St. Luke’s, Mexican consulate partner on Hispanic mental health booklet 

St. Luke’s Health System has partnered with the Mexican consulate in Boise to develop a Treasure Valley-based booklet about mental health services for the Hispanic community.

The resource, called Help is Here!, is based on a similar publication St. Luke’s developed for the Wood River Valley about a decade ago, said Erin Pfaeffle, director of community health and engagement at St. Luke’s Wood River Medical, who was involved with both projects. 

Mental health in the Hispanic community 

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) website, approximately 34% of Hispanic/Latinx adults with mental illness receive treatment each year, compared with the U.S. average of 45%. In particular, more than half of Hispanic young adults ages 18-25 with serious mental illness may not receive treatment, the organization continued. “This inequality puts these communities at a higher risk for more severe and persistent forms of mental health conditions, because without treatment, mental health conditions often worsen,” NAMI said.  

Moreover, the growth of Hispanics in Idaho continues to outpace any other population group in the state, according to the 2021 edition of The Hispanic Profile Data Book for Idaho.  

Consequently, providing information about mental health services to this community was an important issue for both St. Luke’s and the consulate. 

St. Luke’s has had a partnership with the Mexican consulate’s “health window” program for more than 11 years, and the project was funded by a grant through the national network of health windows, said Diana Gomez Romero, bilingual outreach coordinator for the community health department of St. Luke’s. “The one we created was modeled after the original booklet created by Erin and her team,” she said. “We wanted to leverage work they had already done.” The organizations also worked with the Speedy Foundation, named after Idaho Olympic athlete Jeret “Speedy” Peterson, who committed suicide in 2011. 

Publicizing resources 

But the publication is only useful when people know about it, so St. Luke’s and the Mexican consulate are working on that part. “St. Luke’s made a wonderful publicizing effort,” said Alejandro Martínez, deputy consul of Mexico in Boise. “Part of that is also a QR code printed on some posters and media materials. People can click it with their cellphone to gain access to the booklet. You don’t have to have the printed booklet to get access to the resources.” 

“Wood River is old school,” Pfaeffle said. “A QR code is new for us. We had hard copies.” 

St. Luke’s will follow the model of the 2012 booklet, distributed throughout the community through social workers, schools, families, post offices, grocery stores, pharmacies and community partners, as well as over the internet, Pfaeffle said. “All our community partners have a box of them,” she said.  

Newest iteration 

This most recent, Treasure Valley iteration of the booklet just came out a couple of weeks ago, Gomez Romero said. “It’s early, but from what we’ve already seen, there’s a lot of interest and demand,” she said. “People are wanting more information.” The organizations expect to deliver the booklet through their partners, as well as the consulate, she said.  

And the booklet is just the first step, Gomez Romero added. “It doesn’t just stop at providing the guide,” she said. “Hopefully we’re providing programming.” But the organizations won’t be using it as a tool to indicate other needs, Pfaeffle said. “There are other ways we collect data from the community.”

More on the health window 

The Mexican consulate’s “windows” programs cover a variety of areas, ranging from education to health, across the United States. “Each consulate has its own health window,” Martínez said.  

The main focus in Idaho is on preventive health services, and this year the organization has been focusing on efforts such as influenza and COVID-19 vaccination clinics, Romero said.  

Now, the consulate is putting together its 2022 program, Martínez said. “It’s quite a challenge to bring all the services and information together for the Spanish-speaking population of Idaho.”