Latinos with HIV/AIDS focus of retreat

Desert AIDS Project reaches out to Latinos
Nicole C. Brambila • The Desert Sun • May 27, 2009

A Latino-focused support group at the Desert AIDS Project will hold a health and wellness retreat the first week of June at Whispering Pines Cabins in Angleus Oaks.

The Grupo Latino retreat will offer individual and group activities, including yoga, meditation, and depression and anxiety workshops, as well as arts and crafts and nature walks, according to a news release.

Grupo Latino seeks to help Latinos and their families confront fear and loneliness, isolation and stigma, associated with HIV/AIDS. The group meets at the Desert AIDS Project the first and third Thursday of each month.

Established in 1984, the Desert AIDS Project serves people in the valley living with HIV and AIDS with medical care and social services.

In 2006, Latinos accounted for about 19 percent of all the new diagnoses and 19 percent of all those living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. More 80,000 Latinos died with AIDS in 2006.

Roughly 1.1 million adults and adolescents were living with HIV/AIDS in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About one in five do not know they are infected.

Gay and bisexual men of all races account for the majority of those living with HIV.

This issue is particularly important in the Palm Springs area, which boasts one of the largest gay populations per capita in the United States.

Each year in California, an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 people become infected.

California has one of the highest infection rates in the U.S. with more than 100,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, according to the California Department of Public Health Office of AIDS. Riverside County ranks sixth in the state with about 3,170 people infected or living with AIDS, 2,098 of whom live in East Riverside County.

For more information on the retreat or Grupo Latino, visit www.desertaidsproject.org or call (760) 323-2118.

Medical help for Latinos through Telemedicine

Latinos in rural and remote areas can get medical help
Latino Journal, May 25, 2009

As technology advances, medicine will no longer be limited to a hospital or clinic environment. There is a new field that is making medicine more accessible and perhaps even less expensive, called "Telemedicine," which simply put, is the ability to provide interactive healthcare utilizing modern technology and telecommunications. It allows a patient to visit with a physician over video for immediate care, without setting foot in a doctor's office, a clinic or hospital.

Major benefits of a Telemedicine Consultation are as follows:

* The specialist actually hears your medical history and current condition directly from you and your provider instead of the specialist receiving a dictated note in the mail.
* With the use of ENT medical peripherals such as a nasopharyngoscope, your provider can pass this medical peripheral into your nasal passage which will allow your provider and the ENT specialist simultaneous crystal clear video of your throat and vocal cords. The specialist may ask you to cough, pronounce letters, etc. in order to get the best outcome for the diagnosis.
* The specialist can diagnose and recommend treatment immediately.
* Your provider has the opportunity throughout the examination to ask questions and learn from each and every consultation. The continual education of your provider via medical consultations is an immeasurable benefit to all his patients.

The benefits of telemedicine facilities will aid in delivering healthcare to rural and remote parts of the nation and world. The next wave of new physicians will be trained on providing medical care long distance including diagnoses, prescriptions, and basic surgery. Patients will receive specialized medical care without leaving their communities or the costs of travel and follow up appointments. Many Schools of Medicine have launched Telemedicine programs across the United States.

Another cost effective form of Telemedicine is being offered by the Medical Advice Services (MAS) which offers telephone access to bilingual physicians. Although not as sophisticated as that provided by the services offered through medical universities, it is an alternative, especially to those who do not have access to all the technologies needed for transmitting video or photo files. This service offers basic medical advice to the program user that may include seeking immediate medical attention.

For more information, visit www.telemedicine.com or www.masadv.com.

Latino Health Center celebrates 42 years

Health Center’s Annual “Baile Latino”
By Chuck Stewart, Jr., HV PRESS, May 20th, 2009

New Windsor - The Greater Hudson Valley Family Health Center (GHVFHC) presented their third "Baile Latino" on Saturday, May 16th at Anthony’s Pier 9.

The event is meant to celebrate annually, as friends to, and in celebration of, the Latino community and culture that is such a tremendous part of their patient/staff base at the Health Center and in all of our lives here in the Hudson Valley.

Working with chairpersons Felix Vega and Dr. Michele Winchester-Vega, honorary chairpersons Dr. Roberto and Jo Ann Calderin, the Health Center presented an evening of traditional foods, live entertainment and dancing.

The Health Center, now in its 42nd year of operations, has broken ground on their new state-of-the-art primary health facility, located on 6.2 acres on Lake Street in the City of Newburgh. Consisting of 40,000 square feet of space, the new facility will include medical specialities such as cardiology, diabetes management and podiatry.

Dr. Calderin told those gathered, "this is more than a dance. It’s an economic statement that we make. And it’s very important that the economic statement we send is the right one." He noted the board’s diversity and called the organization, "Latino friendly."

So, as people enjoyed the food, and danced to the music by Soñando, they knew it was for a good cause - raising funds to build a new health center that serves the community. That goes well with their slogan, "Health care is a right and not a privilege."

Latinos targeted by heart campaign

AstraZeneca, the National Alliance for Hispanic Health and LULAC Join Forces to Promote Needed Heart Health Education in Hispanic Communities
PRESS RELEASE

WILMINGTON, Del., May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) today kicks off the 2009 JUNTOS CONTRA LA ATERO campaign, featuring the Artery Explorer -- a state-of-the-art, multisensory, motion simulator that helps people visualize atherosclerosis (athero), the progressive build-up of plaque inside the arteries. For a second year in a row, AstraZeneca has partnered with the National Alliance for Hispanic Health (The Alliance) and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) to bring the Artery Explorer and education materials to Hispanic communities throughout the country.

"Education is the most important tool we have in helping our community understand the health issues that concern us the most," said Dr. Jane L. Delgado, President and CEO of The Alliance. "We look forward to another successful year in reaching even more families with valuable information on atherosclerosis."

Designed to help bring awareness and understanding of athero and encourage people to take steps to protect their arteries, a national, bilingual education movement called JUNTOS CONTRA LA ATERO/ US AGAINST ATHERO was conceived over two years ago. The goal of the campaign is to increase awareness of the leading cause of stroke and heart disease -- atherosclerosis, and help people fight athero with knowledge.

"The JUNTOS CONTRA LA ATERO initiative has helped positively affect the Hispanic community by raising heart health awareness and visually bringing to life the physical effects of a silent disease," said Brent Wilkes, national executive director of LULAC. "Our mission is to help AstraZeneca spread the word and rally our community to take a more proactive role in maintaining family heart health."

Heart disease is the number one killer of Hispanic Americans, claiming the lives of 28.6 percent of the more than 122,000 Hispanics who die each year.(1) Additionally, athero typically has no signs or symptoms until an artery becomes severely narrowed or completely blocked. At this point, people often suffer a heart attack, stroke, or other serious, potentially fatal, health problems.

