Binational Health Week kicks off
CALEXICO — Pioneers Memorial Hospital, Ventanilla de Salud, and Mexican Consulate kicked off their Binational Health Week event early Friday morning at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church hall.
The inauguration began with the Calexico High School Mighty Bulldog band performing the national anthem for both countries.
Binational Health Week, now in its 18th year, has evolved into one of the largest mobilization efforts in the Americas to improve the health and well-being of the underserved Latino population that lives in the United States and Canada, according to the binationalhealthweek.org website.
Federal, state and local government agencies, community-based organizations and thousands of volunteers come together in the month of October to conduct a series of health promotion and health education activities including workshops, insurance referrals, vaccinations and medical screenings.
“It is a time to come together as one with many agencies and celebrate health and talk about the benefit of care with the agencies here in the Imperial County,” said Frank Salazar, director of communications and public affairs for Pioneers Memorial Hospital.
Hundreds of guests attended as health experts from the Imperial Valley and Mexicali served as guest speakers explaining their role in their community. The event was given in Spanish, starting with the introductory speech by Carlos Flores Vizcarra, Mexican consul in Calexico.
Vizcarra said that, locally, Binational Health Week will be expanded to include activities through the entire month of October. The planned events will bring awareness to issues such as breast cancer, domestic violence and general health and wellness.
The events are set to take place both locally and in Mexicali. Efforts from both countries are being made to help the immigrant community in the Imperial Valley.
“There are many Mexican people who cross the Calexico ports of entry daily to come to work here,” the Mexican consul said. “We need to be watchful because people get sick from the environmental conditions, develop asthma, and some people have contagious diseases. We must take account in order to control the transmission of diseases in the migrant community.”
Each one of the 50 consulates has a Ventanilla de Salud, a program created to look after the health of migrant community members.
Binational Health Week main partners include the Secretariats of Health and Foreign Affairs of Mexico, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Peru, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, several Departments of Public Health, the Council of Mexican Federations in North America, and the Health Initiative of the Americas, a program of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health, according to the BHW website.