Health Care Program Targets Mayans in South Palm Beach County, Florida

With a $150,000 grant from the Quantum Foundation, Planned Parenthood of the Palm Beach and Treasure Coast Area in Florida is launching a new health care program targeted primarily at the area's community of Guatemalan immigrants of Mayan descent. The money will enable the agency to recruit and train 25 local leaders in the Mayan community so they can talk to their people about health-related issues. Those selected, called health care promotoras, or promoters, will learn about everything from nutrition and self-esteem to how to convey health-related information to the Mayans, an indigenous population traditionally not accustomed to Western medicine.

"It's very culturally competent and sensitive and doesn't force any values or beliefs on anyone else," said Triste Brook, vice president of education and training for Planned Parenthood. Brook said her organization would work closely with the Guatemalan-Maya Center in Lake Worth. Tailored after programs in Guatemala, Mexico and other countries in Latin America, the local project will include a study to determine which areas of health care are of concern to Guatemalan families.

"The reason our board [approved the grant] last month is because the study found that the Guatemalan Mayan community is not participating in health care programs that are available in the community," said Jeanette Corbett, CEO and president of Quantum Foundation. Another recent study found the rate of HIV/AIDS cases among local Guatemalans is estimated to be almost 150 percent higher than the rate for Palm Beach County. Also, 14 percent of Guatemalan women of Mayan descent receive little or no prenatal care, twice the county's average. The infant mortality rate is three times the county's average at 17 deaths per 1,000 births.

Lucio Perez, director of the Guatemalan-Maya Center, said said there is a common misperception about the health care Guatemalans receive. Sometimes it seems that pregnant women aren't getting the proper care when in reality they could be getting help from comadronas, or midwives, Perez said. There are cultural differences and different ideas about medicine, he said. "We are not used to going to clinics, hospitals or agencies," he said. "The people who work at the center understand this."

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