Inside the Artery Explorer, participants travel through the winding path of the human circulatory system as the arteries become narrow and blocked with plaque. Along the way, people are confronted by common risk factors for athero, such as LDL (bad) cholesterol, high blood pressure, and smoking. The experience, which is narrated and illustrated in Spanish, culminates with a head-on collision with a blood clot; memorably demonstrating how athero can lead to heart attack and stroke.

For more information about athero, visit www.LaAtero.com. To receive additional information, be sure to click the link for the AteroInformados program, an ongoing educational series packed with information about athero, tips for staying active and eating healthy, and questions for your doctor. AstraZeneca will also make a $1 donation, up to a total of $25,000, to the National Latina Health Network, a non-profit organization that addresses critical health concerns affecting Latinas and their families. The Web site also features a video of the journey through the arteries for those unable to experience the Artery Explorer in person.

Disconnect between Latina pregnancies and what they want

Survey delves into high birth rate for young Latinas
By Moni Basu, CNN

(CNN) -- She had many plans for the future: to go to college, start a career, meet the man of her dreams, raise a family -- when the time was right.
Expert: "There's a big disconnect between pregnancy rates and what Latina families want and value."

Expert: "There's a big disconnect between pregnancy rates and what Latina families want and value."

It was all cut off by an unexpected pregnancy. The baby became her life, consuming her energy and forcing her dreams to the back burner of her life.

She is 19 or younger and Latina, and has had her first baby.

It's not what she wanted. Nor did her parents, who are the greatest influence on her decisions about sex, according to a wide-ranging survey released Tuesday by experts on the Hispanic community in the United States.

The survey also found that 84 percent of Latino teens and 91 percent of Latino parents believe that graduating from college or university or having a promising career is the most important goal for a teen's future.

Somewhere along the way, the aspirations fail to match up to reality. The survey attempts to examine some of the reasons for the disparity and why Latinas now have the highest teen birth rate among all ethnic and racial groups in the United States.

"There's a big disconnect between pregnancy rates and what Latina families want and value," said Ruthie Flores, senior manager of the National Campaign's Latino Initiative.

According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 53 percent of Latinas get pregnant in their teens, about twice the national average.

After a period of decline, the birth rate for U.S. teenagers 15 to 19 years rose in 2007 by about 1 percent, to 42.5 births per 1,000, according to preliminary data in a March 2009 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.

In 2007, the birth rate among non-Hispanic whites ages 15 to 19 was 27.2 per 1,000, and 64.3 per 1,000 for non-Hispanic black teens in the same age range. The teen birth rate among Hispanic teens ages 15 to 19 was 81.7 per 1,000.

Of the 759 Latino teens surveyed, 49 percent said their parents most influenced their decisions about sex, compared with 14 percent who cited friends. Three percent cited religious leaders, 2 percent teachers and 2 percent the media. Video Watch more on the survey results »

Three-quarters of Latino teens said their parents have talked to them about sex and relationships, but only half said their parents discussed contraception.

The survey also found that:

• 74 percent of Latino teens believe that parents send one message about sex to their sons and a different message altogether to their daughters, possibly related to the Latino value of machismo.

• Latino teens believe that the most common reason teens do not use contraception is that they are afraid their parents might find out.

• 72 percent of sexually experienced teens say they wish they had waited.

• 34 percent of Latino teens believe that being a teen parent would prevent them from reaching their goals, but 47 percent say being a teen parent would simply delay them from reaching their goals.

• 76 percent said it is important to be married before starting a family.

Flores said it is crucial to understand the beliefs and attitudes that influence teen behavior in order to reduce the high rates of Hispanic teen pregnancy. The survey, co-sponsored by the Hispanic advocacy group National Council of La Raza, was an attempt to to do just that.

She said that despite a rich culture and the growing influence of Hispanics in America, the Latino community disproportionately suffers from troubling social indicators.

Consider that fewer than six in 10 Latino adults in the United States have a high school diploma. Latino teens are more likely to drop out than their non-Hispanic counterparts, and of all the children living in poverty, 30 percent are Latino.

"Teen pregnancy is not an isolated issue," Flores said. "It's related to poverty, to dropout rates. That's going to have an impact on our national as a whole."

Flores said 69 percent of Latino teen moms drop out of high school, and the children of teen mothers are less likely to do well in school themselves and often repeat grades.

"That has a big economic impact," Flores said.

It's an impact that is sure to be noticed. The nation's 45 million Latinos constitute the largest minority group in the United States with a growth rate twice that of the general population.

That means by 2025, one-quarter of all American teens will be Latinos.

Hispanic health ideas welcome

Getting Latinos help early is key to alzheimer's

Time is key in Alzheimer’s research
By DR. RACHELLE DOODY, Houston Chronicle, May 17, 2009

Alzheimer’s researchers are in a race against time to better diagnose, slow the progression, and ultimately prevent this increasingly prevalent disease that today affects an estimated 5.3 million people in the United States alone, including almost 340,000 Texans.

Adding to this sense of urgency are the severe financial and emotional challenges facing Alzheimer’s patients and their families, not to mention the shortage of Alzheimer’s clinical care options and community-based support services for caregivers.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who retired from the U.S. Supreme Court to care for her husband with Alzheimer’s, addressed the Texas Senate recently and called for an intensive national push for an Alzheimer’s breakthrough, similar to the intensive research focus that reined in the spread of polio and TB in the 1950s.

Justice O’Connor recognizes the great progress we have made and urged Texas to encourage other states to follow our lead in fast-tracking Alzheimer’s research.

The Texas Alzheimer’s Research Consortium now includes five of the state’s major medical schools and health science centers in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Lubbock and San Antonio.

In less than four years, the TARC has recruited almost 800 Texans to participate in Alzheimer’s research studies. Volunteers undergo a thorough baseline evaluation and annual biomarker, genetic and psychometric examinations at a TARC institution.

Over the next two years, our consortium plans to take Alzheimer’s research to the next level — launching a special research focus on the impact of Alzheimer’s on Hispanics, the fastest-growing demographic group in Texas, and building on our capacity to identify blood biomarker and genetic links to Alzheimer’s disease.

The TARC is already researching the relationship between Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease, stroke, inflammation, diabetes and depression.

Hispanic communities across the country have been slow to participate in Alzheimer’s research, even though their high incidence of diabetes and cardiovascular disease places them at high risk for dementia. There is evidence from other areas of the country that AD may even affect Hispanics at a younger average age.

By partnering with our newest TARC member, The University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio, we have a unique opportunity in Texas to do what no other state has done — recruit significant numbers of Hispanics into Alzheimer’s research.

