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Cliff Despres

Cliff Despres, who has more than a decade of experience in journalism and public relations, is communications director for Salud America! and its home base, the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio.

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Articles by Cliff Despres

Get $1.4 Million to Help Communities Withstand and Recover from Disaster


truck after hurricane disaster preparedness

Local leaders can get $1.4 million to help their community prepare for, withstand, and recover from disasters, thanks to a new two-year grant opportunity from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). The new grant aims to help community leaders and researchers create "resilient communities." Resilient communities can anticipate and adapt to unexpected challenges, like the recent devastating hurricanes in Texas and Puerto Rico. Disasters cause damage from infrastructure to the local economy. They also impact institutionalized discrimination, access to healthcare, and mental health issues and stress. For example, Texas leaders formed a task force to respond to mental health issues in schools impacted by Hurricane Harvey. How prepared is your community for an ...

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Report: Latino Kids Suffer More Poverty and Gaps in Education, Health Opportunity


Latino farm boy in poverty and food insecurity

Latino and other minority youth have higher rates of poverty and greater gaps in education and health opportunity than their white peers, according to a new report. The 2018 County Health Rankings found that: Poverty rates among children and youth are at least 1.5 times higher than rates among adults aged 18 and older, and the rates are even higher for Latino, Black, and American Indian/Alaskan Native children and youth. Child poverty rates for Latino and Black children are worse across all types of counties, and are even higher in suburban counties than for White children in rural counties. More than 1 out of every 5 youth in the bottom performing counties do not graduate from high school in four years. It's worse among racial/ethnic groups. 1 out of 4 Latino youth do not ...

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Don’t Just Work Out—Try Maria’s ‘Transformation Station’


Maria Guerra heart health transformation station

When fitness guru Maria Guerra designed her gym, she of course plotted space for all the usual stuff, like free weights, exercise machines and classes. Guerra also made room for something she’d never seen in any gym. She calls it a “transformation station” and it’s essentially a heart-health resource center. There are tools to measure blood pressure and body mass index, plus charts and brochures to help make sense of those readings. The information is in English and Spanish, and it’s free to everyone, client or not. The station also includes a “challenge wall.” This is where people who are ready to improve their fitness post before and after photos; challengers get to update their “after” image each month. “Why work out and have pretty muscles if the ...

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Spanish Website: Our ‘Noisy Planet’ Can Hurt Kids’ Hearing


latina girl wearing headphones hearing loss music

Playing a band instrument. Watching TV at loud volumes. Riding off-road vehicles. These are big ways preteens can damage their hearing. That's why the National Institutes of Health has launched a new Spanish-language website to raise awareness about the causes and prevention of noise-induced hearing loss among Latino preteens. The website is part of a campaign called El mundo es ruidoso. Proteja la audición de sus hijos. (It's a Noisy Planet. Protect Their Hearing.). It encourages kids ages 8-12 to adopt healthy hearing habits. The website has information on: How we hear. What noise can do to your hearing. The science of hearing loss. "Research suggests that hearing loss caused by loud sounds at an early age may speed up age-related hearing loss later in life," ...

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A Program to Watch: Exito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training


Participants gather for a group photo at a past Exito Summer Institute.

Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training has been named a "Program to Watch" in a new report by Excelencia in Education. Éxito!, led by Salud America! director Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez of UT Health San Antonio, recruits 25 Latino students and health professionals annually for a culturally tailored curriculum to promote pursuit of a doctoral degree and cancer research career. Excelencia, which promotes Latinos in higher education, created its "Programs to Watch" report to highlight innovative or up-and-coming programs. The report features Éxito! and 18 other programs from multiple states. The report lauded Éxito! for its cultural competency, service to Latino students, concrete metrics, and elements of a strong story. "Excelencia hopes that by bringing ...

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Hey, Communicators: Join the Team at Salud America!


mobile social media tablet communication

We want YOU for the Salud America! team! Salud America!, a national program to inspire people to drive community change for the health of Latino and all kids, is hiring for several positions: Digital Content Curator. This position mines Latino childhood health online resources to identify, collect, organize, write, and promote multimedia content (policies, case studies, resources, etc.) for the Salud America! website and e- and social communications in order to build awareness of Latino childhood health issues and drive policy and environmental change among stakeholders. Scientific Writer. This position aims to provide high-quality, experienced scientific editorial skills to the development of manuscripts and other technical and lay-friendly publications produced by the ...

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Where Are Latinos at the Oscars?


latino actors

No Latinos actors are nominated for 2018 Oscars, Variety reports. In 2017, actor/composer/poet Lin-Manuel Miranda's original song for “Moana” was one a very few Oscar-nominated performances by a Latino. Why don't Latino performers in Hollywood get more recognition? First, data show there are not a lot of Latino roles to begin with. Latinos had less than 5% of speaking roles in the top-grossing films, according to USC. Second, when they are available, they're often filled by non-Latinos. Ben Affleck played Mexican American CIA operative Antonio Mendez in 2012's Argo and Jon Favreau played a Cuban food truck entrepreneur in 2014's Chef, according to an L.A. Weekly op-ed. "The dearth of Latino storytelling and overlooking of Latino talent is especially remarkable when you ...

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Attention, Ladies: This Latina Researcher Wants to Save You


Bertha Hidalgo

"I didn’t know eating McDonald’s every day would hurt my triglyceride levels." Sadly, this is something Bertha Hidalgo heard when she talked to friends and family about heart disease. Simply put, many women had no idea. Not just about the details of Bertha's studies, such as a recent American Heart Association (AHA) report she helped author about disparities in treatment of heart disease and stroke. They didn’t even understand many of the basics about awareness, prevention, and treatment. “Their lack of certainty with some of these health topics means we’re not doing a good enough job as scientists and physicians to get the message out to the people who need it," Bertha told American Heart Association News. For example, do you know the answer to these ...

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How a Mostly White Town Is Supporting Latino Health


food shopping grocery store

Amherst, Mass., is a 73% white city. But with an emerging Latino population that includes about 1 in 5 Spanish-speaking families with kids in public schools, city leaders are ramping up to meet Latino needs, MassLive.com reports. They're even setting aside $54,000 to create a Latino community food program. "When we look at food access (it) is a real issue," Julie Federman, the city's health director, told MassLive.com. "Getting to a grocery store, getting to an affordable grocery store can be really challenging." U.S. Latinos face a big lack of access to support for economic stability, wellness, and education. Latino children often fall behind in school, and social and physical development, according to a Salud America! research review. Latinos especially lack access to ...

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