Bruin Public Health Ambassadors Program
BPHA Thank You Video
About the Program
Along with UCLA Campus Life/Recreation and Residential Life, SHEP took a leadership role in launching and administering the UCLA Bruin Public Health Ambassadors (BPHA) Program. This year-long program provided a proactive departmental-level response towards addressing an unmet university-level need for critical, on-the-ground public health outreach strategies aimed at mitigating COVID-19 transmission within the UCLA campus community. The BPHA program’s driving philosophy centered on cultivating a community of care through harm reduction strategies focused on education and empowerment. Furthermore, the program took a compassionate stance towards harm reduction by infusing in its approach a “humanistic perspective, whereby people will make more health positive choices if they have access to adequate support, empowerment, and education” (Marlatt, Larimer, & Witkiewitz, 2012).
Operationally, the program stationed trained paid student workers (i.e., Ambassadors) around busy outdoor areas on campus to inform students, staff, faculty, and campus visitors about COVID-19-related public health measures and polices that were currently in effect. BPHAs also directed individuals toward hand sanitizer stations, distributed masks, provided COVID-19 campus resource information along with general advice on how to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The program also distributed branded swag materials plus social media outlets to promote community norms/standards and a campus messaging campaign, “Bruin for Bruin,” to further reinforce the idea of UCLA as a community of care.
Ambassadors were not asked to enforce campus distancing and mask policies; as such, the program’s peer-to-peer educational approach meant to ensure students specifically, learn more readily about COVID-19 safety measures from their peers rather than law enforcement. However, BPHAs were able to consult university police if a campus situation arose that demanded their presence. More broadly, this community health education strategy also ensured that campus community members at-large had equal opportunities to stay informed and have their well-being supported in an evidence-informed approach while on campus.
Proudly, seventy-plus (70+) students worked in the BPHA program, during which time more than 17,000 (approx.) direct encounters and indirect observations of campus visitors combined were amassed.
SHEP, our campus partners, and senior leadership sincerely thank the BPHAs for their meaningful service and contributions to our UCLA campus community.