UTHSC-San Antonio intends to recruit from a large group of Mexican-American research volunteers whose risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease has been tracked for decades as part of the San Antonio Longitudinal Study on Aging (which has just ended) and the San Antonio Heart Study begun in 1979.

Our capacity to track the progression of AD over time is one of the TARC’s greatest strengths. We want to learn the driving forces that cause some people to develop AD as they age, as well as the forces that drive the rate of progression once the disease is established.

Our analysis of the data we collect and centrally store in the Texas Alzheimer’s databank could open the door to earlier therapies to delay onset and slow progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

Already, we have identified a simpler, more accurate way to measure smaller incremental changes in people who are on the road to developing Alzheimer’s, potentially making it possible to differentiate between mild cognitive impairment and very early Alzheimer’s disease. This takes us one step closer to making the best in personalized medicine possible and is a necessary step toward the goal of developing prevention approaches.

Our special research focus on Hispanics will build on this momentum — creating an opportunity for Texas to lead the nation in an important area of Alzheimer’s research.

Almost everyone knows someone whose life, including a lifetime of memories, has been unraveled by Alzheimer’s disease. Investing in Alzheimer’s research today can place Texas at the leading edge of finding new ways to delay and ultimately prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

Doody directs the Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center and is the Effie Marie Cain chair in Alzheimer’s Disease Research at Baylor College of Medicine. She serves on the steering committee of the Texas Alzheimer’s Research Consortium.

White House promises not to abandon Hispanics

Kaiser Health Disparities Report: A Weekly Look At Race, Ethnicity And Health
Kaiser Network [May 11, 2009]

In a town hall-style meeting at the White House on Friday, President Obama ensured Hispanic community leaders and advocates that the U.S. will not alienate the group as a result of the recent H1N1 flu outbreak believed to have started in Mexico, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports. Obama also assured the group that they will receive treatment related to the virus regardless of legal status.

About 130 Hispanic public health workers, volunteers and advocates attended the meeting, which Spanish-language media company Univision co-sponsored. The meeting continued in Spanish following Obama's initial address in English. Excerpts of the meeting will be broadcast on Spanish-language television programs across the country and in Latin America.

About two-thirds of U.S. Hispanics are of Mexican heritage, and community leaders have been concerned that Mexicans will be stigmatized in the U.S. because of the outbreak. China isolated Mexican tourists, and Cuba canceled flights from Mexico in response to the outbreak, according to the AP/Sun. "We're one country, we're one community. When one person gets sick, that has the potential of making us all sick. We can't be divided by communities," Obama said at the meeting.

Jane Delgado, president of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, in a recent interview said, "I think there are Latinos who already feel they are being scapegoated for this virus." Administration officials said they will protect the rights of Hispanics and ensured the group that Hispanics affected by the virus will not be denied medical care even if they are not documented residents (AP/Las Vegas Sun, 5/8).

Unwed mothers issue among Latinos

Out-of-Wedlock Birthrates Are Soaring, U.S. Reports
By GARDINER HARRIS, NY Times, May 13, 2009

WASHINGTON — Unmarried mothers gave birth to 4 out of every 10 babies born in the United States in 2007, a share that is increasing rapidly both here and abroad, according to government figures released Wednesday.

Before 1970, most unmarried mothers were teenagers. But in recent years the birthrate among unmarried women in their 20s and 30s has soared — rising 34 percent since 2002, for example, in women ages 30 to 34. In 2007, women in their 20s had 60 percent of all babies born out of wedlock, teenagers had 23 percent and women 30 and older had 17 percent.

Much of the increase in unmarried births has occurred among parents who are living together but are not married, cohabitation arrangements that tend to be less stable than marriages, studies show.

The pattern has been particularly pronounced among Hispanic women, climbing 20 percent from 2002 to 2006, the most recent year for which racial breakdowns are available. Eleven percent of unmarried Hispanic women had a baby in 2006, compared with 7 percent of unmarried black women and 3 percent of unmarried white women, according to government data drawn from birth certificates.

Titled “Changing Patterns of Nonmarital Childbearing in the United States,” the report was released by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Out-of-wedlock births are also rising in much of the industrialized world: in Iceland, 66 percent of children are born to unmarried mothers; in Sweden, the share is 55 percent. (In other societies, though, the phenomenon remains rare — just 2 percent in Japan, for example.)

But experts say the increases in the United States are of greater concern because couples in many other countries tend to be more stable and government support for children is often higher.

“In Sweden, you see very little variation in the outcome of children based on marital status. Everybody does fairly well,” said Wendy Manning, a professor of sociology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. “In the U.S., there’s much more disparity.”

Children born out of wedlock in the United States tend to have poorer health and educational outcomes than those born to married women, but that may be because unmarried mothers tend to share those problems.

Decades ago, pregnant women often married before giving birth. But the odds of separation and divorce in unions driven by pregnancy are relatively high. So when a woman gets pregnant, are children better off if their parents marry, cohabitate or do neither? That question is still unresolved, Dr. Manning said.

Some experts speculate that marriage or cohabitation cements financial and emotional bonds between children and fathers that survive divorce or separation, improving outcomes for children. But since familial instability is often damaging to children, they may be better off with mothers who never cohabitate or marry than with those who form unions that are later broken.

“There is no consensus on those questions,” Dr. Manning said.

In an enduring mystery, birthrates for unmarried women in the United States stabilized between 1995 and 2002 and declined among unmarried teenagers and black women. But after 2002, the overall birthrate among unmarried women resumed its steady climb. In 1940, just 3.8 percent of births were to unmarried women.

The District of Columbia and Mississippi had the highest rates of out-of-wedlock births in 2007: 59 percent and 54 percent, respectively. The lowest rate, 20 percent, was in Utah. In New York, the rate was 41 percent; in New Jersey, 34 percent; and in Connecticut, 35 percent. Sarah S. Brown, chief executive of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, a nonprofit advocacy group, said sex and pregnancy were handled far too cavalierly in the United States, where rates of unplanned pregnancies, births and abortions are far higher than those of other industrialized nations.

“These trends may meet the needs of young adults,” she said, “but it’s far from clear that it’s helpful for children.”

Swine Flu fueled demonization of Latinos

Demonization, Mexicans and hate crimes
Edward Schumacher-Matos, Washington Post, May 11, 2009

Demonization of Mexican and other Latino immigrants is fueling hate crimes and violence against them, and it's time for America's leaders and media to put a stop to it all.

The swine-flu scapegoating of Mexicans over the past two weeks by some radio and television talk show hosts reflects the abandon with which many local officials, anti-immigrant groups and even an unthinking mainstream media create popular resentments, dehumanize immigrants and provide justification for the extremists among us to act violently.

