[Editor’s Note: Ventanilla de Salud (VDS) is a program designed to help Mexican nationals living in the US find and access health care services at 55 consulates throughout the United States. MCN’s Leslie Diaz, MSW, is a Health Network Associate based at the Austin Consulate. Here, she reports back from a recent VDS conference. Read more about our partnership with Ventanilla de Salud here.]

Dallas, Texas was host to the annual conference of Ventanillas de Salud (VDS) at the end of April. Deliana Garcia, MA, MCN’s Director of International Projects and Emerging Issues, joined me in the afternoon of day one to train Ventanilla coordinators on chemical safety as part of our Susan Harwood Chemical Safety Training, building on the trainings that we provided to coordinators earlier in the year via webinar. (You can watch the webinar here, in Spanish.) While each Ventanilla differs in personnel, all are a point of education dissemination to workers who may be at risk for chemical exposure. Simulations of chemical exposure with food coloring and water, activities to help the coordinators understand the working conditions of various professions and their relative chemical exposure, and guided web searches for local OSHA offices were all part of the workshop.

Introduction to a workshop on Capacity Building in Chemical Safety with Deliana Garcia

Among other prestigious presenters at the conference were UT Southwestern Medical Center President Marc A. Nivet and his colleagues, Neurologist Alejandro Magadan, and Director of Liver Transplants Dr. Jorge Marrero. National institutions that were represented included National Stroke Association, Alzheimer’s Association, American Liver Association, the National Secretariat of Health Mexico, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Pan American Health Organization.

Texas team of Ventanilla de Salud Coordinators: El Paso, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Laredo, McAllen, Brownsville, Dallas

The close was marked with a farewell speech from the General Director of International Relations Hilda Davíla from the Secretariat of Health Mexico, whose term ends this year with the change of the presidential administration. Also on stage was the newly appointed Executive Director of the Institute of Mexicans Abroad, Vanessa Calva Ruiz.

New beginnings with Vanessa Calva Ruiz Executive Director, Institute for Mexicans Abroad

This year’s celebration for the coordinators of the VDS was pushed to an earlier date than prior years in part due to Mexican elections set for July 1. These elections bring an air of uncertainty as to the effects on national VDS programming. This was highlighted by the Director of the Institute of Mexicans Abroad, Juan Carlos Mendoza, who spoke in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of his institute.

Ventanilla de Salud's National team taking a moment to pay tribute at the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on April 25th

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