The Salud America! Action Pack, “How to Start Screening for the Non-Medical Drivers of Health (NMDoH),” is featured in two resource databases that help healthcare systems start addressing NMDoH with screening, referrals, and more. Find our action pack in the University of California, San Francisco's national database, the Social Interventions Research & Evaluation Network (SIREN). Find our action pack in Rice University's Texas-focused database, Evidence-to-Practice for Non-Medical Drivers of Health (E2 Practice NMDOH). You can use the new Salud America! Action Pack, “How to Start Screening for the NMDoH,” to launch screening in your clinic, hospital, or healthcare system! The action pack, created by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez at UT Health San Antonio, has a ...
Texas has a big opportunity to eliminate cervical cancer. It will take the combined impact of HPV vaccination, routine cervical cancer screening and follow-up, and timely navigation to treatment services, according to the Texas Lone Star Cervical Cancer Elimination Plan 2027-2032. The plan’s three big actions are recommended by the Cervical Cancer Elimination Priority Area Workgroup, supported by the Cancer Alliance of Texas (CAT). The workgroup includes Dr. Rebecca Jones, assistant director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio. “Texas has the tools to prevent nearly all cervical cancers, but elimination will require coordinated statewide action, sustained partnerships, and tailored and targeted strategies,” according to the ...
When Sandi Stanford was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993, everything was vastly different from how we view, treat, measure, and research the disease today.
Much of that has to do with innovations in medicine, science, and technology.
However, there were far more powerful players steering the ship — survivors.
This new breed of survivors weren’t standing on the sidelines; they were educating themselves, inserting themselves in research, and having conversations that would benefit future generations of survivors.
They called themselves cancer patient advocates.
One such advocate, Sandi Stanford of San Antonio, Texas, helped pioneer programs and initiatives that transformed a cancer diagnosis into action.
Unfortunately, Sandi passed away on Aug. 29, 2026, at age 82.
While the ...
This blog was published as part of a collaboration between Salud America! and the Prevent Cancer Foundation in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. Did you know that Latinos have a higher risk of liver cancer than the overall U.S. population? In fact, 1 in 5 people with liver cancer in the United States are Latino. They also are often diagnosed at later stages and are more likely to die of liver cancer than other adult populations in the United States. Latino men are 53% more likely to be diagnosed with liver cancer than men overall, and Latinas are 72% more likely to be diagnosed than Latina women overall, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health. “While liver cancer rates are decreasing or staying the same in ...
Dental hygiene and education are important parts of our daily life. However, nearly 26% of adults and 46% of children have untreated or restored dental caries (better known as cavities), according to the CDC. October is National Dental Hygiene Month, a time to not only honor dental hygienists, but also raise awareness and promote good oral hygiene. Let’s take a look into some resources that can help educate families and communities when it comes to oral health and hygiene.
1. Mouthy Health
Mouthy Health, created through the American Dental Association, provides resources like tips on choosing a dentist, nutrition, nicotine use, and paying for dental care. Mouthy Health also has steps and tools on daily dental routines. The website’s Find-a-Dentist tool allows ...
Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer-related death in U.S. women and the leading cause of cancer-related death in Latina women. Despite advancements in preventative care and early detection, Latinas and all women continue to be diagnosed at later stages when treatment is more taxing and outcomes aren’t as optimistic. This situation is a result of issues with non-medical drivers of health, such as low access to health insurance, preventive screenings, transportation, healthy food, and more. More resources, better education, and research can help make a difference! It’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and whether you’re a survivor, currently in treatment, health professional, caregiver, family member, or at risk for breast cancer, here are ...
Los latinos enfrentan una carga alta de cáncer. Debido a barreras relacionadas con el idioma, los recursos económicos, el transporte y otros factores, los latinos con frecuencia reciben un diagnóstico de cáncer en etapas avanzadas, cuando las probabilidades de sobrevivir son menores y los costos del tratamiento son más altos. Para abordar el impacto del cáncer en los latinos y brindar esperanza, Salud America! creó la campaña “Nuestras Voces”, una iniciativa que ofrece a los sobrevivientes latinos de cáncer una plataforma para compartir sus historias y experiencias. Como parte de esta campaña, los sobrevivientes de cáncer latinos pueden escribir y enviar sus propias historias para que sean publicadas en nuestro sitio web, en inglés o español. “Cuando ...
A lot of the time a cancer survivor’s story goes: “I felt a lump in my breast, I got it checked out, and it was breast cancer.”
That’s not the story of Deb Blake-Ontiveros.
The single mother visited a doctor after she felt a lump in her breast. But her doctor dismissed it as something else.
Two years passed before Deb was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“If we go back in time ... and I would have been maybe a little bit less distracted with the baby and more like, ‘Hey, I think I would like further screening’ that could have been the change there. But that's the reality, though,” Deb told Salud America!
That reality is that some women with breast cancer, especially young Latinas whose symptoms often go ignored or misdiagnosed, never get to ring the bell.
For Deb, ...
As we celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, Salud America! is having important conversations about how breast cancer trends impact communities and populations in South Texas and beyond. Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in Latinas and top cause of cancer-related death among Latinas. With this in mind, Salud America!’s Salud Talks Podcast collaborated with Dr. Marcela Mazo Canola, breast medical oncologist at the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio, and Dr. Angel Rodriguez, senior medical director of oncology for Natera, to discuss new technologies to care for people who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. This episode is hosted by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San ...