There are genuine issues to debate openly about legal and illegal immigration, but that doesn't justify language such as CNN's Lou Dobbs calling the virus the "Mexican flu," radio host Michael Savage saying "illegal aliens are the carriers" or radio host Jay Severin referring to Mexican immigrants as "criminaliens." Dobbs earlier propagated stories about illegal immigrants causing a major outbreak of leprosy that were false but that he never retracted.

Many anti-immigrant groups have long accused Mexicans of bringing all sorts of diseases into the country, even though several studies, including one by the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, show that arriving Mexicans are largely healthier than native-born Americans, a result of a healthier lifestyle.

In the case of the swine flu, an epidemic never materialized, but the damage to Latinos' image remains and comes on top of the ugly anti-immigrant campaigns of recent years, wild exaggerations of immigrant crime and mass roundups of suspected illegal immigrants by local and federal authorities.

At a time when the nation is overcoming its black-white divisions and an African American is in the White House, the FBI reports that hate crimes against Latinos grew 40 percent over four years, reaching 830 in 2007, the last year measured.

Last year, at least three murders of dark-skinned Latinos were driven by what clearly was anti-immigrant, racial hatred. In one case, an all-white jury in Shenandoah, Pa., two weeks ago convicted two teenagers of lesser charges in the murder of Mexican immigrant Luis Ramirez - an egregious case reminiscent of the treatment of blacks when I was growing up in the South.

Ramirez was walking with a girl one evening when a group of partying local teenagers made remarks to her, setting off a fight in which four of the locals knocked out Ramirez on the ground, all the while shouting racial epithets. One then teed up and kicked his head like a soccer ball, according to witnesses. Of the four, one is being tried separately as a minor, one pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges and the other two were convicted of lesser assault charges carrying a maximum of just two years in jail. The Justice Department announced May 5 that it will review the case for possible civil rights violations.

"Tell your Mexican friends to get out of town, or you'll be laying next to him," one of the teenagers told a Ramirez friend, said a witness. Another assailant was photographed later at a Halloween party proudly wearing a T-shirt saying "Border Patrol," according to attorney John Amaya of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Still, residents insist that neither the boys nor the town is racist.

Shenandoah is in rural central Pennsylvania near Hazleton, which three years ago passed local ordinances prohibiting landlords from renting to undocumented immigrants as a way to force them to leave. The ordinances were overturned in federal court but nonetheless were part of a movement of similar measures by towns across the country that hadn't seen immigrants for nearly a century until new, dark strangers speaking Spanish arrived in recent years, setting off cultural and legal clashes.

The House of Representatives last month passed legislation known as the Matthew Shepard Act, which would extend federal hate-crimes law to cover crimes motivated by race, religion or national origin, in addition to sexual orientation or disability. The Senate should pass it now to make a statement against Latino hate crimes.

More fundamentally, Congress needs to adopt comprehensive immigration reform that moves the nation past this toxic issue. The president and responsible Republican and Democratic leaders, meanwhile, must stand up to the small, outspoken anti-immigrant minority and take the lead on this issue. As a recent Brookings Institution study recommends, the mainstream media, too, must stop looking at immigrants only through the lens of illegality and write about immigration in all its facets, thus encouraging a more rational national debate.

To comment, e-mail Edward Schumacher-Matos at edward. schumachermatos@yahoo.com.

Latino children mentally impacted by discrimination

Racism may damage kids' mental health
Marilyn Elias • USA Today • May 10, 2009

Fifth-graders who feel they've been mistreated because of their skin color are much more likely than classmates without such feelings to have symptoms of mental disorders, especially depression, a study suggests.

There is evidence that racial discrimination increases the odds that adolescents and adults will develop mental health problems, but this is the first study to examine a possible link in children of varied races, says Tumaini Coker, the study co-author and a RAND Corp. researcher and UCLA pediatrician.

It does not prove that discrimination caused the emotional problems, because unlike studies of older people, these children weren't followed over time. It's possible that prejudice harms children's mental health, but it is also possible that troubled kids prompt more discriminatory remarks from peers or that children with emotional problems perceive more bias, says study leader Mark Schuster, a Harvard pediatrician and pediatrics chief at Children's Hospital Boston.

The link between perceived racism and mental disorders is strong, he adds. For example, Hispanics who report racism are more than three times as likely as other children to have symptoms of depression; blacks are more than twice as likely; and those of "other" minority races have almost quadruple the odds. Rates are also higher for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder.

The study, which is published in the May American Journal of Public Health, involved more than 5,000 children in Birmingham, Ala., Houston and Los Angeles.

Prejudice was reported by 20 percent of blacks, 15 percent of Hispanics, 16 percent in the "other" category and 7 percent of whites.

Latino, other children at risk from drug

Camphor may cause seizures in children
UPI, May 7, 2009

NEW YORK, May 7 (UPI) -- Inappropriate uses of camphor, which provides the strong aromatic odor to many cold products, can cause seizures in young children, U.S. researchers warn.

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York said that children are particularly vulnerable to the toxic effects of camphor, which is easily absorbed through the skin and mucous membranes and as a result the federal government limits the camphor content of common cold preparations and requires camphor-containing products be properly labeled.

In the journal Pediatrics, the researchers report on three cases of camphor-associated seizures in children seen in the emergency department of Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York over a two-week period.

In one case, a 15-month-old Hispanic boy accidentally ingested camphor cubes his parents said were being used to ward off evil spirits. In the second case, a 22-month-old Hispanic boy ate a camphor-containing product that was placed in the apartment to control cockroaches. In the third case, a 3-year-old Hispanic girl was exposed to crushed tablets spread around the house to control roaches and an ointment rubbed on her skin hourly for 10 hours.

All three children received drug treatment to terminate their seizures and their parents were advised to stop using all camphor-containing products. The children were all seizure-free when followed up 10 weeks later, the study said.

Latinos can't afford to ignore silent killer

Ignoring Diabetes is Risky Business
By (ARA)

(ARA) - Are you taking risks with your life without even knowing it? You may be one of the nearly 6 million Americans who have type 2 diabetes and don't even know it.

Diabetes affects nearly 24 million children and adults in the United States and another 57 million have pre-diabetes, a condition that places them at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes. If you don't know the risk factors or symptoms for diabetes, you may very well be risking your life to this silent killer.

