Just a few months ago, as UTEP marked the 100th anniversary of the first classes held in late September, 2014 at the Texas School of Mines and Metallurgy, the Community Academic Partnership for Health Science Research (CAPHSR) celebrated its 5th anniversary. CAPHSR has served as an umbrella to foster the development of key partnerships for research and service learning, including over 25 UTEP faculty and representatives from 40 community organizations. Community-campus partnerships have long been recognized as vital to addressing and solving our most pressing health, social, environmental and economic challenges. The integration of community-based activities provide key learning experiences for our students and relevance for our research. With the leadership of Dr. Jeri Sias and support of Dr. Joao Ferreira-Pinto, this partnership has thrived. The work of our community-academic partnerships has been presented and published in both national and international forums.

CAPHSR is just one of our community-based initiatives. The College of Health Sciences has also participated in the San Elizario Health Fair for the past 9 years. Faculty and students from each of our programs plan engaging health promotion activities and offer screenings at this annual event, attended by hundreds of adults and children in this underserved community. Many thanks to Assistant Dean for Community and International Programs, Leticia Paez, for her efforts in coordinating our involvement in this important event for our community. Read below about our engagement and the ways in which our university-community partnerships have advanced the health of our community, enriched our students' experiences and provided important health research findings that will help shape our future. Go Miners!

Health Promotion student members of Eta Sigma Gamma (ESG) actively participated at the San Elizario annual health fair on Saturday, October 25^th. ESG Students provided nutrition education using food models to demonstrate balanced meals and recommended portion sizes for healthy eating. Students also created awareness about how much salt, sugar and fat one can consume through fast/junk food. Kids and adults enjoyed a food wheel game. Students prepared tasty, easy, nutritious, and affordable recipes. These healthy recipes were demonstrated at the table and included bean salad, fruit kebabs and green salad on whole wheat tortilla strips among other delicious recipes. ESG Student members participating in this community event included: Aileen Soto, Eta Sigma Gamma president, and members Tiffany Butler, Georgina Macias, Ricardo Silvera, Esther Valenzuela, Melissa Castillo, Brittany Huerta, Marylou Astorga and Sandra Cobos. A big thank you to these dedicated students and faculty advisor Dr. Thenral Mangadu and attending faculty, Dr. Gabriel Ibarra-Mejia.

Christine Chen, director of the Occupational Therapy Program in UTEP's Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, member of an interdisciplinary research team, has recently learned that their project has been awarded $1,059,855 from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). The project, led by Drs. John Whyte, Tessa Hart (both from Albert Einstein Healthcare Network), Lynn Tursky (U of Wisconsin) and Marcel Dijkers (Mount Sinai School of Medicine), is titled "Better Rehabilitation Through Better Characterization of Treatments: Development of the Manual for Rehabilitation Treatment Specification," involves leading researchers from the fields of OT, PT, SPLP, Vocational Rehab and Psychology.

The researchers plan to develop standardized procedures and guidelines for rehabilitation clinicians and researchers. The guidelines (for treatment specification) are theory-based and evidence-driven. Once developed, the manual can be used by clinicians and researchers to examine rehab treatment effects (desired effect or changes), compare effects when active ingredients (what needs to be done in treatment at what intensity and frequency) are altered, and hopefully elucidate mechanisms of action (how those changes are produced).

Chen will be supported for a term of 3 years. She has collaborated with the team in the past and said the project had been in the works for several years; she believes this would be a big step forward for the rehab fields and thinks an interdisciplinary approach is the best and only way to get such work done. Congratulations Dr. Chen!

"The kids that I have had the fortunate opportunity of building relationships with have greatly enriched my experience as both a UTEP DPT student and a new resident of the El Paso community. Basically, I gave a little and got a lot." -Elise Garcia, DPT Student

This quote illustrates the sentiments expressed by many of the first year Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students. Each student participates in a minimum of 20 hours of service-learning across the summer and fall semesters at 1 of 7 community partner locations. Their service varies depending on the needs of the organization and their clients - from helping children with their homework at a family shelter to assisting seniors participate in games at a senior center. Community partners routinely report in annual surveys that they appreciate the students' efforts.

