International Journal for Equity in Health · 3 authors, 3 centres
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This qualitative process evaluation examined how the Ventanilla de Salud (VDS) outreach program at Mexican Consulates in NYC and LA adapted its services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The VDS successfully expanded services to include social assistance and humanitarian support, transitioned to online and hybrid modalities, and restructured partner networks to meet changing needs of underserved Mexican immigrants.
This qualitative process evaluation used semi-structured motivational interviews with VDS coordinators (N=6), partner organization key informants (N=8), and VDS users (N=10) at Mexican Consulates in NYC and LA. Coordinators were interviewed in October 2020 and June 2022; partner informants and users were interviewed in mid-2022. The VDS made three major adaptations: expanding to social assistance and humanitarian support without additional staff, transitioning from in-person to online and then hybrid service delivery, and restructuring their network of partner organizations. Community health workers played a key role in bridging services and building trust. Users mostly accepted the adaptations. However, some groups remained hard to reach, including working males, indigenous groups, and persons with disabilities, and digital literacy gaps limited access for some. The VDS lacked clear emergency guidelines and had limited data on fidelity and costs. Limitations include the absence of user interviews from the NYC Consulate and the inability to capture quantitative implementation outcomes such as costs and coverage.