Diabetes is a silent killer because many people can live with the disease for years and never find out that they have it until they start experiencing diabetes-related damage that can lead to a heart attack, stroke, vision problems or kidney disease. In fact, most people with type 2 diabetes do not notice the symptoms because some signs of diabetes aren't easy to recognize. Symptoms of diabetes include:

* Being very thirsty
* Urinating often
* Losing weight without trying
* Having vision problems, such as blurred vision

Diabetes is a serious disease, but early diagnosis and treatment can help people with diabetes live healthy and active lives. A person's risk for diabetes goes up as they get older, gain weight, or if they do not stay active. So how can you find out if you might be at risk for diabetes? Risk factors include:

* Being overweight or obese
* Not being physically active
* Having a family history of diabetes
* Having high blood pressure
* Having diabetes during pregnancy or having a baby weighing more than 9 pounds at birth
* Being older than 45 years of age

Diabetes is also more common in African Americans, Latinos/Hispanics, Native Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

To find out if you or a loved one are at risk for type 2 diabetes, you can take the American Diabetes Association's Diabetes Risk Test. This is a simple test that asks questions about weight, age, family history and other potential risk factors for diabetes. Based on your response, you can find out whether you are at low, moderate or high risk for diabetes. You can take the test online at www.diabetes.org/alert or by phone (in English or Spanish) at (800) DIABETES (800-342-2383).

If you find that you are at high risk for having diabetes, talk with your doctor to find out for sure. Only your doctor can determine if you have diabetes.

To learn more about diabetes risk factors, diagnosis and treatment, or to take the Diabetes Risk Test, visit the American Diabetes Association's Web site at www.diabetes.org or call (800) DIABETES (800-342-2383).

Latinos helped through service program

Latino Family Services
BY ERIN CHAN DING, FREE PRESS, May 7, 2009

If Roberto Garcia felt disrespected, he would spew angry words.

If he got cussed out, he would cuss back.

"I used to just do," he said. "I would never think about anything beforehand."

Not anymore.

Last summer, Roberto went through a program at Latino Family Services Summer Day Camp that addressed anger management and self-control.

"Now, I think," said Roberto, 13, who's known as Berto. "I like people's opinions, but it's not what matters. Loving yourself is the most important thing."

The anger management program is one of several offered to 125 kids, from kindergarten through high school, who attend Latino Family Services Summer Day Camp in southwest Detroit. In addition to character building and alcohol- and drug-prevention programs, kids also immerse themselves in the fun stuff, like painting and computer animation and trips to a wave pool.

"It's better being here than at home," said Breeana Rodriguez, 10, licking an ice cream bar at Latino Family Services, where she and her stepbrother, Berto, hang out after school and during spring break.

Berto, a seventh-grader at Earhart Middle School in Detroit, adds: "It would be boring in the summer" without the day camp

Campers get breakfast, lunch and field trips in the program, which runs weekdays from June 22 to Aug. 14.

This summer, Breeana, a fifth-grader at the Academy of the Americas in Detroit, would like to learn tennis while Berto wants to get involved in the baseball program, preferably as a pitcher or first baseman.

Youth specialist Martha Reyes, who has worked with the kids for two years, says Berto "has grown from challenging what everyone said to filtering" it, while Breeana has gone from being "so shy to liking herself for who she is."

Adds Alicia Villarreal, president and chief executive officer of Latino Family Services: "You can see the positive impact in their smiles."

For more information, call 313-841-7380.

Latino Alzheimer cases growing

Latinos in Chicago and Suburbs Face Alarming Numbers of Cases of Alzheimer's Disease While Thousands More are at Risk of Being Diagnosed
PRESS RELEASE

CHICAGO, May 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In Chicagoland alone, more than 135,000 Latinos currently suffer from Alzheimer's disease and other memory loss conditions while 320,894 are at high risk of being diagnosed. However, two out of three Hispanic households don't have at least one caregiver with the responsibility of caring for a family member with Alzheimer's or other serious illnesses such as diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, and obesity, according to a study published by the Evercare/National Alliance for Caregiving. Many caregivers face obstacles to seek help and available services due to linguistic, cultural, and health literacy barriers.

To raise awareness and announce an action plan to address this issue, a group of health professionals and other community leaders met at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology on May 6 to formally launch the Latino Alzheimer's and Memory Disorders Alliance (LAMDA).

Part of LAMDA's mission is to educate and empower the Latino caregivers of people with Alzheimer's and memory disorders by providing adequate skills training to health providers and compassionate support programs for families. Another important alliance component is an emphasis on the social-cultural context as well as emotional and physical consequences of Latino caregivers when they are not provided with the necessary resources and support.

"It is heartbreaking and disturbing to see families struggling with their loved ones with Alzheimer's and realize that there are no alternatives available or acculturated programs to serve the Latino community," says Constantina Mizis, President and CEO of LAMDA. "We need to address these concerns now and work collectively toward a goal to make a difference in the lives of so many families and let them know that they are not alone."

Mizis used the forum to outline a four-point Latino Alzheimer's and Memory Disorders Alliance Action Plan:

1. In partnership with Mount Sinai Hospital, implement educational and support programs to increase the skills knowledge and confidence of caregivers of Hispanic/Latinos living with dementia.
2. Conduct trainings in quality dementia care and cultural competency for community-based health and social service providers.
3. Provide information and referrals to help Latino families make informed decisions about their services and long-term care options, while facilitating access to services.
4. Increase access to home- and community-based care services by training "Care Advocates," Latino paraprofessionals who conduct outreach, arrange respite care, facilitate support groups, and assist families to better understand available service options. Care advocates also will help families apply for these services, conduct family education programs, and serve as a recognized community dementia resource.

Members of the Alliance who spoke at the forum include: Luisa Echevarria, community relations director, Univision and Telefutura Chicago; Dr. Virginia Quinonez, chair, The Chicago School Department of Clinical Counseling, and representative of the school's Center for Latino Mental Health; Constantina Mizis, president and CEO, Latino Alzheimer's and Memory Disorders Alliance; Perla Castro, local community member who will reflect on the challenges of caring for her mother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at age 50; Dr. Aida Giachello, associate professor and director, Midwest Latino Health Research, Training and Policy Center, UIC. Other attendees include Debra G. Wesley-Freeman, president and CEO, Sinai Community Institute, and other leaders of the Latino Community.

For more information about LAMDA, visit www.memoryalliance.org

Kaiser looking for Latino doctors

Kaiser grant for recruiting Latino doctors
UPI, May 5, 2009

LOS ANGELES, May 5 (UPI) -- Kaiser Permanente announced Tuesday it had made a $2 million grant to a UCLA program that recruits foreign-trained doctors to work in U.S. Latino neighborhoods.

Kaiser said the program is aimed at Latin American medical school graduates and will assist them with passing their U.S. licensing exams in return for working in family medicine residency programs in California.

The goal is to increase the number of doctors serving the large and currently underserved Spanish-speaking community in California.

Dr. Patrick Dowling, chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at UCLA, said there were about 2,500 physicians who were trained in Latin America and currently reside legally in California. These doctors, however, are not licensed to practice medicine in the United States.

