of the United States, the necessary conditions will be created to provide information and assistance to our community to help them prevent health risk situations, in particular benefiting those who visit the Consulate. I thank Rollins School of Public Health of Emory for its support and commitment to implement this agreement. There is no doubt that it will also have a positive impact in the future, for the broader Latino community in the region.
Declarations Dr. Carlos Del Rio (Hubert Chair and Professor of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health):
To me, the agreement being signed today between the Consulate General of Mexico in Atlanta and Emory, represents a great opportunity to improve the health information available to the Mexicans who visit the Consulate for other services. I hope that this is only the first step of a broader collaboration that will benefit Mexicans living in the states of Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama.
Declarations Dr. Karen Andes (Assistant Professor, Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health):
This collaboration represents an invaluable resource to us, as there is scarcity of health professionals with cultural and linguistic training to provide services to Mexicans. This collaboration will enhance our capacity to develop these qualifications, among health professionals being trained at Emory
It is well known that an individual´s health tends to deteriorate with age. For this reason, the program intends to focus its services on the young population, which is the majority of the population of Mexican origin, in order to prevent the development of chronic diseases as they age.
This Program offers a great opportunity to prevent those diseases and to change the future state of the health of Mexicans living in Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama.