Health issues next for Hispanic life forums
By Juan Castillo | Statesman, April 27, 2009
Tomorrow’s community forum on health, part of the ongoing city-led Hispanic Quality of Life Initiative, is sparking a lot of interest among health care providers and nonprofit groups that promote awareness of health issues.
Tuesday’s forum is from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Conley-Guerrero Senior Activity Center, 808 Nile St. The center is next to the Rosewood-Zaragosa Neighborhood Center.
Representatives from about 18 organizations, including the American Heart Association and the Lance Armstrong Foundation, have inquired about having tables and dispensing information at the forum, Paul Saldaõa, a consultant who is facilitating the event, said this morning.
“The theme of the forum is accessibility to health care, affordable health care, and promoting responsible and healthy communities and active and healthy lifestyles,” Saldaõa said, noting that heart disease and diabetes disproportionately affect Latinos.
Local Hispanics surveyed by the United Way Capital Area recently rated health as their second most pressing community concern, behind education.
Tuesday’s forum is the last in a series of four scheduled forums. Comments captured at the discussions and through online surveys will help shape recommendations on how to make the City of Austin a better place to live for Latinos.
The city estimates that conservatively, 36 percent of Austin’s population is Hispanic and that Latino growth will account for 70 to 80 percent of total city growth by the end of the decade.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Nevada Latinos lack health coverage
6 in 10 Latinos Missing Out on Health Coverage in Nevada
Public News Service, April 27, 2009
Las Vegas, NV – Recent studies show people of color are taking it on the chin when it comes to having access to health care in Nevada. Unequal access to health care will be the focus of a town hall meeting tonight in Las Vegas.
Launce Rake with the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN) says recent studies show Latinos, the fastest growing ethnic group in the state, are the most left out when it comes to having health coverage.
"Nearly 60 percent of the Latino population, including children and working families, have gone without health insurance at some time in the last few years. Huge portions of our population simply don't have access to health care."
Rake says the number of Latinos without health coverage is about 10 percent higher in Nevada compared to most states. The fact that many Latinos work in the building trades may be a factor, he adds.
One way to measure the lack of health coverage for Latinos in Nevada is by taking a look at how they are dying, points out Theresa Navarro of Health Care for America Now. The number one cause of death for Whites, Blacks and Native Americans is heart disease, she says, while more Latinos in Nevada die from cancer.
"That is because if they don't have insurance, they're not going to go to the doctor. So by the time they find anything wrong with the people, they're already in that stage that is cancer."
The forum is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Rio Convention Center. Those attending can check out new mobile health clinics that are helping to increase health care access in Clark County and rural parts of the state.
More information about the mobile clinics is available at www.NVHealthCenters.org.
Public News Service, April 27, 2009
Las Vegas, NV – Recent studies show people of color are taking it on the chin when it comes to having access to health care in Nevada. Unequal access to health care will be the focus of a town hall meeting tonight in Las Vegas.
Launce Rake with the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN) says recent studies show Latinos, the fastest growing ethnic group in the state, are the most left out when it comes to having health coverage.
"Nearly 60 percent of the Latino population, including children and working families, have gone without health insurance at some time in the last few years. Huge portions of our population simply don't have access to health care."
Rake says the number of Latinos without health coverage is about 10 percent higher in Nevada compared to most states. The fact that many Latinos work in the building trades may be a factor, he adds.
One way to measure the lack of health coverage for Latinos in Nevada is by taking a look at how they are dying, points out Theresa Navarro of Health Care for America Now. The number one cause of death for Whites, Blacks and Native Americans is heart disease, she says, while more Latinos in Nevada die from cancer.
"That is because if they don't have insurance, they're not going to go to the doctor. So by the time they find anything wrong with the people, they're already in that stage that is cancer."
The forum is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Rio Convention Center. Those attending can check out new mobile health clinics that are helping to increase health care access in Clark County and rural parts of the state.
More information about the mobile clinics is available at www.NVHealthCenters.org.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Hispanic assisted living not easy
In Hispanic culture, placing Nana in assisted-living home can feel like failure
By Mariana Alvarado, Arizona Daily Star, 04.26.2009
Two days before he was to visit his mother, Guillermo Goodman cried at the thought of her in the care of strangers.
Raised in a traditional Hispanic family, where his grandmother's every need was tended to by his father at home, Goodman, 59, never imagined making a different choice for his own mother.
But the effects of Herminia's Alzheimer's disease and Guillermo's own failing health took a toll.
Earlier this month, Goodman placed his mother in a private assisted-living home — an option that few Hispanic families pursue, sometimes to the detriment of the elder and the caretaker.
"I remember my grandmother living with us and the love that my father had for her," said Guillermo, a native of Nogales, Ariz. "I thought I, too, would take care of my mother her whole life and that's one of the reasons I didn't want to make this choice."
The Pima Council on Aging is reaching out to the Hispanic community with information on long-term care, hoping to remove cultural guilt from the decision.
Lupe Salas, an outreach coordinator with the council who works with the Hispanic community, said there's a lack of information about resources for elder care. She said many Hispanics frown upon government programs such as the Arizona Long Term Care System because of a long-held reluctance to place loved ones in the care of the government. The program offers in-home or nursing-home care assistance for Arizona seniors at no cost or reduced cost.
Guillermo's first visit
Upon entering the South Side assisted-living center Casa Theresita, Guillermo let out a sigh of relief and went to his mother's side.
He clung to her and repeatedly asked if she was OK.
Herminia, 80, didn't understand the fuss. She reassured her son that everything was fine and showed him around her new home.
Although Guillermo had visited the home before placing his mother there, he let her give him a tour. He saw the garden she waters every morning and the Catholic saints that adorn the house and her bedroom. Herminia's chores include washing the dishes, she told her son.
She had been there for two weeks and, on the advice of the home's owner, Guillermo had not visited in order to give his mother a chance to settle in.
"I'm so glad that you like it here," Guillermo told her. "I prayed and I prayed and God has answered my prayers."
For five years, Guillermo attempted to care for his mother himself. He moved in with her, leaving his wife at home, trying to juggle his responsibility to both.
But eventually she stopped eating. She grew tired and agitated and tried repeatedly to run away. She would water empty flower pots and run up $400 electric bills by turning on the air conditioner, even when it was cold outside.
After going to the hospital twice last year with blood-pressure problems, Guillermo realized he could no longer take care of his mother. He chose Casa Theresita because of the warmth he felt from the owner and employees, who all speak Spanish. He also liked the Catholic saints in the home because he knew they would comfort his mother.
"I felt so guilty," he said. "But I spent five years watching her deteriorate and I couldn't handle it anymore."
Overcoming guilt is vital
Breaking through the guilt associated with assisted living or nursing home care is crucial, said Yvette Jimenez, community liaison with Odyssey HealthCare, which helps people with referrals to hospices, nursing homes and assisted-living homes.
She said less than 10 percent of her clients are Hispanic.
"They don't realize that there's help out there; that they can get assistance 24 hours a day," she said.
Instead, many Hispanics feel a sense of duty to take care of their aging parents, sometimes while raising a young family and working full time.
The owner of Casa Theresita, Theresa Fernandez, said families often bring loved ones to her only after a medical or mental problem has become chronic.
"Once they've run out of options and are exhausted from the hassle, then they consider this option," she said.
Fernandez, who runs five assisted-living homes in Tucson, hopes the outreach changes that.
Once an older person begins to fall, lose memory, stops eating or tries to run away, people need to consider their safety, she said.
"Assisted-living centers are equipped, for example, with alarms if anyone tries to leave," she said.
The Pima Council on Aging recommends that families have discussions about tough subjects, such as death and if an assisted-living or nursing-home situation would be acceptable, Salas said. "Everything should be discussed before memory loss sets in," she said.
Herminia's comfort a relief
Guillermo's first visit with his mother was brief, but it was enough to reassure him.
The home was cozy and clean and Herminia was obviously comfortable and well cared for, he said.
He would be able to sleep that night, he said.
"She looks good and she's gained back some weight," he said.
Memories of his mother are of an active, independent woman who attended church every day and socialized with friends. Six years ago, following hip surgery, doctors told Guillermo to consider nursing-home care.
He refused. Now he realizes it's OK to let others help with his mother's care.
As he prepared to leave, Guillermo promised to return the following day with chocolates.
"Everything looks fine," he said aloud, yet to himself, as he left. "It's not as if I abandoned her."
Mariana Alvarado at 573-4597 or malvarado@azstarnet.com.
By Mariana Alvarado, Arizona Daily Star, 04.26.2009
Two days before he was to visit his mother, Guillermo Goodman cried at the thought of her in the care of strangers.
Raised in a traditional Hispanic family, where his grandmother's every need was tended to by his father at home, Goodman, 59, never imagined making a different choice for his own mother.
But the effects of Herminia's Alzheimer's disease and Guillermo's own failing health took a toll.
Earlier this month, Goodman placed his mother in a private assisted-living home — an option that few Hispanic families pursue, sometimes to the detriment of the elder and the caretaker.
"I remember my grandmother living with us and the love that my father had for her," said Guillermo, a native of Nogales, Ariz. "I thought I, too, would take care of my mother her whole life and that's one of the reasons I didn't want to make this choice."
The Pima Council on Aging is reaching out to the Hispanic community with information on long-term care, hoping to remove cultural guilt from the decision.
Lupe Salas, an outreach coordinator with the council who works with the Hispanic community, said there's a lack of information about resources for elder care. She said many Hispanics frown upon government programs such as the Arizona Long Term Care System because of a long-held reluctance to place loved ones in the care of the government. The program offers in-home or nursing-home care assistance for Arizona seniors at no cost or reduced cost.
Guillermo's first visit
Upon entering the South Side assisted-living center Casa Theresita, Guillermo let out a sigh of relief and went to his mother's side.
He clung to her and repeatedly asked if she was OK.
Herminia, 80, didn't understand the fuss. She reassured her son that everything was fine and showed him around her new home.
Although Guillermo had visited the home before placing his mother there, he let her give him a tour. He saw the garden she waters every morning and the Catholic saints that adorn the house and her bedroom. Herminia's chores include washing the dishes, she told her son.
She had been there for two weeks and, on the advice of the home's owner, Guillermo had not visited in order to give his mother a chance to settle in.
"I'm so glad that you like it here," Guillermo told her. "I prayed and I prayed and God has answered my prayers."
For five years, Guillermo attempted to care for his mother himself. He moved in with her, leaving his wife at home, trying to juggle his responsibility to both.
But eventually she stopped eating. She grew tired and agitated and tried repeatedly to run away. She would water empty flower pots and run up $400 electric bills by turning on the air conditioner, even when it was cold outside.
After going to the hospital twice last year with blood-pressure problems, Guillermo realized he could no longer take care of his mother. He chose Casa Theresita because of the warmth he felt from the owner and employees, who all speak Spanish. He also liked the Catholic saints in the home because he knew they would comfort his mother.
"I felt so guilty," he said. "But I spent five years watching her deteriorate and I couldn't handle it anymore."
Overcoming guilt is vital
Breaking through the guilt associated with assisted living or nursing home care is crucial, said Yvette Jimenez, community liaison with Odyssey HealthCare, which helps people with referrals to hospices, nursing homes and assisted-living homes.
She said less than 10 percent of her clients are Hispanic.
"They don't realize that there's help out there; that they can get assistance 24 hours a day," she said.
Instead, many Hispanics feel a sense of duty to take care of their aging parents, sometimes while raising a young family and working full time.
The owner of Casa Theresita, Theresa Fernandez, said families often bring loved ones to her only after a medical or mental problem has become chronic.
"Once they've run out of options and are exhausted from the hassle, then they consider this option," she said.
Fernandez, who runs five assisted-living homes in Tucson, hopes the outreach changes that.
Once an older person begins to fall, lose memory, stops eating or tries to run away, people need to consider their safety, she said.
"Assisted-living centers are equipped, for example, with alarms if anyone tries to leave," she said.
The Pima Council on Aging recommends that families have discussions about tough subjects, such as death and if an assisted-living or nursing-home situation would be acceptable, Salas said. "Everything should be discussed before memory loss sets in," she said.
Herminia's comfort a relief
Guillermo's first visit with his mother was brief, but it was enough to reassure him.
The home was cozy and clean and Herminia was obviously comfortable and well cared for, he said.
He would be able to sleep that night, he said.
"She looks good and she's gained back some weight," he said.
Memories of his mother are of an active, independent woman who attended church every day and socialized with friends. Six years ago, following hip surgery, doctors told Guillermo to consider nursing-home care.
He refused. Now he realizes it's OK to let others help with his mother's care.
As he prepared to leave, Guillermo promised to return the following day with chocolates.
"Everything looks fine," he said aloud, yet to himself, as he left. "It's not as if I abandoned her."
Mariana Alvarado at 573-4597 or malvarado@azstarnet.com.
Conneticut's Hispanic Health Council continues
The Hispanic Health Council
By Jeannette B. DeJesus, Hartford Business, 04/27/09
Mission: The mission of the Hispanic Health Council is to improve the health and social well-being of Latinos and other diverse communities.
Background: The Hispanic Health Council was created in 1978 after the tragic death of a Puerto Rican baby in Hartford pointed up dangerous gaps in health care access for the city’s burgeoning population of Latino migrants and immigrants.
The council began as a research organization but gradually began providing direct services when it became obvious that evidence-based solutions were not available elsewhere. Over the years, the council has provided state-of-the-science programs in community nutrition, substance-abuse prevention, reproductive, maternal and children’s health, parenting, youth services and HIV/AIDS.
The council’s nutrition education programs now reach thousands of children each year through the public schools in Hartford and Bridgeport. One-on-one support is provided for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and people with diabetes, to name a few.
Recently, the Hispanic Health Council expanded its mission to include policy advocacy when its leadership realized that while helping individuals is vital, changing the system is often necessary to provide long-term improvements to well-being and quality of life. In 2006, the council added a Latino Policy Institute to fulfill its mission of eliminating health disparities and ensuring high-quality health care for everybody. The council relies on state, federal and foundation grants for almost all of its funding, although individual and corporate donations would be welcome.
Major Fundraiser: None at the moment.
Volunteer Needs: Consult www.hispanichealth.com for a complete list of support opportunities.
Leadership:
Jeannette B. DeJesus, president and CEO;
Rebecca Grady, chief administrative officer;
Grace Damio, director of the Center for Women’s and Children’s Health;
Hilary Waldman, director of communications;
Dominick Cristofaro, board president;
Board Members: Catherine Medina, Gualberto Ruano, Ilia Castro, Jill Davies, Katherine McCormack, Laura Victoria Barrera, Nancy Martone, Rene Rodriguez.
Contact Information:
The Hispanic Health Council
175 Main St.
Hartford, CT 06106
(860) 527-0856, ext. 310
www.hispanichealth.com
By Jeannette B. DeJesus, Hartford Business, 04/27/09
Mission: The mission of the Hispanic Health Council is to improve the health and social well-being of Latinos and other diverse communities.
Background: The Hispanic Health Council was created in 1978 after the tragic death of a Puerto Rican baby in Hartford pointed up dangerous gaps in health care access for the city’s burgeoning population of Latino migrants and immigrants.
The council began as a research organization but gradually began providing direct services when it became obvious that evidence-based solutions were not available elsewhere. Over the years, the council has provided state-of-the-science programs in community nutrition, substance-abuse prevention, reproductive, maternal and children’s health, parenting, youth services and HIV/AIDS.
The council’s nutrition education programs now reach thousands of children each year through the public schools in Hartford and Bridgeport. One-on-one support is provided for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and people with diabetes, to name a few.
Recently, the Hispanic Health Council expanded its mission to include policy advocacy when its leadership realized that while helping individuals is vital, changing the system is often necessary to provide long-term improvements to well-being and quality of life. In 2006, the council added a Latino Policy Institute to fulfill its mission of eliminating health disparities and ensuring high-quality health care for everybody. The council relies on state, federal and foundation grants for almost all of its funding, although individual and corporate donations would be welcome.
Major Fundraiser: None at the moment.
Volunteer Needs: Consult www.hispanichealth.com for a complete list of support opportunities.
Leadership:
Jeannette B. DeJesus, president and CEO;
Rebecca Grady, chief administrative officer;
Grace Damio, director of the Center for Women’s and Children’s Health;
Hilary Waldman, director of communications;
Dominick Cristofaro, board president;
Board Members: Catherine Medina, Gualberto Ruano, Ilia Castro, Jill Davies, Katherine McCormack, Laura Victoria Barrera, Nancy Martone, Rene Rodriguez.
Contact Information:
The Hispanic Health Council
175 Main St.
Hartford, CT 06106
(860) 527-0856, ext. 310
www.hispanichealth.com
Latinos, Blacks behind on health
Report: Blacks, Latinos Lag Behind In Health
Latino Substance Abuse Deaths Up 500 Percent, Report Says
The Boston Channel, April 24, 2009
BOSTON -- Mortality rates have dropped in Boston and deaths from cancer, heart disease and substance abuse are in decline, but a gaping disparity between the health of white and minority residents still looms as the biggest challenge facing the city, according to an annual health report.
The city’s 2009 Health of Boston report found that there were 3,812 deaths in 2007, compared to 4,412 deaths in 2002 -- a 13.6 percent drop. Cancer remained the leading cause of death in Boston, followed by heart disease, injuries, stroke, and substance abuse, the report found.
Smoking was also down from 15 percent in 2001 to 7 percent in 2007 among high school students. Less adults were lighting up in recent years as well, according to the report, which found that 16 percent of adults smoked in 2006 compared to 24 percent five years earlier.
Black and Latino residents, however, continue to suffer disproportionately high levels of chronic disease, mortality and poorer health than white residents, according to the report. Black infants are still the most likely to die at birth or suffer from low birthweight or the affects of preterm birth. Black infants accounted for 27 percent of all births in 2007, but 48 percent of all infant deaths, according to the report.
Black and Latino residents were also beset by chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity and asthma, in far greater proportions than white residents. The report found a 200 percent increase in the number of Latinos hospitalized for diabetes in 2006 compared to figures from 1998.
Substance abuse deaths among Latinos also soared 500 percent between 1999 and 2007, despite a citywide decline in the substance abuse mortality rate of 7 percent. Officials said that the city is working to combat the increase by rolling out intensive treatment programs and neighborhood no-drug coalitions.
The report also found, however, that life expectancies were the highest among Latino residents and women, at 80.3 years and 81.4 years respectively. White residents had a life expectancy of 79.1 years, while black residents had the lowest life expectancy at 73.8 years, according to the report.
Latino Substance Abuse Deaths Up 500 Percent, Report Says
The Boston Channel, April 24, 2009
BOSTON -- Mortality rates have dropped in Boston and deaths from cancer, heart disease and substance abuse are in decline, but a gaping disparity between the health of white and minority residents still looms as the biggest challenge facing the city, according to an annual health report.
The city’s 2009 Health of Boston report found that there were 3,812 deaths in 2007, compared to 4,412 deaths in 2002 -- a 13.6 percent drop. Cancer remained the leading cause of death in Boston, followed by heart disease, injuries, stroke, and substance abuse, the report found.
Smoking was also down from 15 percent in 2001 to 7 percent in 2007 among high school students. Less adults were lighting up in recent years as well, according to the report, which found that 16 percent of adults smoked in 2006 compared to 24 percent five years earlier.
Black and Latino residents, however, continue to suffer disproportionately high levels of chronic disease, mortality and poorer health than white residents, according to the report. Black infants are still the most likely to die at birth or suffer from low birthweight or the affects of preterm birth. Black infants accounted for 27 percent of all births in 2007, but 48 percent of all infant deaths, according to the report.
Black and Latino residents were also beset by chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity and asthma, in far greater proportions than white residents. The report found a 200 percent increase in the number of Latinos hospitalized for diabetes in 2006 compared to figures from 1998.
Substance abuse deaths among Latinos also soared 500 percent between 1999 and 2007, despite a citywide decline in the substance abuse mortality rate of 7 percent. Officials said that the city is working to combat the increase by rolling out intensive treatment programs and neighborhood no-drug coalitions.
The report also found, however, that life expectancies were the highest among Latino residents and women, at 80.3 years and 81.4 years respectively. White residents had a life expectancy of 79.1 years, while black residents had the lowest life expectancy at 73.8 years, according to the report.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Hispanic health fair held by Catholic church
St. Joseph Catholic Church in Stuart to conduct Hispanic Health Fair on Sunday
By Monique Mattiace, TC Palm.com, April 22, 2009
STUART — St. Joseph Catholic Church is conducting a Hispanic Health Fair on Sunday to raise health awareness and offer free health services to Hispanics who don’t have health care services.
The church has partnered with at least 50 volunteers and organizations within the community to bring free services and information to Hispanics at St. Joseph Catholic Church.
“The majority of the Hispanic community has a language barrier and don’t know what’s available to them,” said Mary Lou Durante, registered nurse and Health Outreach Ministry volunteer at St. Joseph Catholic Church. “They are largely uninsured and don’t have the resources to get medical care.”
The Rev. Noel McGrath of St. Joseph Catholic Church requested a Hispanic health fair on the churches premises after seeing a continuous need of healthcare services within the church.
About 300 Hispanic families are members of the church, said Durante.
Information from bicycle safety tips to dental and blood screening will be offered. Sick people and children with no health care also will be seen and treated on site by the Visiting Nurse Association.
“I’m very excited because I know there is a need for health services,” said Durante. “I know the economy is rocky right now. People that offer services in the community are stretched. When we all get together like this we can do more and reach the right people.”
By Monique Mattiace, TC Palm.com, April 22, 2009
STUART — St. Joseph Catholic Church is conducting a Hispanic Health Fair on Sunday to raise health awareness and offer free health services to Hispanics who don’t have health care services.
The church has partnered with at least 50 volunteers and organizations within the community to bring free services and information to Hispanics at St. Joseph Catholic Church.
“The majority of the Hispanic community has a language barrier and don’t know what’s available to them,” said Mary Lou Durante, registered nurse and Health Outreach Ministry volunteer at St. Joseph Catholic Church. “They are largely uninsured and don’t have the resources to get medical care.”
The Rev. Noel McGrath of St. Joseph Catholic Church requested a Hispanic health fair on the churches premises after seeing a continuous need of healthcare services within the church.
About 300 Hispanic families are members of the church, said Durante.
Information from bicycle safety tips to dental and blood screening will be offered. Sick people and children with no health care also will be seen and treated on site by the Visiting Nurse Association.
“I’m very excited because I know there is a need for health services,” said Durante. “I know the economy is rocky right now. People that offer services in the community are stretched. When we all get together like this we can do more and reach the right people.”
Austin looks at Hispanic quality of life
Final forum for Hispanic Quality of Life focused on health
Impact News, 21 April 2009
The City of Austin needs input on health-related issues from Hispanics and those connected to the Hispanic culture during the final forum of the Hispanic Quality of Life Initiative at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 28. The forum will be at the Conley-Guerrero Senior Activity Center, 808 Nile St., next to the Rosewood-Zaragosa Neighborhood Center.
Comments captured at these discussions and through surveys will help shape recommendations on how to make Austin a better place to live for the diverse Hispanic community.
“Good health is certainly one of the crucial elements required for everyone to enjoy an optimum quality of life,” said Shannon Jones, assistant director of Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department. “The fact that Latinos are the fastest growing population in Austin underscores the city's responsibility to proactively address concerns and needs with respect to health care. As our community becomes more diverse, we must identify and deliver services and programs that enable all to participate fully, realize their dreams and contribute to the greater good.”
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Melinda Rodriguez, Development Director for El Buen Samaritano, a non-profit organization committed to providing health care and self-sufficiency education for Spanish-speaking families, believes that the forum is important because health issues need to be addressed for the benefit of the entire community.
A Spanish-speaking interpreter will be available at the forum. Past forums have been based on education, economic development and cultural arts.
The City of Austin estimates that 36 percent of Austin’s population is Hispanic and that growth from the Hispanic community in Austin accounts for 70-80 percent of total growth for the city so far this decade.
For more information, visit www.austinhispanicqualityoflife.org or call (512) 974-2344.
Impact News, 21 April 2009
The City of Austin needs input on health-related issues from Hispanics and those connected to the Hispanic culture during the final forum of the Hispanic Quality of Life Initiative at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 28. The forum will be at the Conley-Guerrero Senior Activity Center, 808 Nile St., next to the Rosewood-Zaragosa Neighborhood Center.
Comments captured at these discussions and through surveys will help shape recommendations on how to make Austin a better place to live for the diverse Hispanic community.
“Good health is certainly one of the crucial elements required for everyone to enjoy an optimum quality of life,” said Shannon Jones, assistant director of Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department. “The fact that Latinos are the fastest growing population in Austin underscores the city's responsibility to proactively address concerns and needs with respect to health care. As our community becomes more diverse, we must identify and deliver services and programs that enable all to participate fully, realize their dreams and contribute to the greater good.”
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Melinda Rodriguez, Development Director for El Buen Samaritano, a non-profit organization committed to providing health care and self-sufficiency education for Spanish-speaking families, believes that the forum is important because health issues need to be addressed for the benefit of the entire community.
A Spanish-speaking interpreter will be available at the forum. Past forums have been based on education, economic development and cultural arts.
The City of Austin estimates that 36 percent of Austin’s population is Hispanic and that growth from the Hispanic community in Austin accounts for 70-80 percent of total growth for the city so far this decade.
For more information, visit www.austinhispanicqualityoflife.org or call (512) 974-2344.
Latino group launches wellness program
Progreso Latino Launches Wellness Program
PBN.com
CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. (April 21, 2009) – On April 16, Progreso Latino graduated 11 students who will work in its Wellness Center and advise fellow members of the Latino community about improving their general health and accessing healthcare. The Blue Health Angels Program was funded by a Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island Community Health Grant.
“There is a very real disparity in Rhode Island in who gets excellent healthcare and who doesn’t,” said Ramon Martinez, the president and CEO of Progreso Latino. “We designed this program so we can help close that gap and improve the lives of our constituents. We thank our Blue Health Angels for enrolling in this special training so they can offer meaningful health literacy and health education advice. We’re also very thankful to Blue Cross for funding this initiative through the Community Health Grants program.”
The percentage of Hispanic/Latinos in R.I. who report having no health insurance is nearly four times higher than the white population and almost three times that of the overall state population. The percentage of Hispanics/Latinos who report being unable to afford to see a doctor is more than twice that of the white and overall state populations. (Office of Minority Health, R.I. Dept of Health, 2007).
“We strongly support prevention tactics that empower individuals to improve their health,” said Linda H. Newton, vice president of diversity & community relations, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island. “We commend Progreso Latino for designing a program that promotes healthy choices and early detection and treatment.”
Progreso Latino founded its Wellness Center in 1996 with the goal of eliminating the disparity in access to health services that exists between the Latino community and the general populace. The Blue Health Angels will assist community members with health screenings; involve them in exercise classes; host educational workshops; provide referrals; and assist with applying for medical insurance and free/low-cost medical services.
“We recognize the value of education in combating disease,” said Martinez. “We want to help people avoid behaviors that put their health at risk, and assist them in identifying the early warning signs of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and other diseases so they can get treatment early.”
Progreso Latino is the largest bilingual, multicultural, empowerment community-based agency in the state of Rhode Island. The mission of the Wellness Center is to eliminate the disparity in access to health services that exists between the Latino community and the general population, and to provide the Latino community with information and education on topics such as HIV prevention, cancer awareness, diabetes, nutrition, cardiovascular disease, domestic violence, women’s health issues, substance abuse and many others.
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island is the state's leading health insurer and now covers more than 600,000 members. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. The BlueAngel Community Health Grants (BACHG) program provides grants to deserving organizations that are working to address important health issues in Rhode Island. Since 2002, BCBSRI has donated more than $1.3 million through the program and the lives of more than 55,000 people have been impacted by the funded programs and services.
PBN.com
CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. (April 21, 2009) – On April 16, Progreso Latino graduated 11 students who will work in its Wellness Center and advise fellow members of the Latino community about improving their general health and accessing healthcare. The Blue Health Angels Program was funded by a Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island Community Health Grant.
“There is a very real disparity in Rhode Island in who gets excellent healthcare and who doesn’t,” said Ramon Martinez, the president and CEO of Progreso Latino. “We designed this program so we can help close that gap and improve the lives of our constituents. We thank our Blue Health Angels for enrolling in this special training so they can offer meaningful health literacy and health education advice. We’re also very thankful to Blue Cross for funding this initiative through the Community Health Grants program.”
The percentage of Hispanic/Latinos in R.I. who report having no health insurance is nearly four times higher than the white population and almost three times that of the overall state population. The percentage of Hispanics/Latinos who report being unable to afford to see a doctor is more than twice that of the white and overall state populations. (Office of Minority Health, R.I. Dept of Health, 2007).
“We strongly support prevention tactics that empower individuals to improve their health,” said Linda H. Newton, vice president of diversity & community relations, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island. “We commend Progreso Latino for designing a program that promotes healthy choices and early detection and treatment.”
Progreso Latino founded its Wellness Center in 1996 with the goal of eliminating the disparity in access to health services that exists between the Latino community and the general populace. The Blue Health Angels will assist community members with health screenings; involve them in exercise classes; host educational workshops; provide referrals; and assist with applying for medical insurance and free/low-cost medical services.
“We recognize the value of education in combating disease,” said Martinez. “We want to help people avoid behaviors that put their health at risk, and assist them in identifying the early warning signs of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and other diseases so they can get treatment early.”
Progreso Latino is the largest bilingual, multicultural, empowerment community-based agency in the state of Rhode Island. The mission of the Wellness Center is to eliminate the disparity in access to health services that exists between the Latino community and the general population, and to provide the Latino community with information and education on topics such as HIV prevention, cancer awareness, diabetes, nutrition, cardiovascular disease, domestic violence, women’s health issues, substance abuse and many others.
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island is the state's leading health insurer and now covers more than 600,000 members. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. The BlueAngel Community Health Grants (BACHG) program provides grants to deserving organizations that are working to address important health issues in Rhode Island. Since 2002, BCBSRI has donated more than $1.3 million through the program and the lives of more than 55,000 people have been impacted by the funded programs and services.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Hispanic health day event planned
Hispanic Health Day Event In Tarrytown
by Westchester.com, 21 April 2009
Westchester Health NewsSleepy Hollow, NY - Twenty-five Spanish-speaking doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals from Phelps Memorial Hospital Center will participate in Hispanic Health Day at the John Paulding Elementary School, 154 North Broadway in Tarrytown on Saturday, April 25 from 1-5 pm, rain or shine.
Free and open to the public, the event is coordinated by the Westchester County Office for Hispanic Affairs.
Healthcare professionals from Phelps will provide free screenings including breast exams, blood pressure screenings, glucose monitoring and mental health assessments. Representatives from Phelps’ department of obstetrics and gynecology will provide information on prenatal care, and healthcare staff from the departments of physical therapy and occupational therapy will share information on how to prevent sports-related injuries in children and adults.
Other organizations participating in the health fair include St. Vincent’s Hospital-Westchester, Open Door Family Medical Center, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Even Start Family Health Literacy Program, Westchester Library System, Hudson Health Plan, OSHA, Dominican Sisters Family Health Service, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and New Hope Fellowship. For more information on Hispanic Health Day, call 914-995-2476.
Phelps Memorial Hospital Center is a 235-bed community hospital with 450 medical staff, representing 34 clinical specialties. Phelps is the exclusive Westchester satellite for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and a clinical affiliate of Mount Sinai Hospital. www.phelpshospital.org
by Westchester.com, 21 April 2009
Westchester Health NewsSleepy Hollow, NY - Twenty-five Spanish-speaking doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals from Phelps Memorial Hospital Center will participate in Hispanic Health Day at the John Paulding Elementary School, 154 North Broadway in Tarrytown on Saturday, April 25 from 1-5 pm, rain or shine.
Free and open to the public, the event is coordinated by the Westchester County Office for Hispanic Affairs.
Healthcare professionals from Phelps will provide free screenings including breast exams, blood pressure screenings, glucose monitoring and mental health assessments. Representatives from Phelps’ department of obstetrics and gynecology will provide information on prenatal care, and healthcare staff from the departments of physical therapy and occupational therapy will share information on how to prevent sports-related injuries in children and adults.
Other organizations participating in the health fair include St. Vincent’s Hospital-Westchester, Open Door Family Medical Center, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Even Start Family Health Literacy Program, Westchester Library System, Hudson Health Plan, OSHA, Dominican Sisters Family Health Service, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and New Hope Fellowship. For more information on Hispanic Health Day, call 914-995-2476.
Phelps Memorial Hospital Center is a 235-bed community hospital with 450 medical staff, representing 34 clinical specialties. Phelps is the exclusive Westchester satellite for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and a clinical affiliate of Mount Sinai Hospital. www.phelpshospital.org
Latinos taught healthy food and exercise
Lighter Latino food on the menu
Weekly class promotes more healthful recipes, exercise
By Jennifer Vigil Union-Tribune Staff Writer April 18, 2009
CITY HEIGHTS — Little Leslie Cota walked into the healthful cooking class her mother was attending, munching on a sweet treat.
The teacher, Racheal Alba Araujo, wasn't impressed with the child's dietary choice, but she doesn't preach. She knows it won't work, particularly on a 4-year-old. She opted for subtlety instead, lifting her hand to wag her index and middle fingers in the air, the universal sign for walking.
Leslie, still clutching her chocolate, got the point. “Caminando,” she said.
“Si, caminando,” Araujo repeated.
Araujo builds on that lesson for the moms and dads in her City Heights classroom, pushing them to link the health benefits of exercise with better eating habits. If they get moving, she tells them, and prepare their favorite dishes in less fattening ways, they can improve their health and dramatically reduce the risk of many diseases.
It's a common-sense message, but for Latinos struggling to make ends meet in San Diego, reducing fat and increasing physical activity isn't always the first priority. Araujo works to overcome those and other barriers at the Friday classes she leads at the Scripps City Heights Wellness Center.
“We teach 'everything in moderation,' ” Araujo said. “We promote change. We never say, 'no.' I think that's the success of the program.”
She also holds herself up as Exhibit No. 1: Araujo, who has Type 2 diabetes, once weighed more than 400 pounds. She's now half that size.
“It makes me very credible and very real,” she said. “I want to manage my diabetes.”
It wasn't always that way. Her mother died of complications from the disease. All four of her siblings also got diabetes, a condition that causes the body to fail to properly process sugar and carbohydrates.
Poor diet and a family history of the disease are prime risk factors for Type 2 diabetes. The health educator is aware she should have known better.
“I had all the tools,” she said. “I didn't know how to use them.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading cause of death among Latinos is heart disease. Diabetes also is in the top 10. The disease is twice as common among Mexicans and Puerto Rican adults as whites.
Latinos also lack health insurance in greater numbers than the general population, according to federal statistics, making them less likely to seek preventive treatment.
Scripps, in partnership with another community clinic, La Maestra, received funding for the classes from two private foundations. It's unclear if they will continue, though, because the grants expire in June.
Araujo said her main message can be split into four parts – serving smaller portions, modifying fat-filled recipes, incorporating more fruits and vegetables into meals and exercising.
The toughest lesson to impart? Making time to work out, Araujo said, especially because many of her students don't have cars. They think walking their children to school or going to the store will suffice.
“They assume they're already doing enough,” the Escondido resident said.
At a recent class, Araujo and her students prepared broccoli salad. Araujo made a bowlful, with red onions, cheese, raisins and a mix of mayonnaise and yogurt, ahead of time. But she also laid the ingredients out on the counter to allow the class to assemble the dish too.
“If they open it, taste it, smell it, they're more apt to buy it,” Araujo said.
Leslie's mother, Patricia Cota, 26, was responsible for the raisins, while Liliana McBroom, 28, who has grown to like salads because of the class, handed off the broccoli to be blanched. Araujo told the class doing so gives the vegetable a vivid green cast that makes it appear more appetizing.
The teacher also emphasizes how to cut the fat out of Latin favorites.
To improve upon frijoles, pinto beans often laden with lard, she advises her students to mix in heated oil flavored with garlic. Preparing posole, a soup, with more protein, preferably chicken, improves the dish's nutritional value.
Some students ate as many as a dozen tortillas a meal, Araujo said. She recommends three. She also tells them to make tamales much smaller.
Her lessons are taking hold. The consistency of soya, or soy, whether in milk or tofu, once grossed out the class. Yet within weeks the students asked Araujo to find a recipe for ceviche – usually made with fish, which can be costly – that includes tofu.
The children are adapting as well, which Araujo said is crucial if families are to make changes. Leslie, who started the class with candy, ended it with broccoli, as did Hector, her 2-year-old brother. None of the children refused the vegetables – McBroom's son Bradley, 4, ate them too.
Luis Frias, 45, is a convert. Once concerned about diabetes, he has lost weight during the class and limited his intake of sugary sodas. Eating healthier saves him money because he no longer pays $6 or $7 for big burritos.
“We spend more money fixing things in the traditional Latino way,” Frias said.
Jennifer Vigil: (619) 718-5069; jennifer.vigil@uniontrib.com
Weekly class promotes more healthful recipes, exercise
By Jennifer Vigil Union-Tribune Staff Writer April 18, 2009
CITY HEIGHTS — Little Leslie Cota walked into the healthful cooking class her mother was attending, munching on a sweet treat.
The teacher, Racheal Alba Araujo, wasn't impressed with the child's dietary choice, but she doesn't preach. She knows it won't work, particularly on a 4-year-old. She opted for subtlety instead, lifting her hand to wag her index and middle fingers in the air, the universal sign for walking.
Leslie, still clutching her chocolate, got the point. “Caminando,” she said.
“Si, caminando,” Araujo repeated.
Araujo builds on that lesson for the moms and dads in her City Heights classroom, pushing them to link the health benefits of exercise with better eating habits. If they get moving, she tells them, and prepare their favorite dishes in less fattening ways, they can improve their health and dramatically reduce the risk of many diseases.
It's a common-sense message, but for Latinos struggling to make ends meet in San Diego, reducing fat and increasing physical activity isn't always the first priority. Araujo works to overcome those and other barriers at the Friday classes she leads at the Scripps City Heights Wellness Center.
“We teach 'everything in moderation,' ” Araujo said. “We promote change. We never say, 'no.' I think that's the success of the program.”
She also holds herself up as Exhibit No. 1: Araujo, who has Type 2 diabetes, once weighed more than 400 pounds. She's now half that size.
“It makes me very credible and very real,” she said. “I want to manage my diabetes.”
It wasn't always that way. Her mother died of complications from the disease. All four of her siblings also got diabetes, a condition that causes the body to fail to properly process sugar and carbohydrates.
Poor diet and a family history of the disease are prime risk factors for Type 2 diabetes. The health educator is aware she should have known better.
“I had all the tools,” she said. “I didn't know how to use them.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading cause of death among Latinos is heart disease. Diabetes also is in the top 10. The disease is twice as common among Mexicans and Puerto Rican adults as whites.
Latinos also lack health insurance in greater numbers than the general population, according to federal statistics, making them less likely to seek preventive treatment.
Scripps, in partnership with another community clinic, La Maestra, received funding for the classes from two private foundations. It's unclear if they will continue, though, because the grants expire in June.
Araujo said her main message can be split into four parts – serving smaller portions, modifying fat-filled recipes, incorporating more fruits and vegetables into meals and exercising.
The toughest lesson to impart? Making time to work out, Araujo said, especially because many of her students don't have cars. They think walking their children to school or going to the store will suffice.
“They assume they're already doing enough,” the Escondido resident said.
At a recent class, Araujo and her students prepared broccoli salad. Araujo made a bowlful, with red onions, cheese, raisins and a mix of mayonnaise and yogurt, ahead of time. But she also laid the ingredients out on the counter to allow the class to assemble the dish too.
“If they open it, taste it, smell it, they're more apt to buy it,” Araujo said.
Leslie's mother, Patricia Cota, 26, was responsible for the raisins, while Liliana McBroom, 28, who has grown to like salads because of the class, handed off the broccoli to be blanched. Araujo told the class doing so gives the vegetable a vivid green cast that makes it appear more appetizing.
The teacher also emphasizes how to cut the fat out of Latin favorites.
To improve upon frijoles, pinto beans often laden with lard, she advises her students to mix in heated oil flavored with garlic. Preparing posole, a soup, with more protein, preferably chicken, improves the dish's nutritional value.
Some students ate as many as a dozen tortillas a meal, Araujo said. She recommends three. She also tells them to make tamales much smaller.
Her lessons are taking hold. The consistency of soya, or soy, whether in milk or tofu, once grossed out the class. Yet within weeks the students asked Araujo to find a recipe for ceviche – usually made with fish, which can be costly – that includes tofu.
The children are adapting as well, which Araujo said is crucial if families are to make changes. Leslie, who started the class with candy, ended it with broccoli, as did Hector, her 2-year-old brother. None of the children refused the vegetables – McBroom's son Bradley, 4, ate them too.
Luis Frias, 45, is a convert. Once concerned about diabetes, he has lost weight during the class and limited his intake of sugary sodas. Eating healthier saves him money because he no longer pays $6 or $7 for big burritos.
“We spend more money fixing things in the traditional Latino way,” Frias said.
Jennifer Vigil: (619) 718-5069; jennifer.vigil@uniontrib.com
Rise among Hispanics using health department
More Hispanics are now using health department
by Philip D. Brown, Your Daily Journal
The number of illegal aliens may be dropping in North Carolina, but the those seeking medical help from the Richmond County Health Department has tripled since 2007.
There is no way to determine with certainty the number of undocumented immigrants in the state of North Carolina, but the Pew Hispanic Center recently released a study which found the number of illegal aliens in North Carolina declined from about 375,000 in 2005 to 350,000 in 2008. That represents about 3.8 percent of North Carolina’s total population.
It also found 250,000 illegal aliens hold jobs, accounting for 5.3 percent of the state’s workforce.
A spokesperson for the office of Gov. Bev Perdue said despite the fact the state has an Office of Hispanic/Latino Affairs, there is no real answer to the question of the Hispanic population or naturalization recorded at the state level.
“It’s a federal question,” Chrissy Pearson said.
Representatives from the federal Immigration and Naturalization Services could not be reached for comment.
Merrill Smith is the editor of the “World Refugee Survey,” he said he is not an expert on the North Carolina population, but he doubted that people are being naturalized.
“There are barriers that keep them from doing that,” he said. “When they don’t have their green cards it is very difficult for them to get citizenship.”
His best guess as to where the illegals are going: “They’re probably going back home.”
Richmond County Health Director Tommy Jarrell explained that the Hispanic population makes up about 17 percent of the total number of patients the health department sees.
The department doesn’t track whether those they assist are documented to be in the United States or not.
“But in the maternity clinic it’s more like 65 or 70 percent, and in the family planning clinic it’s well over 50 percent,” he said. “A lot of these people are uninsured, and don’t have Medicaid, so they end up coming to us because they don’t have anywhere else to go for prenatal care.”
In the county’s state of the county health report, demographics are only broken down into white and non-white.
Jarrell explained the health department cannot report people who are undocumented when they access services.
“We are set up to help anybody who’s in need of medical care,” Jarrell said.
The health department is required by law to hire interpreters and pay their salaries, he said.
Jarrell pointed out preventative care offered to a pregnant woman is less expensive than the money it would take to treat a baby who is born with complications.
“We are seeing the number of Hispanic people rise every year,” he said. “It continues to grow.”
Richmond County Social Services Income Maintenance Supervisor Barrett Hollimon explained he’s seen a rise in the number of Hispanics accessing services from social services.
He shared statistics from March 2007, March 2008 and March 2009 to illustrate the increase. It is important to note these figures have no delineation between those who are in the country legally and illegally.
In March 2007, there were 167 people who checked Hispanic when applying for services. There were 5,702 people who identified themselves as a race other than Hispanic, and nearly 1,500 people who did not specify their ethnic background.
In March 2008, 228 people identified themselves as Hispanic, while 6,311 identified themselves as not Hispanic or white, and 1,818 declined to identify their ethnic background.
In March 2009, 459 people accessing services identified themselves as Hispanic. Another 7,222 identified themselves as not Hispanic, and 2,157 people did not specify their ethnic background.
By these figures, there was more than a 300 percent increase in the number of people of reported Hispanic origins accessing services from the county government.
At the same time, the number of people total who access these services has also grown, at a more modest pace of about 30 percent.
Hollimon explained that Social Services provides food stamps and other assistance only to American citizens.
However, he said, when an undocumented person has a child in the United States, that child is a citizen.
“So, if there’s a home with two undocumented parents, and two children born in the United States, their allowance would be for a household of two,” he said.
Hollimon said the department has grown more culturally-understanding in its interactions with people of Hispanic origin.
“It has affected the way we operate,” he said. “We’ve added interpreters, and moved people into dual roles, so they can also serve as translators. When we didn’t have that, it was a major barrier to providing these services.”
by Philip D. Brown, Your Daily Journal
The number of illegal aliens may be dropping in North Carolina, but the those seeking medical help from the Richmond County Health Department has tripled since 2007.
There is no way to determine with certainty the number of undocumented immigrants in the state of North Carolina, but the Pew Hispanic Center recently released a study which found the number of illegal aliens in North Carolina declined from about 375,000 in 2005 to 350,000 in 2008. That represents about 3.8 percent of North Carolina’s total population.
It also found 250,000 illegal aliens hold jobs, accounting for 5.3 percent of the state’s workforce.
A spokesperson for the office of Gov. Bev Perdue said despite the fact the state has an Office of Hispanic/Latino Affairs, there is no real answer to the question of the Hispanic population or naturalization recorded at the state level.
“It’s a federal question,” Chrissy Pearson said.
Representatives from the federal Immigration and Naturalization Services could not be reached for comment.
Merrill Smith is the editor of the “World Refugee Survey,” he said he is not an expert on the North Carolina population, but he doubted that people are being naturalized.
“There are barriers that keep them from doing that,” he said. “When they don’t have their green cards it is very difficult for them to get citizenship.”
His best guess as to where the illegals are going: “They’re probably going back home.”
Richmond County Health Director Tommy Jarrell explained that the Hispanic population makes up about 17 percent of the total number of patients the health department sees.
The department doesn’t track whether those they assist are documented to be in the United States or not.
“But in the maternity clinic it’s more like 65 or 70 percent, and in the family planning clinic it’s well over 50 percent,” he said. “A lot of these people are uninsured, and don’t have Medicaid, so they end up coming to us because they don’t have anywhere else to go for prenatal care.”
In the county’s state of the county health report, demographics are only broken down into white and non-white.
Jarrell explained the health department cannot report people who are undocumented when they access services.
“We are set up to help anybody who’s in need of medical care,” Jarrell said.
The health department is required by law to hire interpreters and pay their salaries, he said.
Jarrell pointed out preventative care offered to a pregnant woman is less expensive than the money it would take to treat a baby who is born with complications.
“We are seeing the number of Hispanic people rise every year,” he said. “It continues to grow.”
Richmond County Social Services Income Maintenance Supervisor Barrett Hollimon explained he’s seen a rise in the number of Hispanics accessing services from social services.
He shared statistics from March 2007, March 2008 and March 2009 to illustrate the increase. It is important to note these figures have no delineation between those who are in the country legally and illegally.
In March 2007, there were 167 people who checked Hispanic when applying for services. There were 5,702 people who identified themselves as a race other than Hispanic, and nearly 1,500 people who did not specify their ethnic background.
In March 2008, 228 people identified themselves as Hispanic, while 6,311 identified themselves as not Hispanic or white, and 1,818 declined to identify their ethnic background.
In March 2009, 459 people accessing services identified themselves as Hispanic. Another 7,222 identified themselves as not Hispanic, and 2,157 people did not specify their ethnic background.
By these figures, there was more than a 300 percent increase in the number of people of reported Hispanic origins accessing services from the county government.
At the same time, the number of people total who access these services has also grown, at a more modest pace of about 30 percent.
Hollimon explained that Social Services provides food stamps and other assistance only to American citizens.
However, he said, when an undocumented person has a child in the United States, that child is a citizen.
“So, if there’s a home with two undocumented parents, and two children born in the United States, their allowance would be for a household of two,” he said.
Hollimon said the department has grown more culturally-understanding in its interactions with people of Hispanic origin.
“It has affected the way we operate,” he said. “We’ve added interpreters, and moved people into dual roles, so they can also serve as translators. When we didn’t have that, it was a major barrier to providing these services.”
Monday, April 20, 2009
Latino children living in bad air areas could benefit
National Alliance for Hispanic Health Statement on EPA Proposed Regulation of Greenhouse Gases to Protect Public Health
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, DC - Dr. Jane L. Delgado, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, the nation's leading Hispanic health advocacy group, released the following statement on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determination that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases are a danger to public health. The announcement begins a 60-day public comment period.
"We congratulate President Obama and EPA Administrator Jackson on today's action finding that greenhouse gases pose a danger to the public's health and welfare. It's not only the right thing to do for the health of this and future generations, it's the smart economic move to spur on green jobs, a healthier nation, and an economy that values the planet we all call home. Protecting the public's health should not be dependent on whether or not a deal can be brokered on a cap and trade system."
"Today the EPA lived up to its charge to protect the nation's health. The entire Alliance membership and our Health and the Environment Action Network (HEAN) will be working over the next 60 day public comment period to ensure that the public's health is the primary concern in regulation of greenhouse gases. You can be a part of this movement by visiting the Alliance's Action Forum at www.hispanichealth.org."
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, DC - Dr. Jane L. Delgado, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, the nation's leading Hispanic health advocacy group, released the following statement on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determination that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases are a danger to public health. The announcement begins a 60-day public comment period.
"We congratulate President Obama and EPA Administrator Jackson on today's action finding that greenhouse gases pose a danger to the public's health and welfare. It's not only the right thing to do for the health of this and future generations, it's the smart economic move to spur on green jobs, a healthier nation, and an economy that values the planet we all call home. Protecting the public's health should not be dependent on whether or not a deal can be brokered on a cap and trade system."
"Today the EPA lived up to its charge to protect the nation's health. The entire Alliance membership and our Health and the Environment Action Network (HEAN) will be working over the next 60 day public comment period to ensure that the public's health is the primary concern in regulation of greenhouse gases. You can be a part of this movement by visiting the Alliance's Action Forum at www.hispanichealth.org."
Hispanic and other minority children benefit from efforts
National Civil Rights Groups Join Forces in Call for Action to Strengthen the Health of the Nation’s Children
On Occasion of Minority Health Month, AAJC, CDF, NAACP, NCAI, and NCLR Urge Congress to Cover Remaining Millions of Uninsured Children
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, DC- Commemorating National Minority Health Month, today, leading civil rights groups, including the Asian American Justice Center (AAJC), the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), announced their partnership during a briefing on Capitol Hill to outline how to realize America’s promise of covering all children, ensuring that the millions of uninsured and underinsured children are not forgotten during the health care reform debate. The groups were joined by Neera Tanden, Counselor for Health Reform in the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services where she is working on the President’s health care reform plan.
“For far too long, children and families have suffered because this country has failed to provide a basic need – access to affordable, quality health care,” stated Janet Murguía, President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza. “The health care system must be changed and address the deep-seated inequities that threaten to hold back this generation of children by causing illnesses that could have been prevented and, in the worst cases, premature death."
“Asian American children are largely from first and second generation immigrant families and have an uninsured rate of nearly 12%,” said Vincent A. Eng, deputy director of the Asian American Justice Center. “Linguistic isolation has a significant effect on the access and quality of health care that Asian American children and pregnant women receive and working toward a system that is affordable, comprehensive, and equitable is of the utmost importance.”
"Although the President and Congress took a huge step forward this year by expanding CHIP,Serious flaws within the system leave 5-6 million children uninsured and millions more uninsured,” said CDF President, Marian Wright Edelman. “The organizations in our coalition share a history of standing up for the voiceless, and this year the voice for children’s health in America will be loud and clear.”
“One of the greatest injustices for any family is not to have healthcare for their children. We are a better nation than one that forces a mother to choose between a doctor for her sick child and paying rent. President Obama has made a first installment on addressing the crisis of 9 million uninsured children by extending the SCHIP program this year. But it’s only a first step. Most American children are insured through their parents’ employment. The old saying when the country catches a cold, black people catch the flu applies here. For African American communities, suffering under the yoke of double digit unemployment --twice the rate of whites; the crisis is already catastrophic. We need a healthcare system in American that provides quality, comprehensive care for all America’s children regardless of the whims of our economy,” stated Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP.
"The health, well-being, and success of Native American children are central to Native communities and cultures," said NCAI Executive Director Jacqueline Johnson Pata. "Yet many children in our communities only see a doctor in an emergency room visit. In order to raise healthy children, our communities need access to comprehensive quality health care delivered in a culturally appropriate and sensitive manner. We stand strong with this coalition to ensure we all are part if this important debate and urge Congress to act on this year to include every child in America in health care coverage."
Despite the expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program’s (CHIP) that went into effect this month, an estimated 5-6 million children will still remain uninsured. This new coalition of civil rights leaders is urging Congress to pass legislation this year that will ensure every child and pregnant woman in America is provided access to comprehensive, affordable health coverage. The organizations have committed to focus their lobbying and grassroots efforts around advocacy for covering all children as part of national health care reform.
The coalition is urging that health care reform legislation must incorporate the following in order to make President Obama’s promise of coverage for all children in America a reality in 2009:
* Coverage Must Be Affordable: Establish a national eligibility floor of 300 percent of the federal poverty level for all children and pregnant women, with an affordable sliding scale buy-in above that level.
* Children and Pregnant Women Must Have Access to Comprehensive Benefits: Guarantee every child and pregnant woman timely access to all medically necessary services and products to maximize health and development with:
o Emphasis on prevention and early detection and treatment.
o No pre-existing condition exclusion or waiting period.
o Appropriate post-partum coverage.
o High quality, age-appropriate services from providers in their communities.
o Culturally and linguistically appropriate services to ensure families
o Protection of access to care regardless of race, ethnicity or national origin.
* The System Must Be Simple, Seamless and Equitable: To ensure children get enrolled and stay enrolled, the following are necessary:
o Short, simple, understandable application – Form must be uniformly used and barriers such as asset tests, waiting lists, and other barriers that delay or limit enrollment must be prohibited.
o Automatic enrollment– All opportunities to identify and enroll children should be utilized, including at birth, enrollment in school, participation in child-serving programs and in health settings.
o Presumptive eligibility– An uninsured child should be presumed eligible for coverage at point of service.
o 12-month continuous enrollment with automatic renewal– Children’s coverage should be guaranteed for a full year regardless of family income changes; renewal processes, including verification of income, must utilize all available technology to minimize burdens on families.
On Occasion of Minority Health Month, AAJC, CDF, NAACP, NCAI, and NCLR Urge Congress to Cover Remaining Millions of Uninsured Children
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, DC- Commemorating National Minority Health Month, today, leading civil rights groups, including the Asian American Justice Center (AAJC), the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), announced their partnership during a briefing on Capitol Hill to outline how to realize America’s promise of covering all children, ensuring that the millions of uninsured and underinsured children are not forgotten during the health care reform debate. The groups were joined by Neera Tanden, Counselor for Health Reform in the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services where she is working on the President’s health care reform plan.
“For far too long, children and families have suffered because this country has failed to provide a basic need – access to affordable, quality health care,” stated Janet Murguía, President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza. “The health care system must be changed and address the deep-seated inequities that threaten to hold back this generation of children by causing illnesses that could have been prevented and, in the worst cases, premature death."
“Asian American children are largely from first and second generation immigrant families and have an uninsured rate of nearly 12%,” said Vincent A. Eng, deputy director of the Asian American Justice Center. “Linguistic isolation has a significant effect on the access and quality of health care that Asian American children and pregnant women receive and working toward a system that is affordable, comprehensive, and equitable is of the utmost importance.”
"Although the President and Congress took a huge step forward this year by expanding CHIP,Serious flaws within the system leave 5-6 million children uninsured and millions more uninsured,” said CDF President, Marian Wright Edelman. “The organizations in our coalition share a history of standing up for the voiceless, and this year the voice for children’s health in America will be loud and clear.”
“One of the greatest injustices for any family is not to have healthcare for their children. We are a better nation than one that forces a mother to choose between a doctor for her sick child and paying rent. President Obama has made a first installment on addressing the crisis of 9 million uninsured children by extending the SCHIP program this year. But it’s only a first step. Most American children are insured through their parents’ employment. The old saying when the country catches a cold, black people catch the flu applies here. For African American communities, suffering under the yoke of double digit unemployment --twice the rate of whites; the crisis is already catastrophic. We need a healthcare system in American that provides quality, comprehensive care for all America’s children regardless of the whims of our economy,” stated Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP.
"The health, well-being, and success of Native American children are central to Native communities and cultures," said NCAI Executive Director Jacqueline Johnson Pata. "Yet many children in our communities only see a doctor in an emergency room visit. In order to raise healthy children, our communities need access to comprehensive quality health care delivered in a culturally appropriate and sensitive manner. We stand strong with this coalition to ensure we all are part if this important debate and urge Congress to act on this year to include every child in America in health care coverage."
Despite the expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program’s (CHIP) that went into effect this month, an estimated 5-6 million children will still remain uninsured. This new coalition of civil rights leaders is urging Congress to pass legislation this year that will ensure every child and pregnant woman in America is provided access to comprehensive, affordable health coverage. The organizations have committed to focus their lobbying and grassroots efforts around advocacy for covering all children as part of national health care reform.
The coalition is urging that health care reform legislation must incorporate the following in order to make President Obama’s promise of coverage for all children in America a reality in 2009:
* Coverage Must Be Affordable: Establish a national eligibility floor of 300 percent of the federal poverty level for all children and pregnant women, with an affordable sliding scale buy-in above that level.
* Children and Pregnant Women Must Have Access to Comprehensive Benefits: Guarantee every child and pregnant woman timely access to all medically necessary services and products to maximize health and development with:
o Emphasis on prevention and early detection and treatment.
o No pre-existing condition exclusion or waiting period.
o Appropriate post-partum coverage.
o High quality, age-appropriate services from providers in their communities.
o Culturally and linguistically appropriate services to ensure families
o Protection of access to care regardless of race, ethnicity or national origin.
* The System Must Be Simple, Seamless and Equitable: To ensure children get enrolled and stay enrolled, the following are necessary:
o Short, simple, understandable application – Form must be uniformly used and barriers such as asset tests, waiting lists, and other barriers that delay or limit enrollment must be prohibited.
o Automatic enrollment– All opportunities to identify and enroll children should be utilized, including at birth, enrollment in school, participation in child-serving programs and in health settings.
o Presumptive eligibility– An uninsured child should be presumed eligible for coverage at point of service.
o 12-month continuous enrollment with automatic renewal– Children’s coverage should be guaranteed for a full year regardless of family income changes; renewal processes, including verification of income, must utilize all available technology to minimize burdens on families.
Hispanic immigrants targeted by health program
Somos Salud reaches outto Hispanic community
By JENNY HANSELL, The Millerton News, April, 16, 2009
MILLERTON — The organization Somos la Llave del Futuro, Inc.(SLF), based in Millerton and dedicated to building leadership in the immigrant communities of the Hudson Valley and Catskill regions of New York state, has announced a new program involving volunteer community health workers in the Hispanic community of northeastern Dutchess County. This program is called Somos Salud and is funded by the contributions of United Way of Dutchess County, Foundation for Community Health and the Community Foundation of Dutchess County.
Somos Salud is the North East Community Center’s first leadership project and it is a collaboration involving several organizations located in the northeastern Dutchess County area, directed and coordinated by SLF. Somos Salud, or “We are Health,” intends to train a group of community-health promoters who will help direct health-care services to their Hispanic neighbors. By using this network of trusted neighborhood leaders, this person-to-person method will reap benefits far beyond other methods such as printed materials or other media forms in the dispersal of vital information concerning basic services available for them in the region.
A blueprint of this word-of-mouth and mutual trust model was developed by Migrant Health Promotion, an organization that has helped organizations nationwide start or strengthen their own promoters’ programs over the past two decades (migranthealth.org). Following this model, Somos Salud is already organizing and educating a group of 18 promoters, representatives from each of the towns of Amenia, Dover Plains, Pine Plains, Millerton and Millbrook. The promoters in Somos Salud will serve an average of five families apiece, average size being four people, reaching approximately 360 people of the target population.
The initial project phase for which the grant is designed will last for eight months. The promoters are having three hours of monthly training and their curriculum responds to the significant health needs of their neighbors. By following the model of Migrant Health Promotion, the promoters will assess the number of people needing to be served, register or preregister them for services, promote preventive care for such conditions as pregnancy, gynecological care, HIV and TB screening, childhood obesity, dental care, alcoholism, Lyme disease, diabetes and heart disease. They will learn simple medical skills such as glucose and blood pressure measurement, CPR, TB and rapid HIV testing. They will learn how to document what they do.
It is well known in Dutchess County that the Hispanic community is living under the radar. Poverty, lack of transportation, fear concerning immigration status and poor knowledge of the English language are just a few of the barriers these people face in entering mainstream society. These and other factors make it particularly difficult to link available services with this needy population. Therefore, they often rely on very expensive forms of health care, such as local hospital emergency rooms, sometimes waiting until health issues that might have been solved simply and inexpensively, become crises.
Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau estimated in 2006 that 891 Hispanics lived in the five towns involved in the project. Now, two years later, we can only expect that number has expanded to over 1,000, many of whom are still unaccounted for due to their seasonal and undocumented status. For more information about Somos La Llave del Futuro or Somos Salud, visit somoslallave.org or call 518-789-0397 or Carlos Orellana at 845-558-9477.
Jenny Hansell is the executive director of the North East Community Center.
By JENNY HANSELL, The Millerton News, April, 16, 2009
MILLERTON — The organization Somos la Llave del Futuro, Inc.(SLF), based in Millerton and dedicated to building leadership in the immigrant communities of the Hudson Valley and Catskill regions of New York state, has announced a new program involving volunteer community health workers in the Hispanic community of northeastern Dutchess County. This program is called Somos Salud and is funded by the contributions of United Way of Dutchess County, Foundation for Community Health and the Community Foundation of Dutchess County.
Somos Salud is the North East Community Center’s first leadership project and it is a collaboration involving several organizations located in the northeastern Dutchess County area, directed and coordinated by SLF. Somos Salud, or “We are Health,” intends to train a group of community-health promoters who will help direct health-care services to their Hispanic neighbors. By using this network of trusted neighborhood leaders, this person-to-person method will reap benefits far beyond other methods such as printed materials or other media forms in the dispersal of vital information concerning basic services available for them in the region.
A blueprint of this word-of-mouth and mutual trust model was developed by Migrant Health Promotion, an organization that has helped organizations nationwide start or strengthen their own promoters’ programs over the past two decades (migranthealth.org). Following this model, Somos Salud is already organizing and educating a group of 18 promoters, representatives from each of the towns of Amenia, Dover Plains, Pine Plains, Millerton and Millbrook. The promoters in Somos Salud will serve an average of five families apiece, average size being four people, reaching approximately 360 people of the target population.
The initial project phase for which the grant is designed will last for eight months. The promoters are having three hours of monthly training and their curriculum responds to the significant health needs of their neighbors. By following the model of Migrant Health Promotion, the promoters will assess the number of people needing to be served, register or preregister them for services, promote preventive care for such conditions as pregnancy, gynecological care, HIV and TB screening, childhood obesity, dental care, alcoholism, Lyme disease, diabetes and heart disease. They will learn simple medical skills such as glucose and blood pressure measurement, CPR, TB and rapid HIV testing. They will learn how to document what they do.
It is well known in Dutchess County that the Hispanic community is living under the radar. Poverty, lack of transportation, fear concerning immigration status and poor knowledge of the English language are just a few of the barriers these people face in entering mainstream society. These and other factors make it particularly difficult to link available services with this needy population. Therefore, they often rely on very expensive forms of health care, such as local hospital emergency rooms, sometimes waiting until health issues that might have been solved simply and inexpensively, become crises.
Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau estimated in 2006 that 891 Hispanics lived in the five towns involved in the project. Now, two years later, we can only expect that number has expanded to over 1,000, many of whom are still unaccounted for due to their seasonal and undocumented status. For more information about Somos La Llave del Futuro or Somos Salud, visit somoslallave.org or call 518-789-0397 or Carlos Orellana at 845-558-9477.
Jenny Hansell is the executive director of the North East Community Center.
Hispanic parents targeted for nutritional education
Nestle Juicy Juice Reinforces Its Commitment to Hispanic Parents and Children with Launch of Special Educational Workshops
Talleres Mas de Juicy Juice will tour the U.S. to Educate Hispanic Parents and Children
PRESS RELEASE
GLENDALE, Calif., April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Reinforcing its commitment to help support and educate the Hispanic community, Nestle Juicy Juice today announced the launch of Talleres Mas de Juicy Juice, a series of classes and activities that promote good nutrition and physical activity among Hispanic children and their families.
The program started in 2007, touring Miami, New York, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles, and will continue in 2009 with a four-city tour. Nestle is partnering with local Hispanic health and community organizations in each market to host the educational events. The 2009 curriculum for Talleres Mas de Juicy Juice will focus on smart, simple nutrition steps that families can include in their daily routines. Additionally, the program will include fun fitness activities that children and parents can enjoy together.
Claudia Gonzalez, registered dietitian and author of the award-winning book "Gordito Doesn't Mean Healthy," will once again lead the program and share her nutrition expertise with parents and children. "In addition to simple food and nutrition tips, I also want to educate parents about 'nutrient-dense' foods and beverages, so that their families can get the greatest nutritional benefits from the choices they make," said Gonzalez.
Talleres Mas de Juicy Juice will start in Miami at the Miami Science
Museum on Sunday, April 19, 2009 from 1:00-6:00 pm. Juicy Juice is partnering for the second time with the Parent Academy in Miami for the event. Additional events are currently targeted for San Antonio, Chicago and Los Angeles in the spring and fall and will include the support of local organizations in those areas.
"We are very excited to partner with Nestle for Talleres Mas de Juicy
Juice," said Anne Thompson, Director for The Parent Academy. "Our mission is to help parents become full partners in their children's education. Nestle Juicy Juice provides parents with resources to follow a healthy, active lifestyle with their children."
The new Talleres Mas de Juicy Juice curriculum expands in 2009 to include additional information on the benefits of key nutrients. The program also offers special interactive activities for babies and toddlers, and brings back aerobic classes with Latin rhythms for all to enjoy. Participating families can also sample the latest Juicy Juice products including: Juicy Juice Brain Development, the only children's fruit juice beverage currently offering DHA (16mg per serving), which acts as a building block for brain development during a child's first two years of life (1); and Juicy Juice Immunity, a fruit juice beverage fortified with beneficial nutrients including zinc and vitamin C to help support a healthy immune system, and prebiotic fiber for digestive health.
"Juicy Juice wants to continue supporting Hispanic parents with events that address their children's nutritional needs and their family's cultural values," said Victoria Nuevo-Celeste, Nestle Juicy Juice Marketing Manager. "We are excited to bring back Talleres Mas de Juicy Juice this year, so that we may continue providing practical advice that can improve the health and well being of the Hispanic community."
For more information about Talleres Juicy Juice dates and locations, please contact Tania Llavaneras at tania.llavaneras@edelman.com. For more information about Juicy Juice products, please visit http://www.juicyjuice.com.
Talleres Mas de Juicy Juice will tour the U.S. to Educate Hispanic Parents and Children
PRESS RELEASE
GLENDALE, Calif., April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Reinforcing its commitment to help support and educate the Hispanic community, Nestle Juicy Juice today announced the launch of Talleres Mas de Juicy Juice, a series of classes and activities that promote good nutrition and physical activity among Hispanic children and their families.
The program started in 2007, touring Miami, New York, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles, and will continue in 2009 with a four-city tour. Nestle is partnering with local Hispanic health and community organizations in each market to host the educational events. The 2009 curriculum for Talleres Mas de Juicy Juice will focus on smart, simple nutrition steps that families can include in their daily routines. Additionally, the program will include fun fitness activities that children and parents can enjoy together.
Claudia Gonzalez, registered dietitian and author of the award-winning book "Gordito Doesn't Mean Healthy," will once again lead the program and share her nutrition expertise with parents and children. "In addition to simple food and nutrition tips, I also want to educate parents about 'nutrient-dense' foods and beverages, so that their families can get the greatest nutritional benefits from the choices they make," said Gonzalez.
Talleres Mas de Juicy Juice will start in Miami at the Miami Science
Museum on Sunday, April 19, 2009 from 1:00-6:00 pm. Juicy Juice is partnering for the second time with the Parent Academy in Miami for the event. Additional events are currently targeted for San Antonio, Chicago and Los Angeles in the spring and fall and will include the support of local organizations in those areas.
"We are very excited to partner with Nestle for Talleres Mas de Juicy
Juice," said Anne Thompson, Director for The Parent Academy. "Our mission is to help parents become full partners in their children's education. Nestle Juicy Juice provides parents with resources to follow a healthy, active lifestyle with their children."
The new Talleres Mas de Juicy Juice curriculum expands in 2009 to include additional information on the benefits of key nutrients. The program also offers special interactive activities for babies and toddlers, and brings back aerobic classes with Latin rhythms for all to enjoy. Participating families can also sample the latest Juicy Juice products including: Juicy Juice Brain Development, the only children's fruit juice beverage currently offering DHA (16mg per serving), which acts as a building block for brain development during a child's first two years of life (1); and Juicy Juice Immunity, a fruit juice beverage fortified with beneficial nutrients including zinc and vitamin C to help support a healthy immune system, and prebiotic fiber for digestive health.
"Juicy Juice wants to continue supporting Hispanic parents with events that address their children's nutritional needs and their family's cultural values," said Victoria Nuevo-Celeste, Nestle Juicy Juice Marketing Manager. "We are excited to bring back Talleres Mas de Juicy Juice this year, so that we may continue providing practical advice that can improve the health and well being of the Hispanic community."
For more information about Talleres Juicy Juice dates and locations, please contact Tania Llavaneras at tania.llavaneras@edelman.com. For more information about Juicy Juice products, please visit http://www.juicyjuice.com.
Latino takes charge of stopping spread of AIDS
One man's fight against HIV infections among Latinos
Hispanic men are being infected with the AIDS virus at an alarming rate. Mario Villeda Maldonado wants that to stop.
By Jeremy Olson, jolson@pioneerpress.com, 04/15/2009
It's closing in on midnight at the Saloon, and the men are sorting from large groups into couples who are dancing, laughing and kissing.
It's Latino night at the Minneapolis club. Thirty or so men are here. Most are openly gay.
"The men who go to the club, they are going to try and meet someone, and meet someone for what?" asks Mario Villeda Maldonado, an outreach worker for West Side Community Health Services. "Not for talking."