"We predict California will face a physician shortage of up to 17,000 by 2015 and this shortage disproportionately affects underserved communities," Dowling said in a written statement. "UCLA and its International Medical Graduate Program is committed to helping these skilled individuals navigate the road to licensure."

National Latino health study on way

National study on Latinos' health enrolls Hialeah residents
Hialeah residents have been selected to participate in a national study that aims to examine the health risks of Latino populations in the United States.
By YUDY PINEIRO, ypineiro@MiamiHerald.com

The University of Miami has spearheaded a study about health and disease issues in Hispanic and Latino populations across the United States, and Hialeah has been chosen as one of the sample areas.

The goal of the study is to examine health and risk factors for chronic disease in Latinos and compare the groups of Hispanics such as Cubans in Miami to Puerto Ricans in New York and Mexicans in San Diego.

''It's kind of like taking a picture of the health status of Latinos,'' said Brendaly Rodriguez, recruitment and outreach manager for the UM's Study of Latinos.

Rodriguez visited the Hialeah City Council meeting on April 28 to inform elected officials and the handful of residents present about the study.

She said researchers plan to recruit Hialeah residents who live anywhere from Okeechobee Road north to West 49th Street.

Among the other cities that will be polled in the next three years: Miami, the Bronx, Chicago and San Diego. They are looking for 18,000 people nationwide.

Hialeah participants will be selected at random. They will receive a letter by Saturday with information about the study. Then researchers will call or visit them to determine eligibility.

Those chosen will visit a clinic for a thorough examination. They will then be followed for two years, receiving frequent phone calls interviewing them about their health.

So far in Miami-Dade, 4,124 houses have been visited and 598 participants have been chosen from outside the Hialeah area.

Rodriguez hopes spreading the word about the study will convince people this is for research only.

''Nobody is going to try to sell them anything,'' she said.

Latinos healthcare needs unmet

Study finds unmet healthcare needs among Latinos in county
Caring for an Invisible Population: The Healthcare Needs of Latinos in Saratoga County
Skidmore Edu.

Overview
This project was a collaboration between the Latino Community Advocacy Program of the SCEOC and the Social Work Program at Skidmore College. Researchers gathered data over a period of six months through multiple choice surveys and semi-structured interviews conducted in Spanish. In total, seven Latino individuals were interviewed and 60 participated in the survey.

Findings
The data clearly show that Latinos in Saratoga County have many unmet healthcare needs:

-95 percent of the sample would like to see a doctor more frequently.

-Most have never seen a doctor in Saratoga County (71 percent).

-81.7 percent have no health insurance or medical benefits.

-Only 13.5 percent of those with a chronic condition have received appropriate care.

Several important themes also emerged from the qualitative interviews:

The prohibitive cost of care

“It’s terrible because you don’t know what you have or what awaits. It could be cysts, I don’t know but it could be something. They told me they were going to do another ultrasound and…it was going to cost like $800. I decided that as long as I could keep walking and with a little bit of
health, I could keep on going.”

The importance of communication

“[At the hospital] I couldn’t talk and I barley ate. There was food there but because I didn’t know how to say it, I couldn’t ask for it. I only ate bread and milk once a day and I had just given birth.”

Lack of transportation

“The baby had a cough that didn’t go away. Sometimes he got colds and he needed to go to the doctor...we had to find transportation and we had to cancel appointments. So the baby wasn’t well taken care of because of the lack of transportation. He didn’t even have a pediatrician…[We had to send him to live with his grandparents] in Mexico because everything is closer, and because we could explain the situation to the doctor.”

Suggestions for improvement

“I don’t think it’s very good [telephone interpretation] because you can’t talk properly…maybe they speak some other kind of Spanish but I don’t know why they don’t understand it. I feel that it’s better with a person but there are very few people that speak Spanish in Hospitals.”

Implications for Service Providers
Our findings demonstrate that Latinos in Saratoga County face many barriers to healthcare access. Table 1 illustrates the most prevalent barriers to access:

Table 1.
BARRIER TO SEEKING MEDICAL CARE–PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS WHO ARE RESTRICTED BY BARRIER
Cost 43.3 percent (n=26)
Language barrier 41.7 percent (n=25)
I don’t know where to go 40.0 percent (n=24)
Transportation 30.0 percent (n=18)

The results also provide a framework for improving and expanding services. Table 2 shows the most frequently requested services:

Table 2.
SERVICES–PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS REQUESTING SERVICES
Dental 76.7 percent (n=46)
Physical Exam 66.7 percent (n=40)
Vision 46.7 percent (n=28)
AIDS STD 33.3 percent (n=20)
Diet 30.0 percent (n=18)
Respiratory 28.3 percent (n=17)
Diabetes 25.0 percent (n=15)
Family Plan/ Contraceptive 23.3 percent (n=14)
Pediatrics 21.7 percent (n=13)
Heart 21.7 percent (n=13)

Conclusion
The results of this study clearly demonstrate the unmet medical needs of the Latino population in Saratoga County. While this study focused on Latinos, none of the most prominent barriers to access are necessarily unique to Spanish-speakers. It is likely that factors such as the cost of care, transportation, the language barrier and not knowing where to get care affect the healthcare access of immigrants in general. Considering that immigrants contribute $229 billion annually to New York States economy (Fiscal Policy Institute, 2008), their health should be a priority for all New Yorkers.

For more information contact: k.nowhitney@saratogaeoc.org or peter.s.brock@gmail.com

Latino health officials play down swine flu

Latino health experts: no reason to overreact to swine flu
by Dawn Rhodes, Medvill, April 30, 2009

Dr. Alejandro Clavier of Centro de Salud Esperanza discusses how Latinos can avoid contracting and spreading the swine flu virus Thursday at the Pilsen Wellness Center. Clavier said simple precautions such as frequently washing hands will go a long way in staying healthy.

Latino community health officials urged residents on Thursday not to panic over the swine flu epidemic, and pledged to educate patients how to reduce their risk of illness.

"This is not something people should get overly worried about," Dan Fulwiler, CEO of Centro de Salud Esperanza in Little Village, said during a news conference at Pilsen Wellness Center. "The public health authorities are doing a great job getting all the resources in gear that we need in gear."

Dr. Alejandro Clavier, medical director of Centro de Salud Esperanza, said he has seen an influx of patients to the clinic who are concerned they may have early symptoms of the swine flu. He said Latinos must understand what their conditions really mean.

"If you only have a runny nose, then it shouldn’t be the swine flu," he said. "If you have a fever, difficulty breathing, sore throat, cough, bellyache, then it is important to seek medical attention."

The wellness center and its nine satellite clinics will begin giving their patients bilingual pamphlets explaining what the virus is, how it spreads, what its symptoms are, and what to do once someone has gotten sick. The center and its clinics serve predominantly Latino communities in Chicago, Cicero, Melrose Park and Stone Park.

