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Amanda Merck

Merck completed her MPH with a concentration in Physical Activity and Health. She curates content for Salud America! (@SaludAmerica), a Latino childhood obesity prevention project based at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio. She focuses on the latest research, resources, and stories related to policy, systems, and environmental changes to enhance equitable access to safe places for kids and families to walk, bike, and play.

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Articles by Amanda Merck

4 Heroes Who Are Revolutionizing Trauma-Informed Care in Schools


4 heroes of trauma informed care and ACEs

Childhood trauma. Adverse childhood experiences. Mental health issues. Whatever you call it, trauma impacts a child’s brain and body. It undermines a child’s ability to learn, build relationships, and contribute in the classroom. Schools can play a big role in supporting students who deal with trauma out of school. That's why we at Salud America! are spotlighting four Salud Heroes who are creating school environments to address childhood trauma among students! 1. Ex-Coach Helps School District Change its System to Create a Culture of Care for Students of Trauma John Hernandez coached football in three disadvantaged school districts in Texas. When a player missed practice, Hernandez took it on himself to visit their home. He would check in on them and offer rides, so the ...

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4 Communities Leading the Way for Walking, Public Transit


Women loading bike onto rack on bus Source Omnitrans

Transit-rich, walkable communities strengthen the local economy, create opportunities for Latino and other vulnerable residents, and enhance community resilience. That’s why America Walks, a nonprofit organization, released four case studies sharing collaborative efforts to improve safety, walkability, and access to transit in four communities across the country. This is another effort in their Transit-Walkability Collaborative, which was established in 2017 by America Walks and eight other organizations. As part of the case study series, America Walks recognized: Nashville, Tennessee (10.4% Latino); Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (17.3%); Hartford, Connecticut (44.3%); and San Bernardino, California (64.3%). Two counties in particular offer valuable insights into inspiring ...

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Steady Housing Now a Big Factor in County Health Rankings


bus nieghborhood housing los angeles california suburb

Education. Access to medical care. Healthy food and safe places to play. Even housing. All these influence your health. That’s why annually, since 2010, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has released its County Health Rankings so each state can see how its counties compare on more than 30 factors that impact health, income, education, transportation, jobs, and more. The rankings help us understand what is making people sick or healthy, and what we can do to create healthier places to live, learn, work, and play. This year’s rankings took a deep dive into a new area: housing and health. Housing Ownership in Largely Latino Counties Owning a home can, over time, help build savings for education or for other opportunities important to health and future family ...

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10 Strategies to Improve Bicycle and Pedestrian Connections to Transit


Person riding bicycle in bike lane near bus in a urban area.

The Regional Models of Cooperation program hosted a peer exchange workshop to share best practices in working across jurisdictions to improve connections between bicycle and pedestrian facilities and transit. Participants of the October 2016 workshop released the Regional Cooperation and Bike/Ped and Transit Connections report summarizing the presentations, key themes, and recommendations. In this report, they identified 10 key strategies that agencies can employ to improve connections between bicycle, pedestrian, and transit infrastructure. 1. Recognize that Improvement is Everyone’s Job Improving bicycle and pedestrian and transit networks is a shared responsibility, spanning geographies and agency types from the state to regional and local levels. For example, to identify ...

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Texas Researchers Provide Startling Data Behind Why Over 25% of Latino Kids are Obese


Students eating lunch in Texas

Childhood obesity is getting worse over time, especially for Latinos. Researchers in Texas (39.4% Latino) recently released a data explorer that illustrates trends in body mass index of school-aged children in their state (52% Latino). It also reveals underlying factors in obesity, such as dietary behaviors and physical activity. The information showed many disparities, especially in the Latino community — numbers that could call for statewide, national conversation and legislation concerning childhood obesity. Need for Obesity Reduction U.S. Latino children have the highest rates of childhood obesity (25.8%), as compared to their black (22%) and white (14.1%) peers. In Texas, 27.3% of Latino 8th graders have obesity compared to 16% of their white peers. Obesity is ...

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4 Powerful Tools Governors Can Use to Build Up Public Health


State government

Governors have the opportunity to use state resources and create partnerships to improve the social and economic inequities that cause poor health outcomes, especially among communities of color. But not all governors have the tools to boost public health. That’s why the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) and the de Beaumont Foundation released four big tools to help governors understand what influences public health and how to embed upstream health- and prevention-related plans into the structure of government. “We’re the state that’s going to tear down the systemic barriers to work and education faced by people of color, people with disabilities, veterans and women,” said Washington Gov. Jay Inslee in his inaugural address, according to an NASHP blog ...

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Ohio: Speak Up for More Social and Emotional Learning in Schools


Latina student learning about social and emotional skills.

The Ohio Department of Education wants your comment on its plans to expand Social and Emotional Learning standards in schools from kindergarten through 12th grade. This is a big deal because Ohio would join only eight states with K-12 social and emotional learning standards, which help students gain life skills, such as emotional awareness, respect for each other, strong relationships, and responsible decision-making. But we think Ohio’s standards can get even better. The standards do not clearly define support for children who deal with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The standards also need a stronger application of implicit bias—people’s unconscious prejudice—to better support racial/ethnic students and those in poverty. If you agree, email the following model ...

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Sesame Street Offers Hundreds of Bilingual Activities for Parents, Providers


Eating Colorful Fruits and Vegetables video from Sesame Street

Big Bird, Elmo, and friends have connected with children on TV for years—now Sesame Street is helping parents and community providers help kids and families grow smarter, stronger, and kinder. Sesame Street in Communities provides hundreds of bilingual, multi-media tools to help parents and community providers engage kids and families in everyday activities to boost early childhood development.  All content is available for free in English and Spanish. Parents and Caregivers Parents and caregivers can find activities and videos for all age ranges on 28 topics. These go from healthy eating to traumatic experiences. Eating Well: Food insecurity can make things seem hopeless. But programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the National School ...

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Making the Case for Paid Family Leave


Pregnant Latina at work.

Paid leave reduces the use of public services, boosts employee productivity, and can help families better succeed—yet three in four Latinos are unable to take such time. Despite data that shows its benefits, there is no federal requirement to provide paid family leave. The 1993 federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), legislation most businesses follow, does not cover all workers and leave offers are unpaid. Lack of paid leave and other economic support contributes to health and economic disparities among Latinas, Latinos, and low-income families. Still, paid leave is gaining popular support, including a proposal for universal paid family leave. “If the [corporate officers and directors] gets paid leave, then the factory floor worker should also get paid leave,” ...

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