This is Villeda's office Tuesday nights, when efforts to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS go beyond health fair booths and radio spots. The goal here is to prevent HIV transmission that could occur on this very night, not at some abstract point in the future.
The rate of HIV among Latino men is a growing concern, according to state figures released Wednesday.
While the sexually transmitted disease remains more prevalent among African-born Minnesotans and African-Americans, the number of new infections doubled among Hispanic men to 37 in 2006 from 17 in 2005. The trend eased a bit — 33 infections in 2007 and 25 in 2008 — but the Hispanic HIV rate still triples the overall rate.
Latinos also are more likely to seek testing later in their infections, which makes them more likely to suffer AIDS and to infect others.
"Getting tested and getting into care if you are positive is of utmost importance," said Peter Carr, director of the HIV/STD section of the state Health Department.
NO TENGAS MIEDO
Villeda makes the rounds among the men at the club. Almost everyone knows him and trusts him. Tonight, he is in a collared shirt and khakis. Other nights, he comes to the Saloon in drag to perform as La Coco, dancing on stage in flashy designer clothes and high heels.
"Mario!" one man yells, and leans in for a kiss on the cheek.
"Coco!" says another.
A pile of plastic packages from the West Side clinic sits on a corner table. Each contains three condoms, two packages of lubricant and a mint.
Villeda brings the packets to the club and leaves them so men can pick them up without drawing attention.
Villeda has distributed thousands of condoms at clubs, bars and health fairs since West Side's HIV prevention program first received state grant funding in 2005. He also encourages men at risk of infection to seek the free testing he conducts at the St. Paul clinic on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The plight of HIV in the Latino community is gaining more attention nationally. A new prevention campaign, announced by the Obama administration last week, initially will target African-Americans and gay men who are most at risk of infection, but also will tailor messages about HIV prevention to Latinos.
Among the many challenges in this population is the "machismo" attitude that makes some Latino men reckless in their sexual activity with women and other men, said Maria Alvarez, who helps direct the Latino prevention efforts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And one message does not fit all. Latino men born in the United States, Mexico or South America are more likely to transmit HIV through sex with other men. Those born in the Dominican Republic or Central America are more likely to spread the infection through sex with women. Shared use of drug needles is a more common transmission method for Puerto Ricans.
"The message is just not being delivered in a culturally appropriate way for Latinos, who are so diverse," Alvarez said.
While his family has been supportive and acknowledged his sexuality, he said other Latino families have ostracized members who are gay. The strong Catholic roots and beliefs of many families make it hard for them to accept a lifestyle opposed by their church.
The result is many Latino men live in secrecy, fearing even to be tested when they might be at risk of HIV, Villeda said. The secrecy may partly explain why 58 percent of HIV-infected Latino men are diagnosed with AIDS in Minnesota. The average among other ethnic and racial groups is 46 percent.
HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, attacks the immune system and spreads by destroying the very cells that are supposed to protect the body. When too few white blood cells are left, the infection is diagnosed as AIDS. If social pressures prevent Latino men from seeking early testing and treatment, then they miss a vital chance to keep their infections from reaching this severe and sometimes deadly level.
"That's a critical issue, because those individuals were not able to get treatment and medical care at an early point in time," said Dr. Richard Wolitski, acting director of the CDC's HIV/AIDS prevention program, "and those individuals may have unknowingly transmitted HIV to others."
West Side's outreach program, No Tengas Miedo (Don't Be Afraid), is part of a "one-stop shop" for HIV patients that includes testing, primary care, mental health counseling, nutritional education and other support. Latinos and African-born immigrants make up 85 percent of the clinic's HIV patients.
It's more than coincidence that the rise in HIV infections among Latino men started after a state grant expanded West Side's prevention efforts. An estimated one in five people with HIV don't know of their infections. The increased testing at the clinic found some men who had been HIV-positive for a while.
EFFORTS ARE WORKING
Villeda, 36, was born and raised in El Salvador. He moved to California and then to Minnesota 14 years ago, when he started waiting tables at a bar and performing in a local drag show. He took an interest in HIV prevention after seeing friends suffer from infections — and a few die of AIDS.
"When you work in the bars," Villeda said, "you notice a lot about what's going on with your community. You notice about your friends that are starting to get infected, so you start to worry about how you can help these people."
He started working as a phone operator and greeter at West Side. Later, he started to promote HIV prevention in bars and clubs and to work with clinic leaders to obtain state prevention funds.
A key portion of the grant covers the cost of a test, which had been a barrier for many Latino men with lower incomes. Villeda and other clinic leaders are confident the outreach efforts are working. West Side has seen its number of HIV tests increase from 265 in 2007 to 345 last year. Another 175 tests already have taken place in the first quarter of 2009.
"Nobody else had been doing this for the Latino community when our program began, you know," he said.
Villeda sees a lot of misunderstanding among Latinos about HIV, mostly due to language barriers. His solution has been to simplify the message, and to keep the focus on the steps men can take to prevent infection.
Even in his drag performances, Villeda finds time for "La Coco" to give men some advice.
"If you don't care" enough to get tested, he tells them in Spanish, "nobody is going to come and take care of you."
"His work is more or less his life," said London Losey, a West Side grants coordinator. "He's so much a part of it that it's hard to separate when he's working and when he's just living (as) part of his community."
Villeda is hoping Catholic churches will become allies, despite their teachings against condoms and homosexuality. Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in St. Paul allowed him to take part in a health fair two years ago, though without condoms.
The CDC officials agreed that efforts at the community level are much more effective. Some minority communities don't trust the medical establishment, nor can they afford routine health care.
Tests at community centers are twice as likely to find people who are HIV-positive, because the people most at risk have more trust in local advocates, Alvarez said.
Villeda gives the tests personally during clinic hours on Mondays and Tuesdays — pricking middle fingers, swabbing droplets of blood and then placing them on test strips that give results in 10 minutes. Most of the time, he offers relief over the results along with a bag full of information on HIV prevention and a few condoms.
Sometimes, he has to break the news of a positive HIV result. The discussion often lasts an hour or two, and the goal is always the same: to talk with the man until he is stable enough to go home, drive a car or be alone.
People assume Villeda is HIV-positive — that anyone doing this kind of work would have to have the infection. Villeda doesn't have HIV. He's just seen too many people wait too long out of fear and misinformation to learn they are infected.
"People are still dying," he said. "Sometimes because they just don't want to get tested, because they don't want to get help."
Jeremy Olson can be reached at 651-228-5583.
Hispanic men are being infected with the AIDS virus at an alarming rate. Mario Villeda Maldonado wants that to stop.
By Jeremy Olson, jolson@pioneerpress.com, 04/15/2009
It's closing in on midnight at the Saloon, and the men are sorting from large groups into couples who are dancing, laughing and kissing.
It's Latino night at the Minneapolis club. Thirty or so men are here. Most are openly gay.
"The men who go to the club, they are going to try and meet someone, and meet someone for what?" asks Mario Villeda Maldonado, an outreach worker for West Side Community Health Services. "Not for talking."
This is Villeda's office Tuesday nights, when efforts to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS go beyond health fair booths and radio spots. The goal here is to prevent HIV transmission that could occur on this very night, not at some abstract point in the future.
The rate of HIV among Latino men is a growing concern, according to state figures released Wednesday.
While the sexually transmitted disease remains more prevalent among African-born Minnesotans and African-Americans, the number of new infections doubled among Hispanic men to 37 in 2006 from 17 in 2005. The trend eased a bit — 33 infections in 2007 and 25 in 2008 — but the Hispanic HIV rate still triples the overall rate.
Latinos also are more likely to seek testing later in their infections, which makes them more likely to suffer AIDS and to infect others.
"Getting tested and getting into care if you are positive is of utmost importance," said Peter Carr, director of the HIV/STD section of the state Health Department.
NO TENGAS MIEDO
Villeda makes the rounds among the men at the club. Almost everyone knows him and trusts him. Tonight, he is in a collared shirt and khakis. Other nights, he comes to the Saloon in drag to perform as La Coco, dancing on stage in flashy designer clothes and high heels.
"Mario!" one man yells, and leans in for a kiss on the cheek.
"Coco!" says another.
A pile of plastic packages from the West Side clinic sits on a corner table. Each contains three condoms, two packages of lubricant and a mint.
Villeda brings the packets to the club and leaves them so men can pick them up without drawing attention.
Villeda has distributed thousands of condoms at clubs, bars and health fairs since West Side's HIV prevention program first received state grant funding in 2005. He also encourages men at risk of infection to seek the free testing he conducts at the St. Paul clinic on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The plight of HIV in the Latino community is gaining more attention nationally. A new prevention campaign, announced by the Obama administration last week, initially will target African-Americans and gay men who are most at risk of infection, but also will tailor messages about HIV prevention to Latinos.
Among the many challenges in this population is the "machismo" attitude that makes some Latino men reckless in their sexual activity with women and other men, said Maria Alvarez, who helps direct the Latino prevention efforts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And one message does not fit all. Latino men born in the United States, Mexico or South America are more likely to transmit HIV through sex with other men. Those born in the Dominican Republic or Central America are more likely to spread the infection through sex with women. Shared use of drug needles is a more common transmission method for Puerto Ricans.
"The message is just not being delivered in a culturally appropriate way for Latinos, who are so diverse," Alvarez said.
While his family has been supportive and acknowledged his sexuality, he said other Latino families have ostracized members who are gay. The strong Catholic roots and beliefs of many families make it hard for them to accept a lifestyle opposed by their church.
The result is many Latino men live in secrecy, fearing even to be tested when they might be at risk of HIV, Villeda said. The secrecy may partly explain why 58 percent of HIV-infected Latino men are diagnosed with AIDS in Minnesota. The average among other ethnic and racial groups is 46 percent.
HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, attacks the immune system and spreads by destroying the very cells that are supposed to protect the body. When too few white blood cells are left, the infection is diagnosed as AIDS. If social pressures prevent Latino men from seeking early testing and treatment, then they miss a vital chance to keep their infections from reaching this severe and sometimes deadly level.
"That's a critical issue, because those individuals were not able to get treatment and medical care at an early point in time," said Dr. Richard Wolitski, acting director of the CDC's HIV/AIDS prevention program, "and those individuals may have unknowingly transmitted HIV to others."
West Side's outreach program, No Tengas Miedo (Don't Be Afraid), is part of a "one-stop shop" for HIV patients that includes testing, primary care, mental health counseling, nutritional education and other support. Latinos and African-born immigrants make up 85 percent of the clinic's HIV patients.
It's more than coincidence that the rise in HIV infections among Latino men started after a state grant expanded West Side's prevention efforts. An estimated one in five people with HIV don't know of their infections. The increased testing at the clinic found some men who had been HIV-positive for a while.
EFFORTS ARE WORKING
Villeda, 36, was born and raised in El Salvador. He moved to California and then to Minnesota 14 years ago, when he started waiting tables at a bar and performing in a local drag show. He took an interest in HIV prevention after seeing friends suffer from infections — and a few die of AIDS.
"When you work in the bars," Villeda said, "you notice a lot about what's going on with your community. You notice about your friends that are starting to get infected, so you start to worry about how you can help these people."
He started working as a phone operator and greeter at West Side. Later, he started to promote HIV prevention in bars and clubs and to work with clinic leaders to obtain state prevention funds.
A key portion of the grant covers the cost of a test, which had been a barrier for many Latino men with lower incomes. Villeda and other clinic leaders are confident the outreach efforts are working. West Side has seen its number of HIV tests increase from 265 in 2007 to 345 last year. Another 175 tests already have taken place in the first quarter of 2009.
"Nobody else had been doing this for the Latino community when our program began, you know," he said.
Villeda sees a lot of misunderstanding among Latinos about HIV, mostly due to language barriers. His solution has been to simplify the message, and to keep the focus on the steps men can take to prevent infection.
Even in his drag performances, Villeda finds time for "La Coco" to give men some advice.
"If you don't care" enough to get tested, he tells them in Spanish, "nobody is going to come and take care of you."
"His work is more or less his life," said London Losey, a West Side grants coordinator. "He's so much a part of it that it's hard to separate when he's working and when he's just living (as) part of his community."
Villeda is hoping Catholic churches will become allies, despite their teachings against condoms and homosexuality. Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in St. Paul allowed him to take part in a health fair two years ago, though without condoms.
The CDC officials agreed that efforts at the community level are much more effective. Some minority communities don't trust the medical establishment, nor can they afford routine health care.
Tests at community centers are twice as likely to find people who are HIV-positive, because the people most at risk have more trust in local advocates, Alvarez said.
Villeda gives the tests personally during clinic hours on Mondays and Tuesdays — pricking middle fingers, swabbing droplets of blood and then placing them on test strips that give results in 10 minutes. Most of the time, he offers relief over the results along with a bag full of information on HIV prevention and a few condoms.
Sometimes, he has to break the news of a positive HIV result. The discussion often lasts an hour or two, and the goal is always the same: to talk with the man until he is stable enough to go home, drive a car or be alone.
People assume Villeda is HIV-positive — that anyone doing this kind of work would have to have the infection. Villeda doesn't have HIV. He's just seen too many people wait too long out of fear and misinformation to learn they are infected.
"People are still dying," he said. "Sometimes because they just don't want to get tested, because they don't want to get help."
Jeremy Olson can be reached at 651-228-5583.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Latino mental health centers debated
Latino community still unsure about future of mental health centers
by Dawn Rhodes, April 14, 2009
The uncertain future of mental-health resources on Chicago’s South Side means the city’s Latino community needs reliable services now more than ever, leaders of the Pilsen Wellness Center announced at a Tuesday news conference.
One week after Mayor Richard M. Daley surprisingly announced he was halting the closure of four South Side mental-health clinics, the Pilsen Wellness Center promised to extend its programs to clients served by the Back of the Yards Mental Health Center in Brighton Park, McKinley Park and Back of the Yards.
Although the Chicago Department of Public Health announced Tuesday that all four clinics will be up and running by April 20, that news provided no comfort to those at the Pilsen Wellness Center.
“That will affect the Latino community because it’s giving mixed messages,” said Patricia Perez, Division of Mental Health Director at the wellness center. “What is the consistency and what is the forecast for the future? Is this temporary, or is this going to be forever? It really puts more stressors and confusion into the whole system.”
Monica I. Masana, the center’s quality-assurance director, said there are other issues that necessitate reliable mental health services in the Latino community.
“The situation of being immigrants and having split families is something very deep and heavy for immigrants,” she said. “That, together with the economic situation, it really burdens them. Sometimes they cannot reach the services because they do not have the money to pay for counseling, and the drugs and the psychiatrists.”
Pilsen Wellness Center, which has been providing services for more than 40 years, is determined to compensate for any lack in mental health services to Chicago’s Latinos, said Perez.
"Latinos are a working community. Are we open late at night to service them? Yes, we are," she said. "Latinos are very collective and humanistic. Do we work with just the individual? Yes, but we also work with the family unit."
by Dawn Rhodes, April 14, 2009
The uncertain future of mental-health resources on Chicago’s South Side means the city’s Latino community needs reliable services now more than ever, leaders of the Pilsen Wellness Center announced at a Tuesday news conference.
One week after Mayor Richard M. Daley surprisingly announced he was halting the closure of four South Side mental-health clinics, the Pilsen Wellness Center promised to extend its programs to clients served by the Back of the Yards Mental Health Center in Brighton Park, McKinley Park and Back of the Yards.
Although the Chicago Department of Public Health announced Tuesday that all four clinics will be up and running by April 20, that news provided no comfort to those at the Pilsen Wellness Center.
“That will affect the Latino community because it’s giving mixed messages,” said Patricia Perez, Division of Mental Health Director at the wellness center. “What is the consistency and what is the forecast for the future? Is this temporary, or is this going to be forever? It really puts more stressors and confusion into the whole system.”
Monica I. Masana, the center’s quality-assurance director, said there are other issues that necessitate reliable mental health services in the Latino community.
“The situation of being immigrants and having split families is something very deep and heavy for immigrants,” she said. “That, together with the economic situation, it really burdens them. Sometimes they cannot reach the services because they do not have the money to pay for counseling, and the drugs and the psychiatrists.”
Pilsen Wellness Center, which has been providing services for more than 40 years, is determined to compensate for any lack in mental health services to Chicago’s Latinos, said Perez.
"Latinos are a working community. Are we open late at night to service them? Yes, we are," she said. "Latinos are very collective and humanistic. Do we work with just the individual? Yes, but we also work with the family unit."
Less sugar, more fiber better for Latinos with diabetes
Less Sugar, More Fiber Reduces Type 2 Diabetes Risk in Latinos
Food Product Design, 04/13/2009
LOS ANGELES—Latino adolescents have a high prevalence of obesity, are more insulin resistant and are more likely to develop obesity-related chronic diseases than other adolescents.
A new study published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine found that overweight Latino adolescents who decreased added sugar intake by an average of 47 g/d (equivalent to the sugar in one can of soda) had an average 33-percent decrease in insulin secretion during an oral glucose tolerance test. Those who increased fiber by an average of 5 g/d had an average 10-percent reduction in visceral adipose tissue volume. Modest changes in sugar and fiber consumption could lead to substantial improvements in adiposity and metabolic parameters.
Food Product Design, 04/13/2009
LOS ANGELES—Latino adolescents have a high prevalence of obesity, are more insulin resistant and are more likely to develop obesity-related chronic diseases than other adolescents.
A new study published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine found that overweight Latino adolescents who decreased added sugar intake by an average of 47 g/d (equivalent to the sugar in one can of soda) had an average 33-percent decrease in insulin secretion during an oral glucose tolerance test. Those who increased fiber by an average of 5 g/d had an average 10-percent reduction in visceral adipose tissue volume. Modest changes in sugar and fiber consumption could lead to substantial improvements in adiposity and metabolic parameters.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
911 Call center get Latino help
Spanish-Language Volunteers Help 911 Center
By Durham Police, Press Release, Apr. 13
DURHAM, N.C. - A car accident. Chest pains. A crime in progress. Most of these scenarios will cause anyone's heart to race faster. But, imagine that you need help and there's a delay due to a language barrier when you call 911?
