Community Wellness Liaisons
Salt Lake County Library
Innovation Synopsis
Five community partners worked together to decrease diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease in the Latinx and Pacific Island communities in Kearns, Utah.
Community Wellness Liaisons from the Latinx and Pacific Island communities connected with residents in their own language with library resources, health information, and learning opportunities.
Challenge/Opportunity
Pacific Island and Latinx people have a higher rate of diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease than others in our state. The Kearns community has a large percentage of both community groups. We also had a brand new library designed to be a community center. The opportunity was to provide needed information, opportunities, classes, and resources to change the eating and exercise habits and improve health outcomes. It was essential to provide these in the languages and manner receptive to their communities.
Key Elements of Innovation
- Hiring Community Wellness Liaisons to interact and reach out to these communities
- Providing space, classes, information, and library resources in their language covering health topics
- Lending Blood Pressure Cuffs for three weeks
- Having a wellness bus on site to provide testing for the three health challenges
- Participating in every community event possible
- Holding an annual health fair
- Informing the communities about libraries and our services
- Teaching healthy eating and exercise
- Partnering with five unique entities
Achieved Outcomes
In 2022 we:
- Reached more than 200,000 people with health information
- Attended 175 events disseminating information
- Held a health fair with 500+ attendees
- Blood Pressure Cuffs were checked out more than 95 times
- 148 social media posts or radio programs
- 186 people registered for the Diabetes Prevention Program
- 131 people registered for the Diabetes Self Management Program
- 8 individuals took a Community Health Worker Training
- Developed stronger community relationships and partnerships
- Met the goals of the funder- UDHHS
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