While the primary aim of the students' involvement is to serve the community, the DPT faculty select the locations in order to expose the students to populations with which they likely do not have extensive experience. These include individuals with physical disabilities, cognitive disabilities, and/or mental illness, as well as adults and children without permanent housing - all populations that they will work with as healthcare professionals. The students learn how to communicate with these individuals, and gain important insight into their challenges and goals.

The students admit to having to discard pre-conceived notions or biases ("It has truly taught me the lesson of 'don't judge a book by its cover'"). While proud of their contributions, they report being surprised by how much the community members appreciate their efforts. Reflecting why faculty require them to serve a minimum of 20 hours at the same location, the students highlight the rewards of creating relationships. Finally, many note that the service-learning experience has transformed them: "The experience of being around the assisted living setting is mind-changing, and I would not trade it for anything."

The DPT Program's experience highlights that service-learning can be incorporated in a very busy curriculum, and that there are many benefits to the community and students. In great part, our success is due to the assistance of the UTEP Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) who assist the faculty with setting up and coordinating the service-learning partnerships. Thank you CCE!

Dr. Meg Weigel, Professor of Public Health Sciences and Director of the MPH Program, recently gave an invited (virtual) presentation to the National Advisory Council on Migrant Health (NACMH) at their biannual meeting. The Council makes recommendations to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary and HRSA Administrator regarding migrant health care matters. Dr. Weigel's talk focused on the occupational and other health challenges of the growing population of middle-aged and elderly persons who now account for 42% of the national farmworker labor force. She also talked about the importance of improving the access to health care service for this population especially preventative and rehabilitative services focused on the special needs of aging workers.

She reported that her Paso del Norte region studies have identified a high burden of work-related musculoskeletal injuries and arthritis among farmworkers, 60% of whom are aged 40 years and older. These cause them significant pain, disability, poorer quality of life and a reduced ability to perform work, self-care, and other daily activities. Despite this, fewer than 25% ever receive treatment. In addition, similar to other aging Hispanics in our local area and elsewhere, many also suffer from obesity and untreated diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and other obesity-related chronic diseases. Dr. Weigel emphasized the need for urgent changes in occupational and health policy and practice since farmworkers, especially those who are immigrants, are often excluded from many of the important protections and services provided under federal and state provisions.

On Friday, November 14, 2014, Eta Sigma Gamma students, under the leadership of president and graduating Health Promotion senior, Aileen Soto, provided diabetes information and offered tasty and healthy food samples to the UTEP community in support of World Diabetes Day, a diabetes awareness campaign of the International Diabetes Federation. This activity was held at the entrance area of the Undergraduate Learning Center, where more than 100 students and staff stopped by to learn about diabetes facts and to taste healthy foods. Go Blue on the Border is the diabetes awareness campaign for our region and ESG students wore blue on that day to recognize that diabetes is serious, it can be prevented and controlled and the time is now to adopt a healthy lifestyle. ESG Students used food models to demonstrate balanced meals and recommended portion sizes to create awareness about how much salt, sugar and fat one can consume through fast/junk food. The messages provided by students included the importance of adopting a lifestyle that includes healthy eating and physical activity in preventing or delaying the onset of diabetes. Congratulations to our ESG members for your great work!

UTEP Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT) program was well represented in this year's Texas Occupational Therapy State Conference held in Sugar Land, Texas from November 6 to 8, 2014. Christine Chen, Program Director, attended in the OT Program Directors' meeting and Professor Rocio Alvarenga, Fieldwork Coordinator, attended the Fieldwork Coordinator Forum. Drs. Fierro and Montes conducted a 4-hour clinical course "Basic introduction to physical agent modalities (PAM)" on with full attendance of over 150 people. Second and third year MOT students presented 4 posters in the scientific poster sessions: (1) Compassion fatigue: Prevalence across occupational therapy settings by Rachel Clarke, Natalie Aguilar, and Meredith Husted; (2) Effectiveness of weighted vests on classroom participation by Binita Patel and Jennie Nguyen; (3) Environmental change effects on physical activity of students by Lindsey Pace, Noah Munoz, and Susan Bianchi; and (4) Safe body mechanics in onion harvesting by Cristina Balderrama, Seren Estrada, and Samantha Minten.

The Opportunity Center for the Homeless, in conjunction with partner homeless care providers, together with The University of Texas at El Paso College of Health Sciences Department of Social Work hosted the 2014 Paso del Norte Region State of Homelessness Conference on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 at the University of Texas at El Paso College of Health Sciences Auditorium.