"We need to really provide reliable information so that people do not panic," said Francisco Cisneros, president and CEO of Pilsen Wellness Center. "We are finding that throughout the sites some patients that we have are really panicking, really taking extreme actions: not going to school, not really going to work."

All the information in the pamphlets was provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC recommends basic precautions to avoid spreading the virus, such as covering a cough, frequently washing hands with soap and water, staying away from ill people, and not touching the eyes, nose or mouth.

Eddy Borrayo, director of the wellness center’s Division of Substance Abuse, said it was just as important to quell misconceptions about symptoms of the virus as well as about who is at risk of catching it.

"Right now, one of the things we want to prevent is the stereotyping that this epidemic is caused by a person who is [of] Hispanic descent, primarily Mexican," he said. "One of the things that we see is that any time there is something associated within the Latino community that our clients stop coming to receive services. This is a disease that goes beyond color and ethnicity."

Hispanic immigration debate derailed with flu

Flu sharpens tone of U.S. immigration debate
By Tim Gaynor, Reuters, May 1, 2009

PHOENIX, May 1 (Reuters) - A new strain of flu has stirred a heated debate in the United States about immigration, an emotional topic that is never far from the surface in this country of migrants.

The swine flu has killed up to 176 people in Mexico. North of the border in Texas, the outbreak killed a Mexican toddler and it has sickened scores of people in several other states.

"People always want to find a culprit, and it's easy to target people who can't really defend themselves," said Carlos Garcia, a Hispanic activist in Phoenix.

In recent days, at least three U.S. congressmen called for travel across the Mexico border to be stopped or restricted to prevent the spread of the virus -- a measure the government has said would be ineffective.

Syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin blamed the spread of "contagious diseases" on "uncontrolled immigration" in a blog, and other conservative talk show hosts made similar claims.

In response, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists urged the media to be "fair and prudent" when covering the flu and resist scapegoating Mexican immigrants.

"Immigrants, of course, have long been favorite and convenient scapegoats for some for everything from high taxes to infectious diseases," it said in a statement issued on Wednesday. "Facts haven't much mattered."

The NAHJ noted U.S. citizens also cross the border. There are more than 4,000 weekly flights from the United States to Mexico, and about 80 percent of visitors to Mexico last year came from the United States.

DAMAGE TO PROSPECTS FOR REFORM?

Despite the spread of the virus, President Barack Obama has remained committed to comprehensive immigration reform that would include tightening border controls and offering legal status to many of the 12 million illegal immigrants living in the shadows.

In a news conference on Wednesday, Obama said he would continue to seek a legislative framework for reform this year.

"We can't continue with a broken immigration system. It's not good for anybody," he said.

Immigration reform advocates believe the president's prospects for reviving the issue this year remain on track.

"Politically I don't think that next week or next month is going to be a good time to be trying to pass an immigration reform bill" said Tamar Jacoby, president of ImmigrationWorks USA, a national employers' coalition.

"But as people think this through and get over that first rush of panic, they are going to realize that this is an argument for more effective control and regulation that only comprehensive reform can provide," she added.

Hispanic activists believe dialogue will continue and aim to push ahead with marches advocating the immigration reform on Friday in California and other parts of the country.

"I hope that Americans are smart and they are humane and that they will see that a public health concern has nothing to do with what we believe is social justice." said Jorge Mario Cabrera Valladares, of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

"The immigration reform dialogue should continue in spite of what we're facing now."

Latino mental health services not easy

Bringing mental-health services to Latinos is easier said than done
Ventura County Star, April 30, 2009

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. In the literature of The Partnership for Safe Families, I read: “There is tremendous importance in understanding child abuse and the need for our community to help families overcome the devastating problem. A well-informed and strong family is the greatest defense against child abuse and neglect.” How many adults and youths who hurt children suffer from some kind of mental illness? I suspect it is an incredibly large percentage.

People suffer from myriad mental illnesses they often do not label correctly, recognize or deny. They are major contributing dynamics in the cycle of familial violence and abuse.

Mental illness has always frightened and fascinated me. I have tried throughout my lifetime to ignore and hide from the many varieties of mental illnesses that have afflicted and surrounded me, my family, friends and folks I work with in the community. Like so many of my brothers and sisters in the barrio, I hid from the excruciating pain of not understanding the dimensions of mental illness, through the masks of alcohol, ignorance, denial and bravado.

A lot of denial

I am a Chicano, the benefactor of a machismo legacy, and my/our principal macho mantra is denial and super-stubborn resistance to anything that I/we do not understand. I witnessed the devastating effect of mental illness on me, my loved ones and the people around me.

In retrospect, I can understand that, in stupidity and fear, I attributed the condition to personal weakness. The true and sick macho proclaims: “Mental illness does not exist; the issue is always an issue of personal character, personal strength or weakness! Punto aparte!

I have a relative whose way of coping with mental illness is alcohol abuse, violence, denial and a pathetic lack of ownership of his life, of love and his own self-worth, which reduces him to a tragic poster child for the desperate need for mental-health services to Latinos in our communities. I love him and I don’t know how to help him; hell, I don’t know how to help myself when it comes to mental illness! It has always been our family affliction and help is nowhere to be found. So we suffer silently and alone.

Until recently, I had no other information. No one had ever given me another direction! In our Latino community, mental illness continues to be labeled a personal weakness or character defect, something shameful that must be hidden and denied.

Then, some 15 years ago, came the kids of the KEYS Leadership Academy. They opened up with their brand of unconditional love and started to share their pain, mental anguish, anger, fears, aspirations and dreams with Debbie De Vries and me. I came to understand how courageous they were and that they were always completely, sometimes brutally, honest about their mental anguish.

The recurring theme was that, more than anything, they wanted to love and be loved. These youths opened my mind and heart to the healing power of empathy, honest communication and unconditional love. This became my initial window into the power of the confessional narrative as a therapeutically significant tool, and as an antidote to alienation, numbing silence and mental pain.

I have written extensively regarding our work in Oxnard, where we have developed a highly effective prevention and intervention program — the KEYS Leadership Academy — to empower Oxnard youths and help them in their transformation into community stakeholders. We are proud of the many resources, programs and mentors who have become part of the ever-growing KEYS Leadership Academy family and services. However, what we have never been able to develop is a mental-health-services partnership or a counseling program that is culturally sensitive, affordable and readily accessible for youths who need/want mental-health counseling or therapy. It just does not exist for the youths we are working with.

So, in January, when Gabino Aguirre, a consultant with the Ventura County Behavioral Health Department, invited me to participate in the state Department of Mental Health’s prevention and early-intervention planning process, I jumped at the opportunity. I wanted to articulate my personal experiences and concerns regarding mental-health services as they affect our community, and assist in bringing professional, timely and culturally competent mental-health services to the Latino community, particularly to local Latino youths.