Those scenarios are exactly why the Durham Emergency Communications Center (DECC) has partnered with Durham Technical Community College and El Centro Hispano to establish a new program that brings in bi-lingual volunteers to act as immediate, on-site interpreters to help provide quicker service to Latino callers.
According to James Soukup, director of the DECC, each year approximately 5,000 Latino callers contact the center for assistance, requiring a contract with Language Line for $60,000 annually to provide interpretation assistance. "With this new program, we hope to save close to 50 percent each year on interpretation services, while at the same time having immediate access to on-site volunteers who can provide necessary Spanish interpretation services," Soukup said.
The program, already underway, provides up to two volunteers during the center's peak call times, which occurs mostly in the evenings. If a call comes in from a Latino resident that is unable to communicate in English, the volunteers are signaled by the telecommunicator to begin providing immediate interpretation services so the appropriate type of help is dispatched that much faster. According to Soukup, with the Language Line service, there was a short delay since the telecommunicator had to call the service, hope it wasn't busy, and then "patch in" the Language Line translator for assistance.
According Marianela Mañana, program director and Spanish-language instructor at Durham Technical Community College's Community and Medical Spanish Facilitator Certificate Programs, the idea to partner with the DECC was a way to fill a need for improved services to a rapidly growing segment of the Durham community. "Through this partnership, the Spanish Facilitator Program is providing students with the opportunity to gain practical experience in community interpretation and interaction with Durham’s Latino community. Since strengthening partnerships in the community is one of Durham Technical Community College’s five strategic initiatives, this partnership is a win-win for everyone – our students, the 911 Center, and most importantly, our Latino residents in need of emergency assistance,” Mañana said.
According to Mañana, interested volunteers can participate in the program as long as they are willing to undergo a background check, sign a confidentially waiver, and are enrolled in the Community or Medical Spanish Facilitator Certificate Programs at Durham Technical Community College.
For Soukup, the partnership enables his team do what they do best - save lives. "Ultimately, this partnership with Durham Technical Community College provides improved service and ensures our Latino residents get the help they need when they need it most."
By Durham Police, Press Release, Apr. 13
DURHAM, N.C. - A car accident. Chest pains. A crime in progress. Most of these scenarios will cause anyone's heart to race faster. But, imagine that you need help and there's a delay due to a language barrier when you call 911?
Those scenarios are exactly why the Durham Emergency Communications Center (DECC) has partnered with Durham Technical Community College and El Centro Hispano to establish a new program that brings in bi-lingual volunteers to act as immediate, on-site interpreters to help provide quicker service to Latino callers.
According to James Soukup, director of the DECC, each year approximately 5,000 Latino callers contact the center for assistance, requiring a contract with Language Line for $60,000 annually to provide interpretation assistance. "With this new program, we hope to save close to 50 percent each year on interpretation services, while at the same time having immediate access to on-site volunteers who can provide necessary Spanish interpretation services," Soukup said.
The program, already underway, provides up to two volunteers during the center's peak call times, which occurs mostly in the evenings. If a call comes in from a Latino resident that is unable to communicate in English, the volunteers are signaled by the telecommunicator to begin providing immediate interpretation services so the appropriate type of help is dispatched that much faster. According to Soukup, with the Language Line service, there was a short delay since the telecommunicator had to call the service, hope it wasn't busy, and then "patch in" the Language Line translator for assistance.
According Marianela Mañana, program director and Spanish-language instructor at Durham Technical Community College's Community and Medical Spanish Facilitator Certificate Programs, the idea to partner with the DECC was a way to fill a need for improved services to a rapidly growing segment of the Durham community. "Through this partnership, the Spanish Facilitator Program is providing students with the opportunity to gain practical experience in community interpretation and interaction with Durham’s Latino community. Since strengthening partnerships in the community is one of Durham Technical Community College’s five strategic initiatives, this partnership is a win-win for everyone – our students, the 911 Center, and most importantly, our Latino residents in need of emergency assistance,” Mañana said.
According to Mañana, interested volunteers can participate in the program as long as they are willing to undergo a background check, sign a confidentially waiver, and are enrolled in the Community or Medical Spanish Facilitator Certificate Programs at Durham Technical Community College.
For Soukup, the partnership enables his team do what they do best - save lives. "Ultimately, this partnership with Durham Technical Community College provides improved service and ensures our Latino residents get the help they need when they need it most."
Hispanics get lower quality care
Study: Hispanics receive poorer nursing home care
MCKNIGHTS.COM, April 13, 2009
Nursing facilities with a primarily Hispanic resident population generally provide lower quality care than facilities primarily servicing whites, say Brown University researchers who focused on pressure ulcer care.
Investigators examined Minimum Data Set and federal OSCAR data to reach their conclusions. Their findings come two years after another team led by one of the researchers, Vincent Mor, found that blacks were more likely than whites to reside in underperforming nursing homes.
Lead researcher Michael Alpert and colleagues said more research was needed to study the implications of their findings. Study subjects were 65 and older and lived at nursing homes in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. Details of the study appeared recently in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association.
MCKNIGHTS.COM, April 13, 2009
Nursing facilities with a primarily Hispanic resident population generally provide lower quality care than facilities primarily servicing whites, say Brown University researchers who focused on pressure ulcer care.
Investigators examined Minimum Data Set and federal OSCAR data to reach their conclusions. Their findings come two years after another team led by one of the researchers, Vincent Mor, found that blacks were more likely than whites to reside in underperforming nursing homes.
Lead researcher Michael Alpert and colleagues said more research was needed to study the implications of their findings. Study subjects were 65 and older and lived at nursing homes in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. Details of the study appeared recently in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association.
April is Hispanic Dental Health Month
Colgate declares April Hispanic Dental Health Month
Dental Plans, 4/8/2009
Colgate declares April Hispanic Dental Health MonthIn an effort to increase more Hispanics to visit their dentist, a new program has been launched to raise the awareness of the benefits that come with routine dental care.
Colgate and the Hispanic Dental Association recently declared April to be Oral Health Month: A World of Healthy Smiles and it is the first time the initiative has been launched in the U.S.
"Due to language barriers and lack of familiarity accessing oral healthcare services, among other factors, our Latino population shows greater deficiencies in overall oral healthcare," said Carla Kelly, general manager of multicultural marketing for Colgate-Palmolive.
The Latino population has the lowest rate of dental checkups when compared to other ethnicities and ranks the highest for untreated dental caries among children, according to a 2007 study.
To remedy part of the problem, Colgate will provide free dental screenings for disadvantaged children who may not have access to dental insurance in various cities that include Miami and Los Angeles through the Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures initiative.
Without dental care, people may develop serious conditions such as tooth decay, which in turn can lead to heart disease.
For more information on discount dental plans call 1-888-632-5353
Dental Plans, 4/8/2009
Colgate declares April Hispanic Dental Health MonthIn an effort to increase more Hispanics to visit their dentist, a new program has been launched to raise the awareness of the benefits that come with routine dental care.
Colgate and the Hispanic Dental Association recently declared April to be Oral Health Month: A World of Healthy Smiles and it is the first time the initiative has been launched in the U.S.
"Due to language barriers and lack of familiarity accessing oral healthcare services, among other factors, our Latino population shows greater deficiencies in overall oral healthcare," said Carla Kelly, general manager of multicultural marketing for Colgate-Palmolive.
The Latino population has the lowest rate of dental checkups when compared to other ethnicities and ranks the highest for untreated dental caries among children, according to a 2007 study.
To remedy part of the problem, Colgate will provide free dental screenings for disadvantaged children who may not have access to dental insurance in various cities that include Miami and Los Angeles through the Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures initiative.
Without dental care, people may develop serious conditions such as tooth decay, which in turn can lead to heart disease.
For more information on discount dental plans call 1-888-632-5353
Latina health pioneer
Amelie Ramirez: Public Health Pioneer
Jeremy Nisen--HispanicBusiness.com, April Issue
Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPH, is a public health pioneer, but that should come as no surprise for a woman who has been breaking stereotypes and demanding equality for decades.
She gives much of the credit to her work ethic. As a young career woman in the 1970s, she worked until the day her first child was due -- and was back on the job less than a month later. Since, she has steadily risen through the ranks and is now a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics and the Director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
That position allows her to battle for the rights of women and underserved populations in the public health arena, and, in doing so, she has become an inspiration to other women.
"I've devoted myself over the past three decades -- in research, community outreach, mentorship, and speaking engagements -- to try to eliminate health disparities," said Dr. Ramirez, who is one of the 25 women being honored by HispanicBusiness Magazine. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
Jeremy Nisen--HispanicBusiness.com, April Issue
Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPH, is a public health pioneer, but that should come as no surprise for a woman who has been breaking stereotypes and demanding equality for decades.
She gives much of the credit to her work ethic. As a young career woman in the 1970s, she worked until the day her first child was due -- and was back on the job less than a month later. Since, she has steadily risen through the ranks and is now a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics and the Director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
That position allows her to battle for the rights of women and underserved populations in the public health arena, and, in doing so, she has become an inspiration to other women.
"I've devoted myself over the past three decades -- in research, community outreach, mentorship, and speaking engagements -- to try to eliminate health disparities," said Dr. Ramirez, who is one of the 25 women being honored by HispanicBusiness Magazine. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Latino kids more likely to die or need a second heart transplant
Heart Transplant Failures More Likely in Poor, Minority Kids
Low socioeconomic status and non-white race linked to worse outcomes
US NEWS, April 7, 2009
TUESDAY, April 7 (HealthDay News) -- Minority children and those in poorer neighborhoods are more likely to die or need a second heart transplant than white children or those in better-off neighborhoods, according to the results of a U.S. study.
The study included 135 children, median age 8.4 years, who received their first heart transplant at Children's Hospital Boston between 1991 and 2005. There were 110 white children, 10 black children, eight Hispanic children and seven children from other racial groups.
Overall, 40 children died and six underwent a re-transplant during the study period. Nine of the deaths occurred during the initial hospitalization after the first transplant. Among the children who survived the initial post-transplant hospitalization, there were 31 deaths and six re-transplants over a median of six years.
The study found that:
* Children from low socioeconomic neighborhoods were 2.4 times more likely to require another heart transplant than those from higher socioeconomic neighborhoods.
* Minority children were 2.7 times more likely to need a second transplant than white children.
* Among the nine deaths during initial post-transplant hospitalization, six deaths (13.3 percent) involved children in the lower socioeconomic group and three (3.3 percent) involved children in the higher socioeconomic group.
* Children in the lower socioeconomic group had much lower rates of transplanted heart survival at 12 months, three years and five years after the transplant.
* Time to death or re-transplantation was significantly shorter for children in the lower socioeconomic group. They also had a higher risk of rejection of their transplanted heart.
"Low socioeconomic status and non-white race appear to be independent risk factors for worse outcomes," lead author Dr. Tajinder P. Singh, a transplant cardiologist at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, said in a news release.
These children may be sicker when they arrive at the transplant center or they "may have difficulty using available resources from the medical community, which may reflect the lack of resources available to them at a personal and family level," Singh said.
The findings, published in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure, should be considered preliminary and need to be confirmed in larger population groups, the researchers noted.
"Improving the outcomes of heart transplantation in the lower socioeconomic status children requires new strategies and interventions for patients, families and the medical system," Singh said.
More information: The American Heart Association has more about children and heart transplants.
Low socioeconomic status and non-white race linked to worse outcomes
US NEWS, April 7, 2009
TUESDAY, April 7 (HealthDay News) -- Minority children and those in poorer neighborhoods are more likely to die or need a second heart transplant than white children or those in better-off neighborhoods, according to the results of a U.S. study.
The study included 135 children, median age 8.4 years, who received their first heart transplant at Children's Hospital Boston between 1991 and 2005. There were 110 white children, 10 black children, eight Hispanic children and seven children from other racial groups.
Overall, 40 children died and six underwent a re-transplant during the study period. Nine of the deaths occurred during the initial hospitalization after the first transplant. Among the children who survived the initial post-transplant hospitalization, there were 31 deaths and six re-transplants over a median of six years.
The study found that:
* Children from low socioeconomic neighborhoods were 2.4 times more likely to require another heart transplant than those from higher socioeconomic neighborhoods.
* Minority children were 2.7 times more likely to need a second transplant than white children.
* Among the nine deaths during initial post-transplant hospitalization, six deaths (13.3 percent) involved children in the lower socioeconomic group and three (3.3 percent) involved children in the higher socioeconomic group.
* Children in the lower socioeconomic group had much lower rates of transplanted heart survival at 12 months, three years and five years after the transplant.
* Time to death or re-transplantation was significantly shorter for children in the lower socioeconomic group. They also had a higher risk of rejection of their transplanted heart.
"Low socioeconomic status and non-white race appear to be independent risk factors for worse outcomes," lead author Dr. Tajinder P. Singh, a transplant cardiologist at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, said in a news release.
These children may be sicker when they arrive at the transplant center or they "may have difficulty using available resources from the medical community, which may reflect the lack of resources available to them at a personal and family level," Singh said.
The findings, published in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure, should be considered preliminary and need to be confirmed in larger population groups, the researchers noted.
"Improving the outcomes of heart transplantation in the lower socioeconomic status children requires new strategies and interventions for patients, families and the medical system," Singh said.
More information: The American Heart Association has more about children and heart transplants.
Latinos in Michigan lack health insurance
Report: Millions in Michigan lacked health insurance in 2007-08
By PATRICIA ANSTETT • FREE PRESS • April 7, 2009
About 2.5 million Michiganders— almost three of every 10 people under the age of 65 — were uninsured sometime in 2007 or 2008, according to a new report released today.
Advertisement
The FamiliesUSA report, “The Uninsured: A Closer Look,” shows that far more people go without health coverage than is typically reported.
U.S. Census Bureau figures, which chart anyone uninsured for the entire year, show that nearly 12% of Michiganders had no health insurance throughout 2007.
• FAMILIESUSA REPORT: View the data on the uninsured from the FamiliesUSA report
But the number of Michiganders lacking health insurance soars to 28.8% of the state’s population when people who went without coverage for portions of a year are counted along with those who didn’t have insurance the entire year, the FamiliesUSA report found.
Some 70.4% of Michigan’s uninsured went without coverage for six months or more.
Other findings:
• 76% of Michigan’s uninsured are members of working families.
• Minorities were more likely to not have health insurance. The rates: 50.7% of Hispanics/Latinos; 39.7% of blacks; 32% of other ethnic minorities; and 25.4% of whites.
Nation-wide, one out of every three non-elderly people, or 86.7 million Americans, were uninsured sometime between 2007-08.
The FamiliesUSA report used statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and the federal Agency for Health Care Research and Quality to compile the uninsured data.
Contact PATRICIA ANSTETT at 313-222-5021 or panstett@freepress.com.
By PATRICIA ANSTETT • FREE PRESS • April 7, 2009
About 2.5 million Michiganders— almost three of every 10 people under the age of 65 — were uninsured sometime in 2007 or 2008, according to a new report released today.
Advertisement
The FamiliesUSA report, “The Uninsured: A Closer Look,” shows that far more people go without health coverage than is typically reported.
U.S. Census Bureau figures, which chart anyone uninsured for the entire year, show that nearly 12% of Michiganders had no health insurance throughout 2007.
• FAMILIESUSA REPORT: View the data on the uninsured from the FamiliesUSA report
But the number of Michiganders lacking health insurance soars to 28.8% of the state’s population when people who went without coverage for portions of a year are counted along with those who didn’t have insurance the entire year, the FamiliesUSA report found.
Some 70.4% of Michigan’s uninsured went without coverage for six months or more.
Other findings:
• 76% of Michigan’s uninsured are members of working families.
• Minorities were more likely to not have health insurance. The rates: 50.7% of Hispanics/Latinos; 39.7% of blacks; 32% of other ethnic minorities; and 25.4% of whites.
Nation-wide, one out of every three non-elderly people, or 86.7 million Americans, were uninsured sometime between 2007-08.
The FamiliesUSA report used statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and the federal Agency for Health Care Research and Quality to compile the uninsured data.
Contact PATRICIA ANSTETT at 313-222-5021 or panstett@freepress.com.
Research shows 1 in 5 kids obese
It's not baby fat: Among 4-year-olds, nearly 1 in 5 is obese
By Madison Park, CNN
Nearly one-fifth of American 4-year-olds are obese, and children of color are at higher risk, according to new research.
Obese children are at risk for early onset of diabetes, fatty liver and musculoskeletal problems.
Obese children are at risk for early onset of diabetes, fatty liver and musculoskeletal problems.
Researchers calculated the body mass index from a sample of 8,550 Hispanic, black, white, Asian and Native American 4-year-olds. The children were born in 2001, and in 2005, their height and weight were measured -- 18.4 percent of them were obese.
"Significant differences in the prevalence of obesity between racial/ethnic groups were evident at 4 years of age," the researchers wrote in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
Using body mass index, they found that 31.2 percent of American Indian/Native Alaskans, 22 percent of Hispanics, 20.8 percent of blacks, 15.9 percent of whites and 12.8 percent of Asians were obese.
"It's surprising that there are large differences by racial/ethnic group by that age," said Sarah Anderson, an assistant professor of epidemiology at The Ohio State University and lead study author.
Anderson and co-author Robert Whitaker's analysis showed that children were becoming obese even before encountering soda and candy vending machines in schools.
"These results really do point to the need for us to focus attention on early childhood and the need for research to understand how these differences can emerge so early," Anderson said. "To do that, we may need to understand the different family and cultural factors that are at play in these children's lives."
The cause for the early health disparities is hard to pinpoint, childhood obesity experts said.