This was the first conference of its type. Over 70 members of the Paso Del Norte Community gathered to discuss the current condition of the region's homeless population. In this discussion the Opportunity Center for the Homeless with its partner organizations, clarified and re-defined who the members of the homeless community are and how the current identification of this population has created stigma resulting in social exclusion.

According to the 2014 Point in Time Survey conducted by the El Paso Coalition for the Homeless, there were 1,394 homeless individuals in El Paso area shelters. The number of homeless individuals grew to almost 3,000 when the Center accounted for those not being served or assisted by area shelters or service-providing agencies. This population includes single men and women, children, families, U.S. Veterans, victims of domestic abuse and human trafficking.

The Treatment Advocacy Center reports, approximately one-third of the homeless population have severe or serious mental illness, specifically schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder or major depression.

The conference focused on identifying root causes and conditions of homelessness, potential solutions to minimizing the effects of homelessness within the Paso Del Norte community, and ultimately changing the perception of who these community members are. The Opportunity Center called on civic leaders, elected officials, local business partners, civic minded organizations, academicians and students along with its partners to cultivate potential solutions and new partnerships to assist in addressing the growing needs of the Paso Del Norte homeless community. Leticia Paez, Associate Dean for Community Affairs welcomed the audience and highlighted the role of advocacy and education in addressing the needs of the homeless. Eva M. Moya, assistant professor of Social Work discussed the health and human service challenges and opportunities when working with homeless populations and reiterated the importance of integrated health and mental health services and person centered approaches. Faculty from the College of Health Sciences and students from the Department of Social Work participated in the organization and promotion of the conference.

About The Opportunity Center for the Homeless
For over 20 years the Opportunity Center (OC) has existed for all homeless without distinction of race, ethnic origin, language spoken, or religious beliefs, and regardless of mental, drug and alcohol problems. Through direct contact with the homeless, the Center supports individuals to move beyond their condition in society if they are capable; or protects them if they cannot improve their condition because of emotional or psychological disorders. The OC provides services by walk-in or referral 24 hours a day, 365 days every year. Over the course of a year, the center provides for nearly 124,000 meals and over 102,000 nights of sleep; counseled over 2000 men, women, and youth; and transitioned over 1000 into work, training, and school programs.

Hispanic Heritage  Month, observed from mid-September to mid-October every year, is a special time to recognize the contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans and to celebrate the heritage and culture of  El Paso and the U.S.-Mexico Border Region. On Thursday, October 16,  UTEP, the College of Health Sciences, the Department of Social Work, the Department of Chicano Studies, the Center for Civic Engagement, the Social Justice Initiative, the Student Association for Social Work, the Master's of Social Work Student Organization, Familias Triufadoras Inc., all came together to celebrate the Hispanic Heritage and what that means to UTEP students and El Paso community. Dean Kathleen Curtis and Consul Jacob Prado welcomed the guests. Ms. Maria Elena Flood and Dr. Margie Rodriguez LaSage were the keynote speakers. Panel members included Sara Polk, MSW Student Organization President; Lara Gil, BSW Student Association of Social Work President; and Roberto Dominguez, SGA President. Decorating the Curlin Plaza was a 'tendedero' (clothesline), displaying homemade trapitos, decorated by students and participants to show how they identify and define their heritage. Amidst these individual and creative expressions of heritage were Hispanic treats and entertainment, including performances by Ballet Folklórico Flor y Canto. Student leaders from the undergraduate and graduate levels spoke to the importance of heritage and shared a video of various students and professors sharing what their heritage and UTEP mean to them. The festival brought together UTEP students, professors, and activists,  as well as members of the community to celebrate the unique heritage of the region. Dr. Dennis Bixler-Marquez and Dr. Candyce Berger  provided closing remarks. 

Over 110 CHS faculty, students and staff participated in the annual San Elizario Independent School District (SEISD) Health Fair. Critically needed health services for residents of the San Elizario community were provided by our programs in Pharmacy (see photo above), Public Health Sciences, Social Work, Clinical Laboratory Science (see large group photo below), Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Kinesiology, Rehabilitation Counseling and Speech Language Pathology. More than 500 community residents received a series of health screenings and health education services. Thanks to all who participated in this important community event co-sponsored with SEISD.