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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

#SaludTues Tweetchat 2/28: Let’s Talk Eating Disorders!


latina hispanic woman mental health eating disorders

Did you know this week is National Eating Disorders Awareness week? An increasing amount of Latino and other minority populations deal with "disordered eating"—restrained, compulsive or binge eating and an associated loss of control—in different ways depending on their culture. Let’s use #SaludTues on Feb. 28, 2017, to tweet about #EatingDisorders, their impact on Latinos, and info, resources, and tips how to promote healthy eating patterns for all! WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “Let’s Talk #EatingDisorders” DATE/TIME: 1-2 p.m. ET (Noon-1 p.m. CT), Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017 WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues HOST: @SaludAmerica CO-HOSTS: @EDCoalition We’ll open the floor to your stories and experiences as we explore: What are some signs of ...

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Brenda Frutos: Fighting for Latino Health Equity


Brenda Frutos

Growing up as “the minority kid” in school isn’t easy, but it helped Brenda Frutos develop a passion for fighting for health equity among Latinos. Frutos not only earned her master’s degree in public health from West Chester University of Pennsylvania, she also is working as a certified health education specialist. She provides research and technical support in the Department of Family Medicine at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Pennsylvania, and also has experience helping with interventions in breastfeeding among underserved women. Motivated by the hard work of her significant other who overcame challenges to reach medical school, Frutos wants to continue pursuing more education. Frutos applied for the Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program, which ...

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Get Bilingual Texts to Help You Quit Smoking


quitxt selfie group shot smoking tobacco

Smoking is a tough opponent to beat. Quitxt is a free texting service in English or Spanish that turns your mobile phone into a personal coach to help you quit smoking, using interactive and entertaining texts, online support, and music and videos from UT Health San Antonio researchers. The service’s bilingual texts help with motivation to quit, setting a quit date, finding things to do instead of smoking, handling stress, and more. Join in English: Text “iquit” to 57682. Join in Spanish: Text “lodejo” to 57682. “Text-message applications have scientifically proven to roughly double one’s odds of quitting smoking, so we developed Quitxt specifically for young adult Latinos to help them quit for good,” said Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, study leader and director of ...

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Jose De Jesus: Applying What Works to Solve Health Problems


Jose De Jesus

Jose De Jesus’ grandmother had to cook Puerto Rican “mofongo” (Puerto Rican dish) on a large enough scale to nourish him and his six siblings. In the same way, a successful health intervention or program needs to be applied in order for people to receive the health benefits. That’s why De Jesus wants to tackle health disparities by applying and implementing proven programs to bring things like cancer prevention and physical activity to kids and families. He’s already helped many people in need as a health educator by working on several social issues, such as homelessness, criminal justice, mental health, and job development. The elimination of cancer health disparities is his newest passion. That’s why De Jesus applied for the Éxito! Latino Cancer Research ...

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Shayda Dioun: Working to Prevent Cancer with Healthy Lifestyles


Shayda-Dioun

Physical activity. Proper nutrition. Shayda Dioun is not shy about trumpeting these two big ways to prevent cancer. Dioun, a public health student at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, is already making an effort to push nutrition and activity as an intern for the San Antonio Mayor’s Fitness Council. She also mentors kids from low-income families. Dioun is interested in applying for a PhD program and applying nutritional and fitness concepts to cancer prevention, especially among minority populations. That’s why she applied for the Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program, which recruits 25 master’s-level students and professionals for a five-day Summer Institute to promote doctoral degrees and careers studying Latino cancer. ...

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Avocados Are Good for Your Heart!


avocados guacamole

Love avocados? Or see those funny avocado Super Bowl commercials? We've got good news for you, even if you don't eat avocados often. Fresh avocados are a heart-healthy fruit that provide naturally good fats and are cholesterol- and sodium-free. Replacing saturated fats with monounsaturated fats, like those found in avocados, may help reduce the risk of heart disease. So eat those heart-health avocados! Tons of great original avocado recipes were shared and won up to $1,000 in the 2017 American Heart Association’s Take Avocado to Heart Recipe Contest. “Dietary fats are essential to heart health in that they give your body energy and help your body absorb key nutrients,“ said Chef Hamlet Garcia, AHA spokesperson, shown in the video above describing some delicious ...

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WINNERS: The Surani Sisters and the Quest to Conquer Obesity


surani sisters corpus salud heroes

Corpus Christi, Texas, had been called the fattest city in the nation. Zoya, Sara, and Saherish Surani wanted to do something about it. So the three sisters, with the help of their parents and others, created the iConquer program to get older students to teach younger students how to move more, eat right, and develop healthy habits to reduce obesity in Corpus Christi public schools. Now the Surani sisters won the Salud America! #SaludHeroes video contest! Watch their winning video or read the story how the sisters worked hard to develop, garner support for, fund, and sustain the iConquer program that brings a team of high school students to visit local elementary schools for about an hour once a week for four weeks to present a creative music video, animated videos, dance ...

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Jackeline Ruiz: Compassion Drives Goal to Boost People’s Health


Jackeline Ruiz

Jackeline Ruiz of Los Angeles has a big heart. She learned compassion from her mother, who instilled strong faith on her and served as an example by always working hard to make friends and family feel welcome and loved. Ruiz’s compassion spills over into the tremendous effort she’s made as a health worker to improve the health of immigrant families. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in political science at Santa Clara University, Ruiz spent two years living in community and working with a community clinic as a referral coordinator, patient navigator and health educator. Ruiz is interested in working more with Latinos who face chronic health conditions, especially those who struggle with healthcare access and preventive care. To increase her training, she applied for ...

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Some Latinos See Volunteer Health Workers as ‘Unwanted Salespeople’


promotora patient navigator

For many years, health programs have used volunteer community health workers called promotoras to deliver culturally sensitive health and wellness information to Latinos. But some Latinos may misunderstand what a promotora is all about. In fact, Mexican-born rural Latinas in rural Illinois communities were biased against promotoras because they perceived them as more like "unwanted salespeople" or "promoters" engaged in for-profit enterprises than legitimate volunteer health liaisons, according to a new study, columnist Esther J. Cepeda reports. The study, led by researchers including former Salud America! grantee Dr. Angela Wiley at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, found that Latinas' negative perceptions of promotoras kept them from engaging in the researchers' ...

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