7 community needs identified

Since then, I have learned much about the important work of the prevention and early-intervention planning process, as mandated by the Mental Health Services Act. Seven key community needs have been identified as local priorities:

1. Underserved cultural populations.

2. Individuals experiencing an onset of serious psychiatric illness.

3. Children and youths in stressed families.

4. Trauma-exposed individuals.

5. Children and youths at risk for school failure.

6. Children and youths at risk of or experiencing juvenile-justice involvement.

7. Children and youths at risk of or experiencing stigma and/or discrimination.

I came to realize these priorities are exactly what are lacking in my community and what so many of us desperately need and are looking for. If our community had even minimal access to the seven mental-health-prioritized services, our Latino community would have much better mental health.

That is the sad irony of this planning process, namely, that these are not new revelations. What is new and important is that Ventura County Behavioral Health, under the leadership of Susan Kelly, secured the consultant services of Dr. Aguirre, one of the pre-eminent and most respected Latino leaders in Ventura County, to assure that a diverse and multicultural amalgamation of community stakeholders participates in the process.

A new era

I truly believe this is the dawning of a new era in Ventura County, when, for the first time, culturally sensitive and universal access to mental-health services can be provided to Latinos, indeed to all of the underserved cultural populations identified as priority populations.

It will take the vigilance and participation of the community to make sure that Ventura County Behavioral Health not only does the research and data collection, but develops and implements the most effective mental-health services and programs available to our community. Universal mental-health services for all our underserved populations will quickly transform our community into a safer, stronger and more peaceful county and, perhaps in the years to come, we can designate April as “Embrace and Empower all of our Children with Love Month”!

Armando Vazquez of Oxnard is co-founder and director of the KEYS Leadership Academy at the Cafe on A in Oxnard.

Alzheimer's among Texas Hispanics to be studied

Texas study to examine Alzheimer's in Hispanics
By JIM VERTUNO, The Associated Press, April 29, 2009

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas researchers are starting a new project to study the impact of Alzheimer's disease on Hispanics.

The Texas Alzheimer's Research Consortium announced the study Wednesday, noting that Hispanics have high rates of diabetes and heart disease, two health concerns recently linked to the onset of Alzheimer's.

About 340,000 Texans live with Alzheimer's disease, according to the group.

"Hispanics are underrepresented nationally in Alzheimer's research and we have an opportunity in Texas to lead the country in this work," said Dr. Rachelle Doody, a neurology professor at Baylor College of Medicine.

The Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, the University of North Texas Health Science Center, and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, were already members of the research group, which announced the addition of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Texas lawmakers have been giving the group state money since 2005, including $3.9 million in the current two-year budget. The group has already created a "bio-bank" of blood tissue data stored for future research as well as information on clinical, psychological and lab data on 800 volunteers recruited for Alzheimer's research.

On Wednesday, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, whose husband suffers from Alzheimer's, spoke briefly to the state Senate.

"It takes a devastating toll not only on the individual who suffers from it, but on the family. It is a disease that affects every member of the family by virtue of the care that must be provided," O'Connor said.

"We need a focus in every state. We need a national focus on the disease." she said. "I congratulate Texas and the Legislature for what you've done so far."

The new Texas project researching Alzheimer's in Hispanics will recruit volunteers from a heart and aging study in San Antonio that first began in 1979.

Researchers already have historical data on that group's diabetes and cardiovascular risks, said Dr. Donald Royall, chief of aging and geriatric psychiatry at the San Antonio science center.

Ohio takes steps to help Hispanics in flu outbreak

Clark County Reaches Out To Hispanic Community
WHIO-TV, April 28, 2009

CLARK COUNTY, Ohio -- The human swine flu outbreak continues to grow in the United States and internationally, but there have not been any confirmed cases in Clark County.

On Tuesday the CDC reports 64 cases of confirmed swine influenza in the U.S. and a number of hospitalizations of swine flu patients.

There have been no identified cases in Clark County, but there has been one confirmed case of swine flu in Lorain County, involving a 9-year-old boy who is recovering at home.

Identification of possible cases of swine flu in the area is being closely coordinated among local health professionals, including the Clark County Combined Health District, the Springfield Regional Medical Center, area clinics and physicians.

Testing through nasopharyngeal swabs is necessary to confirm a case of the disease. The swine flu is responsive to two anti-viral medications, Tamiflu and Relenza. The CDC recommendations starting these medications within 2 days after becoming sick with the swine flu.

Of special concern are people who have traveled to Mexico within the past 10 to 12 days, or their close contacts, who may be at greater risk for contracting the swine flu.

Outreach efforts have been made Tuesday to the Hispanic community in Clark County. Information regarding symptoms and treatment options has been shared through area businesses that employ large numbers of Hispanic people.

Additionally, area churches, businesses, and other organizations that serve the Hispanic community have been enlisted to assist in the distribution of this information.

Symptoms of the swine flu are; a fever greater than 100 degrees, cough, muscle aches, extreme fatigue, and (possible) diarrhea and vomiting. Persons with these flu-like symptoms who wish to seek medical care should contact their health care providers to report illness (by telephone or other remote means) before seeking care at a clinic, physician’s office or hospital.

Persons who have difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, or are believed to be severely ill, should seek immediate medical attention.

Good health habits to avoid the disease are also encouraged, including thorough hand washing, covering the mouth and nose, avoiding close contact with those who are sick and staying home from work or school if sick.

You can go to this Web site for more information, http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/contentSwineFluTravelSpanish.aspx

Mayor concerned about Hispanic health amid outbreak

Reed working with Hispanic leaders concerning swine flu
by DAN MILLER, Of The Patriot-News, April 28, 2009

Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed wants residents to postpone travel to Mexico because of the swine flu outbreak. His message is targeted toward the city's estimated 500-plus Mexican residents. To reach them Reed met Tuesday night with Latino community leaders in Derry Street United Methodist Church.

The city earlier today passed out thousands of pamphlets in Hispanic areas. The pamphlets say how to prevent swine flu and urge anyone with symptoms go to a hospital.

The city has no known swine flu cases but "we don't know (that) with 100 percent certainty," Reed said at the meeting.

He said some Mexican residents won't come to a public meeting because of immigration concerns. Others simply aren't reached through conventional media or means.

Hector Richard Ortiz, Harrisburg Keystone Rotary Club 2008-09 president, said Mexicans are part of a broader and "very diverse" city Hispanic community. There's no one way to reach them but "word of mouth" is best.

Ortiz said the city should use Spanish radio stations to help spread the word. Churches are crucial as research shows 70 percent of the Harrisburg Hispanic community is affiliated with a Christian church.