Voluntary involvement in community health promotion: the Pawtucket Heart Health Program

The Pawtucket Heart Health Program employs a community activationapproach aimed at reducing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.This approach is put into operation through the recruitmentof lay volunteers from the community to assist in planning,implementing, evaluating and managing various components ofthe Program. This unique approach of voluntary delivery of programmesis presented in this report. Strategies for the recruitment,interview and placement, training, maintenance and evaluationof volunteers are discussed. The characteristics of people whohave volunteered for specific administrative and service deliveryjobs with the Pawtucket Heart Health Program are also described.The volunteer delivery focus of the Program provides a modelfor adaptation by other public health projects.