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Community Alliance Working for Heart Health
 The local community is a full
partner in the Salud para su Corazón Initiative through the Community
Alliance Working for Heart Health and an extended network of leaders in the
community. The Alliance was established to play an integral part in the Salud
para su Corazón Initiative program planning, development, and
implementation, and to provide a dynamic link between the NHLBI and the Latino
community. One of the initiative's first steps was to form an alliance of
physicians, nurses, dietitians, media professionals, business leaders, and
volunteers from the local Latino community. These individuals brought to the
project their experience and knowledge about CVD among the Latino community,
and represented their organizations, which included clinics, hospitals,
business, civic associations, community centers, and churches.
The Community Alliance Working for Heart Health was comprised of 30
individuals and organizations who shared the interest and involvement in
reducing CVD among Latinos. They formed a core network for the purposes of
sharing information and resources, and for providing technical assistance to
the project. Alliance members were also actively involved in the selection of
communication strategies and in the design, production, and dissemination of
messages. Their mechanisms of participation included participation in various
outreach and dissemination of educational materials, media strategies and
special events.
Specific tasks of Community Alliance members:
- To provide overall direction and monitoring of the
project. This task was achieved mainly through general community
alliance meetings for making key decisions about the project. For example, in
the first meeting Alliance members defined who the project's target audience
should be. In addition, Alliance members actively participated in various
project subcommittees.
- To share expertise about the Latino community. Members of
the Alliance were instrumental in identifying opinion leaders and community
gatekeepers, and appropriate communication channels with the project staff. In
addition, they were essential in developing trust in the community. Without
this trust and the resulting openness and enthusiasm, the project would not
have such significant impact and visibility.
- To participate in the project's research design. Members
of the Alliance contributed to the survey development for pre and post
evaluation; to the design of focus groups' discussion guides; and to obtaining
locations for focus groups' sites. Based on their experience, Alliance members
also provided input on specific CVD prevention needs of the Latino community in
the Washington metropolitan area (such as suggestion of key messages, most
appropriate communication channels and formats, and clarification of health
beliefs and practices).
- To assist in message and materials development and
dissemination. Often Alliance members took a lead in the development
and implementation of multimedia campaign and outreach efforts. For example, an
Alliance member, produced a 21-part, five-minute series "A Month of
Prevention Against Heart Disease" which was then aired three times daily
on a local Latino radio station affiliated with radio Borinquen. Another
example includes the production of two 24-minute TV programs, "For the
Love of Your Heart" and "Cooking with Your Heart in Mind"
initiated by Alliance members for the local Spanish-language Univision TV
network. In addition, Alliance members were instrumental in planning and pilot
testing the "charlas", and the development of a Latino physicians'
network.
- To serve as spokespersons for the NHLBI project among various local
and national audiences. The Alliance was the link to the Latino
community and as such it provided access to the community, enhanced acceptance
for the project, and input from the community into the project. For example,
the majority of Alliance members participated in the Kick-off of the project
which was crucial for legitimizing the project and involving the community.
In a recent self-administered questionnaire which asked Alliance members to
assess their participation in the NHLBI project, most Alliance members
indicated that their major contributions had been a) to share their cultural
expertise while participating in the project; b) to participate in planning
project activities; c) to provide access to the target population; and d) to
provide knowledge on technical areas. They also expressed their satisfaction
with the fact that most ideas for the project activities had originated in
Alliance Committees. Finally, they thought that the project's newsletter
"Saludos" (which NHLBI created specifically for this purpose) had
been a helpful tool in keeping them updated on the initiative's progress. In
sum, the Alliance was key for the success of the NHLBI project by enabling the
production and dissemination of multiple media and educational materials
significantly beyond the project's resources, and by expanding the "Salud
para su Corazón" network to over 400 members. The Alliance played a
vital role in making this campaign a culturally relevant campaign and
maximizing the exposure and acceptance of the campaign's messages. The Alliance
effectively linked community based organizations with the national health
agency on a day-to-day operational basis.
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