Health Education Aide Trainee Project

Abstract

IN SEP'TEMBER 1967 the California division of the American Cancer Society (ACS) began a 2-year project on the use of indigenous i1onprofessional health aides. The HEAT (health education aide trainee) project was initiated to assess the role of these aides in local branches and to analyze the specific health education work they could perfotrm that could not be done as effectively by professional health workers or volunteers in a voluntary health agency. A project coordinator was retained from the, University of California School of Public Health to collect data on the use of indigenous nonprofessional aides in other programs and to discuss the implications of this project with workers in the participating ACS branches. After extensive screening by the health education director of the ACS branch, the project coordinator, and the executive director of each coopera,ting ACS branch, four aides-all women, 23, 33, 35, and 36 years old-were selected to work with certain ethnic minority populations in the San Francisco Bay Area communities. The aides were to determine the needs of the residents and help them modify their behavior concerning cancer; that is, seek early diagnosis and care of the disease. The use of nonprofessional aides in health programs is not new. American Indians have worked as health education aides on their reservations since the mid-1950's (1). Community health aides have been used in California since 1961, particularly in areas with large numbers of migrant agricultural workers (2,3). The Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) has used community aides in urban health programs to improve communications with disadvantaged families. "They [the aides] possess the precious empathy too often missing among middle class health workers and can serve a vital function as a bridge between patients or potential patients in need of health services" (4).