Resident Health Advocate Programs

A cornerstone of the PHH-PRC is its longstanding program to train adult residents as Resident Health Advocates (RHAs).  After completing training, RHAs serve internships in their own housing developments.  As interns, RHAs help other residents in two important ways.  First, they can provide basic information about the health topics of greatest concern in the community.  And second, they are knowledgeable about local health-related resources, and can help residents find and use those resources.

In a nutshell, this program benefits the RHAs, who gain skills that often help them in the job market, and it also benefits other residents, who are served by the RHA during the internship.  The program has run each year since 2002, and on average, about nine RHAs have been trained each year.  Though both women and men are welcome in the program, most RHAs to date have been women.

The original RHA program has now been joined by one targeted to teenage residents.  Beginning in 2009, the PHH-PRC has offered a summer training program for a small group of teen resident health advocates, training four each year.  A natural extension of the longstanding RHA program, the Teen RHA Program is based on the assumption that teens can carry health promotion into their homes and peer groups.

Are you a resident of a BHA family housing development and interested in taking part in the Resident Health Advocate program? Contact Kailah Hayden-Karp  at  kailah@bu.edu or 617-638-5036

News You Can Use

The National Campaign for Full Funding for Public Housing in the United States is petitioning members of Congress to include full funding in upcoming legislation. Go to this weblink to find the petition and add your signature: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/
fullfundingforpublichousing/

Recent publications from PHH-PRC investigators:

Scammell et al., “Meeting People Where They Are: Engaging Public Housing Residents for Integrated Pest Management.” Progress in Community Health Partnerships 2011:5(2).

Rorie et al., “Use of a Resident Health Advocate Model to Improve Public Health Van Screening and Follow-Up Among Public Housing Residents” (Prev Chronic Dis 2011; 8(1)).

Douyon et al., “The GirlStars Program: Challenges to Recruitment and Retention in a Physical Activity and Health Education Program for Adolescent Girls Living in Public Housing” (Prev Chronic Dis 2010; 7(2))