"It's always possible there are biological factors within ethnic groups," said Dr. Tom Robinson, director of the Center for Healthy Weight at the Stanford University School of Medicine. "We know most of the changes that have occurred in body fat tend to occur from being in an environment that promotes very easy access to high-caloric foods and limited opportunities for physical activities."
Michael Rich, an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, called the disparities between ethnic groups disturbing.
"The expectations, lifestyle, behaviors are different on a cultural and socioeconomic basis," he said. "Kids who live in the inner city, whose neighborhoods are perceived as dangerous, stay at home more, sit more, eat more snacks, because that's all they can get at the local bodega. There are no supermarkets to get produce. That's what mom is eating, so that's what kid is eating. What we're dealing with here is whole life issues."
Previous research has shown that older children are becoming less active and spending more time in front of a computer or TV.
"That is displacing physical activity," said Dr. Sarah Barlow, director of the Obesity Center at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. "You can imagine strollers, less outdoor play -- all those kinds of things that have shifted how much activity younger kids are getting. At the same time, portion sizes are increasing for everybody."
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adults fare no better. Approximately 45 percent of blacks, 36.8 percent of Mexican Americans and 30 percent of whites are obese.
"It's a very bad sign if we see obesity at a young age," Robinson said. "When we see children obese at age 4, we're likely to see complications -- high blood pressure, abnormal lipids -- which can lead to heart disease and stroke, diabetes in children."
Diseases commonly seen in 40- or 50-year-olds are presenting in 6- and 7-year-olds. Obese children are developing type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease and musculoskeletal problems, which occur because their bodies can't carry that much weight, doctors said. Calculate your child's body mass index.
"The heavier you are as a child, the likelier that extra weight will follow you through life," Robinson said. "That's why we see adolescents who need weight-loss surgery, because they have life-threatening complications from obesity."
If you have an obese child...
The first step is for the parents to acknowledge that the child is overweight, instead of making excuses or comparing him or her to heavier children. Many of the parents of obese children are overweight themselves, which makes that acknowledgment difficult, said Rich, who is also director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital in Boston.
"While it's important to focus on it and take it seriously, it's also important not to give up or feel hopeless," he said. "Then you won't try. You want to look at it for what it is and not be defeated by it."
When you're trying to help your child achieve a healthy weight, remove the stigma attached to obesity.
"It should always be about health, not about losing weight," Rich said. "You're trying to build the positive."
He recommended the 5-2-1-0 plan. Eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables, cut screen time down to two hours or less, exercise at least one hour, and have zero soda and sugary drinks.
Such changes, which are not seismic shifts to lifestyles, can help the child get into a health weight.
"It's easier to start that way, rather than try to change habits when they're 8 or 12 or 16," said Barlow, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
While it's possible for some kids to outgrow the excess weight, she warned parents not to count on that. "We've seen over time that the environment doesn't promote that," she said.
By Madison Park, CNN
Nearly one-fifth of American 4-year-olds are obese, and children of color are at higher risk, according to new research.
Obese children are at risk for early onset of diabetes, fatty liver and musculoskeletal problems.
Obese children are at risk for early onset of diabetes, fatty liver and musculoskeletal problems.
Researchers calculated the body mass index from a sample of 8,550 Hispanic, black, white, Asian and Native American 4-year-olds. The children were born in 2001, and in 2005, their height and weight were measured -- 18.4 percent of them were obese.
"Significant differences in the prevalence of obesity between racial/ethnic groups were evident at 4 years of age," the researchers wrote in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
Using body mass index, they found that 31.2 percent of American Indian/Native Alaskans, 22 percent of Hispanics, 20.8 percent of blacks, 15.9 percent of whites and 12.8 percent of Asians were obese.
"It's surprising that there are large differences by racial/ethnic group by that age," said Sarah Anderson, an assistant professor of epidemiology at The Ohio State University and lead study author.
Anderson and co-author Robert Whitaker's analysis showed that children were becoming obese even before encountering soda and candy vending machines in schools.
"These results really do point to the need for us to focus attention on early childhood and the need for research to understand how these differences can emerge so early," Anderson said. "To do that, we may need to understand the different family and cultural factors that are at play in these children's lives."
The cause for the early health disparities is hard to pinpoint, childhood obesity experts said.
"It's always possible there are biological factors within ethnic groups," said Dr. Tom Robinson, director of the Center for Healthy Weight at the Stanford University School of Medicine. "We know most of the changes that have occurred in body fat tend to occur from being in an environment that promotes very easy access to high-caloric foods and limited opportunities for physical activities."
Michael Rich, an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, called the disparities between ethnic groups disturbing.
"The expectations, lifestyle, behaviors are different on a cultural and socioeconomic basis," he said. "Kids who live in the inner city, whose neighborhoods are perceived as dangerous, stay at home more, sit more, eat more snacks, because that's all they can get at the local bodega. There are no supermarkets to get produce. That's what mom is eating, so that's what kid is eating. What we're dealing with here is whole life issues."
Previous research has shown that older children are becoming less active and spending more time in front of a computer or TV.
"That is displacing physical activity," said Dr. Sarah Barlow, director of the Obesity Center at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. "You can imagine strollers, less outdoor play -- all those kinds of things that have shifted how much activity younger kids are getting. At the same time, portion sizes are increasing for everybody."
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adults fare no better. Approximately 45 percent of blacks, 36.8 percent of Mexican Americans and 30 percent of whites are obese.
"It's a very bad sign if we see obesity at a young age," Robinson said. "When we see children obese at age 4, we're likely to see complications -- high blood pressure, abnormal lipids -- which can lead to heart disease and stroke, diabetes in children."
Diseases commonly seen in 40- or 50-year-olds are presenting in 6- and 7-year-olds. Obese children are developing type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease and musculoskeletal problems, which occur because their bodies can't carry that much weight, doctors said. Calculate your child's body mass index.
"The heavier you are as a child, the likelier that extra weight will follow you through life," Robinson said. "That's why we see adolescents who need weight-loss surgery, because they have life-threatening complications from obesity."
If you have an obese child...
The first step is for the parents to acknowledge that the child is overweight, instead of making excuses or comparing him or her to heavier children. Many of the parents of obese children are overweight themselves, which makes that acknowledgment difficult, said Rich, who is also director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital in Boston.
"While it's important to focus on it and take it seriously, it's also important not to give up or feel hopeless," he said. "Then you won't try. You want to look at it for what it is and not be defeated by it."
When you're trying to help your child achieve a healthy weight, remove the stigma attached to obesity.
"It should always be about health, not about losing weight," Rich said. "You're trying to build the positive."
He recommended the 5-2-1-0 plan. Eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables, cut screen time down to two hours or less, exercise at least one hour, and have zero soda and sugary drinks.
Such changes, which are not seismic shifts to lifestyles, can help the child get into a health weight.
"It's easier to start that way, rather than try to change habits when they're 8 or 12 or 16," said Barlow, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
While it's possible for some kids to outgrow the excess weight, she warned parents not to count on that. "We've seen over time that the environment doesn't promote that," she said.
Changing eating habits helps Latino teens
For Latino teens, small dietary changes may reduce diabetes risk
LA TIMES BLOGS, April 7, 2009
Small changes can often yield big results, health experts have been saying for years, and here's more proof: By slightly reducing sugar and increasing fiber, Latino teenagers may lessen some risk factors linked with Type 2 diabetes.
Latino teens (average age 15) were part of a study looking at the effect minor dietary and activity changes over 16 weeks had on their metabolism and body composition. Of the 54 Los Angeles County teens who participated, some were assigned to a nutrition group, attending one nutrition class a week; some were assigned to a nutrition and strength training group, taking one nutrition class per week and doing two strength training classes per week; and others were in a control group that received no health-related interventions. The goals of the nutrition classes were to get the teens to decrease added sugar and increase fiber consumption.
Researchers found that 55% of all participants cut their sugar consumption by 47 grams per day — the equivalent of one can of soda — and 59% of all teens upped their fiber by an average of 5 grams a day—the amount in about half a can of beans. That decreased sugar intake accounted for an average 33% decrease in insulin secretion. More fiber resulted in an average 10% less visceral fat, which is known to increase the risk of diseases such as diabetes.
And yes, that was all participants — even the ones in the control group. Researchers believe they might have made the dietary changes because they knew the purpose of the study and may have been more motivated to make changes.
The authors cited other research that found Latino children are more insulin resistant than white children, making them more likely to develop chronic diseases linked to obesity. In the study, they wrote: "Modest changes in sugar and fiber consumption ... could lead to substantial improvements in adiposity and metabolic parameters. Furthermore, given that the control group demonstrated similar dietary changes as the intervention groups, our results suggest that intensive interventions may not be necessary to achieve modifications in sugar and fiber intake."
The study, conducted by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine at USC and the L.A. County-USC Medical Center, appears in the April issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
LA TIMES BLOGS, April 7, 2009
Small changes can often yield big results, health experts have been saying for years, and here's more proof: By slightly reducing sugar and increasing fiber, Latino teenagers may lessen some risk factors linked with Type 2 diabetes.
Latino teens (average age 15) were part of a study looking at the effect minor dietary and activity changes over 16 weeks had on their metabolism and body composition. Of the 54 Los Angeles County teens who participated, some were assigned to a nutrition group, attending one nutrition class a week; some were assigned to a nutrition and strength training group, taking one nutrition class per week and doing two strength training classes per week; and others were in a control group that received no health-related interventions. The goals of the nutrition classes were to get the teens to decrease added sugar and increase fiber consumption.
Researchers found that 55% of all participants cut their sugar consumption by 47 grams per day — the equivalent of one can of soda — and 59% of all teens upped their fiber by an average of 5 grams a day—the amount in about half a can of beans. That decreased sugar intake accounted for an average 33% decrease in insulin secretion. More fiber resulted in an average 10% less visceral fat, which is known to increase the risk of diseases such as diabetes.
And yes, that was all participants — even the ones in the control group. Researchers believe they might have made the dietary changes because they knew the purpose of the study and may have been more motivated to make changes.
The authors cited other research that found Latino children are more insulin resistant than white children, making them more likely to develop chronic diseases linked to obesity. In the study, they wrote: "Modest changes in sugar and fiber consumption ... could lead to substantial improvements in adiposity and metabolic parameters. Furthermore, given that the control group demonstrated similar dietary changes as the intervention groups, our results suggest that intensive interventions may not be necessary to achieve modifications in sugar and fiber intake."
The study, conducted by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine at USC and the L.A. County-USC Medical Center, appears in the April issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Hispanic Health group supports tobacco regulations
National Alliance for Hispanic Health Statement on Passage of Bill Granting FDA Authority to Regulate Tobacco
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, DC - Dr. Jane L. Delgado, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, the nation's leading Hispanic health advocacy group, released the following statement on the House's passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which will provide the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with authority to regulate tobacco products.
"Fifteen years ago Congressman Waxman summoned the heads of big tobacco to the Capitol for a hearing where they all testified that nicotine is not addictive. Today, Congress is finally one step closer to putting the regulation of tobacco in the hands of scientists who will tell the truth to the American public and protect our health - the FDA."
"This legislation will give the American public accurate disclosure of toxic substances in tobacco and allow FDA to protect the public's health through better warnings on tobacco products and restrictions on promotion."
"Every day 3,500 children try a cigarette for the first time and another 1,000 become addicted. New data show that Hispanics 8th graders are now more likely than their peers to have smoked. Before another generation becomes addicted to tobacco Congress must tell big tobacco their duplicity is over. We urge swift passage in the Senate of FDA regulation of tobacco and look forward to President Obama making it law."
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, DC - Dr. Jane L. Delgado, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, the nation's leading Hispanic health advocacy group, released the following statement on the House's passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which will provide the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with authority to regulate tobacco products.
"Fifteen years ago Congressman Waxman summoned the heads of big tobacco to the Capitol for a hearing where they all testified that nicotine is not addictive. Today, Congress is finally one step closer to putting the regulation of tobacco in the hands of scientists who will tell the truth to the American public and protect our health - the FDA."
"This legislation will give the American public accurate disclosure of toxic substances in tobacco and allow FDA to protect the public's health through better warnings on tobacco products and restrictions on promotion."
"Every day 3,500 children try a cigarette for the first time and another 1,000 become addicted. New data show that Hispanics 8th graders are now more likely than their peers to have smoked. Before another generation becomes addicted to tobacco Congress must tell big tobacco their duplicity is over. We urge swift passage in the Senate of FDA regulation of tobacco and look forward to President Obama making it law."
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Latina gets medical help for life
Isolated by her appearance, she yearned for a place in the world
By Thomas Curwen, Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2009
The doctor wasted no time getting started.
He took Ana's face in his hands and angled the left side up to the light. He squeezed and pushed the folds of skin on her chin, her cheek and forehead. He separated the eyelids to look at her eye.
"Can you see anything?"
"Yeah."
He asked her to track his finger from left to right.
"A little blurry?"
"Yeah."
He didn't usually work so fast, but he had been disoriented by this new patient. She was the last appointment at the end of a busy day, and he had misread the file. He thought she was here to discuss a face lift.
He stepped back to collect his thoughts. Here was a case you might hear about in med school or in conversation with colleagues but never expect to see yourself. The day's routine consultations slipped away -- the breast augmentations, face lifts and tummy tucks -- and he began wondering how he would treat her condition and what he could possibly achieve. He tried to keep his excitement in check.
"I think we might be able to help," he said. "But I'd like to talk with the other doctors on the team."
First, he wanted to take some pictures, and he stepped out of the room to get a camera.
Ana stared straight ahead. At 24, she had seen her share of doctors and listened to their optimism and concern. She didn't want to get her hopes up.
But this doctor -- he said his name was Munish Batra -- wasn't at all what she expected. He was young, good-looking and encouraging.
Maybe things would be different this time.
She had her grandmother's fine features and her mother's hair, and in her parents' hearts, Ana Rodarte was the most beautiful baby around. It was easy for Ismael and Margarita to overlook what seemed at first to be just a birthmark.
She was born a month premature and weighed a little more than 5 pounds. Small enough to fit in a shoe box, Ismael thought, and once they took her home from the hospital in Tijuana, her aunts, uncles and cousins all pitched in to care for her.
She grew quickly, and Margarita captured every milestone with an old Polaroid. On the edge of the snapshots, she carefully wrote Ana's age. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
By Thomas Curwen, Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2009
The doctor wasted no time getting started.
He took Ana's face in his hands and angled the left side up to the light. He squeezed and pushed the folds of skin on her chin, her cheek and forehead. He separated the eyelids to look at her eye.
"Can you see anything?"
"Yeah."
He asked her to track his finger from left to right.
"A little blurry?"
"Yeah."
He didn't usually work so fast, but he had been disoriented by this new patient. She was the last appointment at the end of a busy day, and he had misread the file. He thought she was here to discuss a face lift.
He stepped back to collect his thoughts. Here was a case you might hear about in med school or in conversation with colleagues but never expect to see yourself. The day's routine consultations slipped away -- the breast augmentations, face lifts and tummy tucks -- and he began wondering how he would treat her condition and what he could possibly achieve. He tried to keep his excitement in check.
"I think we might be able to help," he said. "But I'd like to talk with the other doctors on the team."
First, he wanted to take some pictures, and he stepped out of the room to get a camera.
Ana stared straight ahead. At 24, she had seen her share of doctors and listened to their optimism and concern. She didn't want to get her hopes up.
But this doctor -- he said his name was Munish Batra -- wasn't at all what she expected. He was young, good-looking and encouraging.
Maybe things would be different this time.
She had her grandmother's fine features and her mother's hair, and in her parents' hearts, Ana Rodarte was the most beautiful baby around. It was easy for Ismael and Margarita to overlook what seemed at first to be just a birthmark.
She was born a month premature and weighed a little more than 5 pounds. Small enough to fit in a shoe box, Ismael thought, and once they took her home from the hospital in Tijuana, her aunts, uncles and cousins all pitched in to care for her.
She grew quickly, and Margarita captured every milestone with an old Polaroid. On the edge of the snapshots, she carefully wrote Ana's age. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
Clinic serves Hispanic population
Hickory Hill clinic to help Hispanics
Christ Community looks to aid growing population
By Daniel Connolly, Memphis Commercial Appeal, April 4, 2009
Christ Community Health Services, which runs clinics for the poor, is opening a new center in Hickory Hill and has hired Spanish-speaking staffers to serve the neighborhood's large Hispanic population.
The clinic saw its first 30 patients Thursday and plans a grand opening celebration Tuesday.
"I think it's a wonderful way for us in helping people be better, and hopefully helping a community be better," said Christ Community CEO Burt Waller.
The clinic's opening reflects the economic and demographic changes that have swept Hickory Hill in recent years. Many white residents have left and the number of black and Hispanic residents has boomed.
Major businesses have fled the once-prosperous area for points farther east, leaving behind hulks of decaying suburbia including the Hickory Ridge Mall, which was recently bought by a church.
The strip mall at Winchester and Mendenhall, where Christ Community is located, illustrates the changes.
The shopping center once housed a Kroger's grocery store but it's long gone, as are most of the other major tenants. Big banners advertise vacancies.
Other shopping centers in the neighborhood are dotted with Spanish-language signs that advertise everything from mom-and-pop grocery stores to real estate.
Christ Community, which receives backing from the federal government, began looking for space in Hickory Hill some time ago, said Waller.
"Just as the commercial portion of Hickory Hill had declined through the years, the medical community had declined," he said.
Many patients from the neighborhood were driving to other Christ Community clinics throughout the area, and hospitals complained that patients from Hickory Hill were using their emergency rooms as doctors' offices, he said.
The new clinic will offer checkups and other basic medical care to children and adults and allows patients to pay on a sliding scale. Start-up costs will be about $600,000, Waller said.
The leader of the clinic is Dr. Jeffrey Zsohar, a 35-year-old internist who recently spent about 18 months helping AIDS patients in the southern African nation of Botswana.
