Filipino Community Health Ambassadors Internship Program

BY ALYSSA DAULAT

SOMCAN community health coordinator Alyssa Daulat (left) stands with nine diverse and multigenerational Filipino community health ambassadors during an 8-hour training alongside San Francisco State Health Education Professor, Ruby Turalba (second to the right, in blue).
Photo by Alyssa Daulat.

As part of SOMCAN’s health program, “Our Health, Our Community”, nine multi-generational Filipino residents were recruited to become part of a 6-month community health ambassador internship to engage community members to develop healthier lifestyles through neighborhood advocacy. They attended an 8-hour training last January 25th where they learned about public health frameworks, community-based participatory action research, and policy advocacy to help improve community health among Filipinos in San Francisco. Health ambassadors also meet every Wednesday night and learn additional skills such as public speaking, health promotion, project design (survey development), partner engagement, and data collection methods. The trainings intend to equip the ambassadors with public health knowledge and increase their understanding of health promotion in the community.

The internship emphasizes community engagement and ambassadors will be responsible for community outreach, recruiting participants, and promoting the health program’s upcoming classes and workshops. For example, every Thursday night the program offers World of Dance’s U-Jam physical fitness classes-- free at the Bayanihan Community Center (flyer attached below). Moreover, empowerment and leadership are also part of the program as ambassadors will be leading a community health assessment, specifically collecting and analyzing data. The assessment may include in-person surveys, interviews, and focus groups to gather information about the community’s knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, skills and lifestyles related to chronic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and obesity/overweight, as well as other health inequities affecting Filipinos. Paper and online versions of the health survey will be available. 

 If you want more information about “Our Health, Our Community”, please contact Alyssa Daulat at adaulat@somcan.org.