The Border Health Strategic Initiative From a Community Perspective

As local community coordinator of the Border Health Strategic Initiative (Border Health ¡SI!), a program in Yuma County to develop a comprehensive, community-based approach to diabetes prevention and control, I was responsible for facilitating communication among five community partners, between community partners and campus-based faculty, and developing and coordinating a Special Action Group (SAG). My 30 years of experience as a cooperative extension agent, 27 of those years in Yuma County, helped to prepare me for this role. As the Yuma County Cooperative Extension Agent, I had collaborated previously with each of the five community-based partners of Border Health ¡SI! on past programs, and I also had experience working with some of the campus-based faculty. Border Health ¡SI! provided funding to continue these partnerships and to build new partnerships with new campus faculty and community members. Twenty-five percent of my time was assigned to Border Health ¡SI!, and funding provided a full-time program assistant and half-time secretary for the cooperative extension component of the program. In addition to community coordination and the SAG, the Cooperative Extension Office was responsible for implementing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s School Health Index (SHI) in Yuma County (1). The Cooperative Extension Office is located in the community, not on the university campus, and it involves local residents in identifying, planning, and implementing local programs. The Cooperative Extension Agent is a University of Arizona faculty member, thus providing a link between local community needs and university faculty expertise. This article addresses the details of coordinating a comprehensive diabetes prevention and management program from the viewpoint of a local community coordinator