He said he's making the rounds of local churches and institutions to let patients know about the services the clinic provides.
Several clinic staffers speak Spanish, said Zsohar, who doesn't know the language himself. Most Hispanics in Memphis are recent emigrants from Mexico and Central America or their children.
There are some local clinics that specialize in treating Hispanics, such as CentroSalud and Medicos Para la Familia.
However, Waller said there's still a need for more services for Hispanics, who face language, cultural and financial barriers as they access care. Perhaps as many as half of the clinic's patients will be Hispanic, Waller said. Hispanics already make up a substantial portion of patients at the other Christ Community clinics.
Zsohar said he's excited about the opportunity to help.
"Starting from a personal point of view, this is an incredible blessing."
Daniel Connolly: 529-5296
Christ Community looks to aid growing population
By Daniel Connolly, Memphis Commercial Appeal, April 4, 2009
Christ Community Health Services, which runs clinics for the poor, is opening a new center in Hickory Hill and has hired Spanish-speaking staffers to serve the neighborhood's large Hispanic population.
The clinic saw its first 30 patients Thursday and plans a grand opening celebration Tuesday.
"I think it's a wonderful way for us in helping people be better, and hopefully helping a community be better," said Christ Community CEO Burt Waller.
The clinic's opening reflects the economic and demographic changes that have swept Hickory Hill in recent years. Many white residents have left and the number of black and Hispanic residents has boomed.
Major businesses have fled the once-prosperous area for points farther east, leaving behind hulks of decaying suburbia including the Hickory Ridge Mall, which was recently bought by a church.
The strip mall at Winchester and Mendenhall, where Christ Community is located, illustrates the changes.
The shopping center once housed a Kroger's grocery store but it's long gone, as are most of the other major tenants. Big banners advertise vacancies.
Other shopping centers in the neighborhood are dotted with Spanish-language signs that advertise everything from mom-and-pop grocery stores to real estate.
Christ Community, which receives backing from the federal government, began looking for space in Hickory Hill some time ago, said Waller.
"Just as the commercial portion of Hickory Hill had declined through the years, the medical community had declined," he said.
Many patients from the neighborhood were driving to other Christ Community clinics throughout the area, and hospitals complained that patients from Hickory Hill were using their emergency rooms as doctors' offices, he said.
The new clinic will offer checkups and other basic medical care to children and adults and allows patients to pay on a sliding scale. Start-up costs will be about $600,000, Waller said.
The leader of the clinic is Dr. Jeffrey Zsohar, a 35-year-old internist who recently spent about 18 months helping AIDS patients in the southern African nation of Botswana.
He said he's making the rounds of local churches and institutions to let patients know about the services the clinic provides.
Several clinic staffers speak Spanish, said Zsohar, who doesn't know the language himself. Most Hispanics in Memphis are recent emigrants from Mexico and Central America or their children.
There are some local clinics that specialize in treating Hispanics, such as CentroSalud and Medicos Para la Familia.
However, Waller said there's still a need for more services for Hispanics, who face language, cultural and financial barriers as they access care. Perhaps as many as half of the clinic's patients will be Hispanic, Waller said. Hispanics already make up a substantial portion of patients at the other Christ Community clinics.
Zsohar said he's excited about the opportunity to help.
"Starting from a personal point of view, this is an incredible blessing."
Daniel Connolly: 529-5296
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Health insurance poor among California Hispanics
37% of Californians without health insurance at some point, study finds
The health advocacy group Families USA says about 12.1 million residents were uninsured for at least one month -- many for at least six months -- during 2007 and 2008.
By Rong-Gong Lin II, LA Times, April 3, 2009
More than one out of three California residents went without health insurance for at least some point in the last two years, according to a health advocacy group’s analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.
About 12.1 million Californians, or 37% of non-senior residents, were uninsured for at least one month during 2007 and 2008, Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a Washington, D.C.-based group, said Thursday.
Most of them were uninsured for at least six months, Pollack said, and more than 80% of them were in working families. Minorities were more likely to be uninsured; 53% of Latinos and 38% of blacks were uninsured during the two-year period; for whites, 25% were uninsured.
They were among the 86.7 million U.S. residents who went without insurance for at least one month during the same two-year period, according to the organization's count.
Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a patient advocacy organization, said the data represent the need for healthcare reform.
"Being uninsured is not something that happens to only some people in California," he said. "It is a condition that all of us are faced with the potential of, and that many of us face on a regular basis."
Families USA's methodology in tracking the uninsured differed from the census calculations. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of people who had no health insurance for any part of 2007 was 45.7 million, down from 47 million in 2006.
Some experts attribute the drop to rising enrollment in government health programs for the poor and children.
ron.lin@latimes.com
The health advocacy group Families USA says about 12.1 million residents were uninsured for at least one month -- many for at least six months -- during 2007 and 2008.
By Rong-Gong Lin II, LA Times, April 3, 2009
More than one out of three California residents went without health insurance for at least some point in the last two years, according to a health advocacy group’s analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.
About 12.1 million Californians, or 37% of non-senior residents, were uninsured for at least one month during 2007 and 2008, Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a Washington, D.C.-based group, said Thursday.
Most of them were uninsured for at least six months, Pollack said, and more than 80% of them were in working families. Minorities were more likely to be uninsured; 53% of Latinos and 38% of blacks were uninsured during the two-year period; for whites, 25% were uninsured.
They were among the 86.7 million U.S. residents who went without insurance for at least one month during the same two-year period, according to the organization's count.
Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a patient advocacy organization, said the data represent the need for healthcare reform.
"Being uninsured is not something that happens to only some people in California," he said. "It is a condition that all of us are faced with the potential of, and that many of us face on a regular basis."
Families USA's methodology in tracking the uninsured differed from the census calculations. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of people who had no health insurance for any part of 2007 was 45.7 million, down from 47 million in 2006.
Some experts attribute the drop to rising enrollment in government health programs for the poor and children.
ron.lin@latimes.com
Hearing loss and vision problems high among Hispanic Children
Hispanic Children More Likely to Have Hearing Loss
Second study finds rare eye disease missed, mistreated among urban youngsters
Forbes.com
FRIDAY, April 3 (HealthDay News) -- Children from Hispanic or low-income families are more likely to have hearing loss, and a serious but rare eye disease is often missed or mistreated among urban preschoolers.
The hearing finding was based on a review of five studies conducted between 1966 and 2007, all of which explored hearing loss among children of various ethnicities from birth through the age of 19.
In contrast, the vision finding was drawn from a new investigation conducted between 2003 and 2007 that looked into so-called "refractive eyesight errors" among black and white children (aged 6 months to about 6 years) living in the Baltimore area.
"Based on the data available in the various studies we looked at, it appears that in the Hispanic population and in low-income homes, there is likely a higher burden of pediatric hearing loss," said Dr. Donald G. Keamy, lead author of the hearing study and a surgeon at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and an instructor in the departments of otology and laryngology at Harvard Medical School.
"But we don't know the absolute cause of that increased rate," Keamy noted. "And it is also very important to point out that the information we looked at is actually both somewhat old and very fractured, in the sense that there is no unified national approach to collecting pediatric hearing loss information. So, we can not even say if the finding is absolutely true until we have a much more systematic and fresh analysis of the problem, which would require a more national approach to the assessment of hearing loss in children."
Keamy published his team's observations in the April issue of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. The vision study team, from Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, reported its findings in the April issue of Ophthalmology.
Keamy and his colleagues point out that hearing loss is one of the most common birth disorders in the United States, noting that two to four of every 1,000 children are born either deaf or hard-of-hearing.
The current review examined prior research gleaned from medical databases and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.
The hearing study authors found that the average rate of hearing impairment from birth to adolescence was "significantly higher" among all subgroups of Hispanic-Americans (Mexican-American, Cuban-American, and Puerto Rican) and to a similar degree among low-income households.
"The bottom line is that pediatric hearing loss is a largely under-recognized problem that has a great impact on a number of issues, with regard to learning and language development," noted Keamy. "And until we really completely understand the scope of the problem, we can't fix it and make things better."
"So the point here," he stressed, "is that despite the fact that most states now screen newborns for hearing loss before hospital discharge, the process is not entirely standardized, and different techniques are used which have different sensitivities for detecting hearing loss. So the indication about the higher risk among Hispanics is, of course, important. But what we truly hope to accomplish with this work is to encourage the adoption of a more systematic approach to the overall problem."
"This study really shows the need for an apples-to-apples approach to pediatric hearing loss," agreed Robert D. Frisina, an associate chair of otolaryngology at the University of Rochester Medical School in New York.
"This is a relatively novel and interesting analysis," said Frisina. "And I haven't heard of a higher risk among Hispanic households before, which makes it a little bit surprising and provocative. But before any health recommendations could be made, it does need to be followed up to find out with certainty whether or not there is a sampling error here. And to do that, I think a national repository and national standards for hearing loss data collection are very much needed."
As for the vision findings, the Hopkins team -- led by Dr. David Friedman, of the Bloomberg School of Public Health -- found that despite the fact that 5 percent of the nearly 2,300 urban children they examined had a defect in the eye's ability to focus on light that was serious enough to warrant treatment, just 1 percent actually got necessary medical attention.
On the other side of the coin, they actually uncovered some evidence of over-treatment, given that one-third of 29 children who had been prescribed eyeglasses before the study launch actually didn't need them.
More information
For additional resources on pediatric hearing and vision, visit the American Academy of Pediatrics
Second study finds rare eye disease missed, mistreated among urban youngsters
Forbes.com
FRIDAY, April 3 (HealthDay News) -- Children from Hispanic or low-income families are more likely to have hearing loss, and a serious but rare eye disease is often missed or mistreated among urban preschoolers.
The hearing finding was based on a review of five studies conducted between 1966 and 2007, all of which explored hearing loss among children of various ethnicities from birth through the age of 19.
In contrast, the vision finding was drawn from a new investigation conducted between 2003 and 2007 that looked into so-called "refractive eyesight errors" among black and white children (aged 6 months to about 6 years) living in the Baltimore area.
"Based on the data available in the various studies we looked at, it appears that in the Hispanic population and in low-income homes, there is likely a higher burden of pediatric hearing loss," said Dr. Donald G. Keamy, lead author of the hearing study and a surgeon at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and an instructor in the departments of otology and laryngology at Harvard Medical School.
"But we don't know the absolute cause of that increased rate," Keamy noted. "And it is also very important to point out that the information we looked at is actually both somewhat old and very fractured, in the sense that there is no unified national approach to collecting pediatric hearing loss information. So, we can not even say if the finding is absolutely true until we have a much more systematic and fresh analysis of the problem, which would require a more national approach to the assessment of hearing loss in children."
Keamy published his team's observations in the April issue of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. The vision study team, from Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, reported its findings in the April issue of Ophthalmology.
Keamy and his colleagues point out that hearing loss is one of the most common birth disorders in the United States, noting that two to four of every 1,000 children are born either deaf or hard-of-hearing.
The current review examined prior research gleaned from medical databases and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.
The hearing study authors found that the average rate of hearing impairment from birth to adolescence was "significantly higher" among all subgroups of Hispanic-Americans (Mexican-American, Cuban-American, and Puerto Rican) and to a similar degree among low-income households.
"The bottom line is that pediatric hearing loss is a largely under-recognized problem that has a great impact on a number of issues, with regard to learning and language development," noted Keamy. "And until we really completely understand the scope of the problem, we can't fix it and make things better."
"So the point here," he stressed, "is that despite the fact that most states now screen newborns for hearing loss before hospital discharge, the process is not entirely standardized, and different techniques are used which have different sensitivities for detecting hearing loss. So the indication about the higher risk among Hispanics is, of course, important. But what we truly hope to accomplish with this work is to encourage the adoption of a more systematic approach to the overall problem."
"This study really shows the need for an apples-to-apples approach to pediatric hearing loss," agreed Robert D. Frisina, an associate chair of otolaryngology at the University of Rochester Medical School in New York.
"This is a relatively novel and interesting analysis," said Frisina. "And I haven't heard of a higher risk among Hispanic households before, which makes it a little bit surprising and provocative. But before any health recommendations could be made, it does need to be followed up to find out with certainty whether or not there is a sampling error here. And to do that, I think a national repository and national standards for hearing loss data collection are very much needed."
As for the vision findings, the Hopkins team -- led by Dr. David Friedman, of the Bloomberg School of Public Health -- found that despite the fact that 5 percent of the nearly 2,300 urban children they examined had a defect in the eye's ability to focus on light that was serious enough to warrant treatment, just 1 percent actually got necessary medical attention.
On the other side of the coin, they actually uncovered some evidence of over-treatment, given that one-third of 29 children who had been prescribed eyeglasses before the study launch actually didn't need them.
More information
For additional resources on pediatric hearing and vision, visit the American Academy of Pediatrics
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Latino Representative joins Humana's child obesity challenge
Twenty Members of Congress Join The Humana Foundation in American Horsepower ChallengeSM to Fight Childhood Obesity
PRESS RELEASE
Nationwide initiative will show kids how much fun fitness can be
WASHINGTON, DC – March 31, 2009 – The Humana Foundation, philanthropic arm of health-benefits company Humana Inc., is teaming with 20 members of Congress to offer 2,000 U.S. elementary and middle school students a unique exercise/video-game program intended to increase the kids’ activity to improve their health.
Increasing activity at the grade-school level is critical. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity has more than tripled over the past two decades. The most recent statistics show that 34 percent of America’s children are overweight. If this trend continues, it could cut two to five years from the average American’s lifespan, according to a study by the American Heart Association, and result in a dramatic increase in already prevalent chronic conditions.
“Childhood obesity is reaching epidemic proportions in the United States, and initiatives like The American Horsepower Challenge teach kids that staying active is a key to staying healthy,” said Mike McCallister, chairman of The Humana Foundation board of directors, and Humana Inc. president and CEO. “For children to add exercise into their daily routine, it has to be fun. Kids love games and computers, so we combined the two.”
The American Horsepower Challenge is part of a trend known as “exergaming” that incorporates real-world movement into video games. For example, this program translates actual physical activity (steps walked) into an online race.
The competition is really two challenges in one:
- Five schools in the same state or Congressional district compete against each other
- States and/or congressional districts compete against each other
Twenty members of Congress have agreed to serve as honorary participants in the Challenge. Their own steps will be counted in their state’s or district’s total. Participating lawmakers include:
Rep. Jason Altmire (PA-4), Rep. Kevin McCarthy (CA-22), Sen. Max Baucus (MT), Rep. Charlie Melancon (LA-3), Rep. Earl Blumenauer (OR-3), Rep. Adam Putnam (FL-12), Rep. Charles Boustany (LA-7), Rep. Mike Rogers (MI-8), Rep. Ben Chandler (KY-6), Rep. Peter Roskam (IL-6), Rep. Geoff Davis (KY-4), Rep. John Shadegg (AZ-3), Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8), Rep. John Shimkus (IL-19) , Sen. Tom Harkin (IA), Sen. John Thune (SD), Sen. Blanche Lincoln (AR), Sen. Mark Warner (VA), Sen. Mel Martinez (FL), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-20)
“These lawmakers recognize the costs of childhood obesity and are willing to model healthy behavior for the kids in their districts,” McCallister said. “At The Humana Foundation, we believe this initiative will help ensure that lawmakers consider the long-term impact of childhood obesity as they evaluate legislation to address America’s most pressing public health issues.”
PRESS RELEASE
Nationwide initiative will show kids how much fun fitness can be
WASHINGTON, DC – March 31, 2009 – The Humana Foundation, philanthropic arm of health-benefits company Humana Inc., is teaming with 20 members of Congress to offer 2,000 U.S. elementary and middle school students a unique exercise/video-game program intended to increase the kids’ activity to improve their health.
Increasing activity at the grade-school level is critical. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity has more than tripled over the past two decades. The most recent statistics show that 34 percent of America’s children are overweight. If this trend continues, it could cut two to five years from the average American’s lifespan, according to a study by the American Heart Association, and result in a dramatic increase in already prevalent chronic conditions.
“Childhood obesity is reaching epidemic proportions in the United States, and initiatives like The American Horsepower Challenge teach kids that staying active is a key to staying healthy,” said Mike McCallister, chairman of The Humana Foundation board of directors, and Humana Inc. president and CEO. “For children to add exercise into their daily routine, it has to be fun. Kids love games and computers, so we combined the two.”
The American Horsepower Challenge is part of a trend known as “exergaming” that incorporates real-world movement into video games. For example, this program translates actual physical activity (steps walked) into an online race.
The competition is really two challenges in one:
- Five schools in the same state or Congressional district compete against each other
- States and/or congressional districts compete against each other
Twenty members of Congress have agreed to serve as honorary participants in the Challenge. Their own steps will be counted in their state’s or district’s total. Participating lawmakers include:
Rep. Jason Altmire (PA-4), Rep. Kevin McCarthy (CA-22), Sen. Max Baucus (MT), Rep. Charlie Melancon (LA-3), Rep. Earl Blumenauer (OR-3), Rep. Adam Putnam (FL-12), Rep. Charles Boustany (LA-7), Rep. Mike Rogers (MI-8), Rep. Ben Chandler (KY-6), Rep. Peter Roskam (IL-6), Rep. Geoff Davis (KY-4), Rep. John Shadegg (AZ-3), Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8), Rep. John Shimkus (IL-19) , Sen. Tom Harkin (IA), Sen. John Thune (SD), Sen. Blanche Lincoln (AR), Sen. Mark Warner (VA), Sen. Mel Martinez (FL), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-20)
“These lawmakers recognize the costs of childhood obesity and are willing to model healthy behavior for the kids in their districts,” McCallister said. “At The Humana Foundation, we believe this initiative will help ensure that lawmakers consider the long-term impact of childhood obesity as they evaluate legislation to address America’s most pressing public health issues.”
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