Santa Maria's Bienestar program began on January 2, 2002 to improve the accessibility to health care services for Hispanic immigrants living in the Greater Cincinnati area. Bienestar means physical, mental and spiritual wellness in Spanish. The Bienestar Hispanic Health Access program is unique in its focus on:
- overcoming barriers to health care
- grassroots training for Hispanic residents and
- training and consultation to health care professionals and organizations
 The signature feature of the Bienestar program is its Promotores de Salud component. Promotores are the members of the Hispanic community who complete a series of trainings on various diseases and their prevention (hypertension, diabetes, domestic violence, alcoholism, cancer, HIV, hygiene and government assistance programs) and then share the received information with family members and friends as well as members in their community and make school and company presentations. Within the last few years Santa Maria Community Services recruited and trained a cohort of over 60 Promotores de Salud. The Promotores model used throughout the United States is an effective tool for reaching the Latino community. Santa Maria is proud to have adopted this innovative tool and to continue to run this program. As in the Community Health Worker model, Promotores often come from and understand the neighborhoods and cultures they are working with.
For more information about Bienestar and Promotores Program please contact:
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