About the Author

Author Picture

Eric Moreno

Eric Moreno is a Content Curator with the Salud America! program at UT Health San Antonio. He specializes in covering the topics of health equity and family and social support. He holds a BA from the University of Texas at San Antonio and an MA from Gonzaga University.


Connect with Eric:
Twitter Link

Articles by Eric Moreno

Training Students to Help Latinos with Mental Health Questions


Bullying bullied, sad child sitting on a window

For many Latinos, discussing mental health issues still retains a strong, negative stigma. Often times, a lack of access to mental health care resources means conditions go either untreated or undiagnosed. Language barriers also prevent many from expressing their symptoms and/or concerns to their doctors. In the city of Fresno, Calif. (48.54% Latino population), one group is looking to help remove some of these barriers. The Consejo Project, part of the Department of Social Work Education at California State University, Fresno (Fresno State), trains social work students to serve Spanish-speaking children, teenagers, and youths and examine and work through the systemic barriers that limit the access of Latinos to mental and substance abuse services in the San Joaquin Valley. “We ...

Read More

New Program Boosts Latinos’ Personal Health Knowledge



Colorado health leaders have a new answer to help Latinos overcome barriers to proper healthcare, like language, cultural stigmas, and a lack of access... ...a chat series. The new Community Hearth Health Actions for Latinos at Risk (CHARLAR) program, which originated in Denver (30.94%) before coming to Steamboat Springs (8.3% Latino population), arms Latinos with personal health knowledge they may not otherwise have. “Many Latinos have poor dietary and health habits,” said Erick Ocampo, a community connector for Northwest Colorado Health that is running the program, in an interview with Steamboat Today. “Overeating, not exercising, and not getting help for health issues until the issues are very serious … In our culture, we don’t really care.” In the summer of ...

Read More

Tweetchat 3/21: How You Can Donate Blood to Save Lives!


latina blood donor gives blood

The average person has 8 pints of blood in their body. Health practitioners use about 40,000 pints of blood...every. single. day. There is a dramatic need for blood donations to help save lives, but fewer than 1 in 10 people actually donate. Latinos comprise less than 1% of all blood donors, bad news because experts say Latinos tend to have extremely important blood types. How can Latinos get more involved? On Tuesday, March 21, 2017, let’s use #SaludTues to tweet on why blood donation is vital, myths about donation, and strategies and resources on how to get more Latinos to donate blood: WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “Giving Life: Latinos & Blood Donation” TIME/DATE: 1-2 p.m. ET (Noon-1 p.m. CT), Tuesday, Mar. 14, 2017 WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag ...

Read More

Economically Diverse Neighborhoods Benefit Latino Youth



One of the key social determinants of health is a simple one that often goes overlooked. Where you live has a lot to do with how healthy you are going to be. Many Latinos are often forced to live in low-income, high-poverty, high-crime areas. These areas often have limited access to active spaces, healthy food choices, and health care. These inequities play great impact on the future success of many Latino youths. A recent study of public housing areas in Denver, Colo. (31% Latino population), that showcases the vast benefits of neighborhood economic diversity on Latino youths. The researchers chose Denver because of the wide-range of neighborhood options available to affordable housing users. In order to reduce health disparities, it is critical to address inequities in ...

Read More

Is Rice Healthy for You?



Most people know that what you eat affects your health. Too much sugar, salt, or fat in a person’s diet can raise their risk for certain diseases. And, for the most part, we all try our best to eat better. Eating healthier can lower the risk for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and other health conditions. In many Latino neighborhoods, fast food and corner stores often outnumber and are used more than supermarkets and farmers’ markets, resulting in inadequate consumption of healthy foods and overconsumption of unhealthy foods. According to the National Institutes of Health, a healthy eating plan focuses on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat dairy products; it also includes eating lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts, and limits saturated and ...

Read More

A New Partnership is Helping Get Latinos into College



In recent years, Latinos have made great strides in improving their overall “state” of education. The dropout rate for Latino high school students is at an all-time low (12% in 2014) and even more (35%) are finding their way into a two- or four-year college. Despite all of this headway into education, Latinos often face unique barriers that prevent many from attaining a quality education. To help overcome these barriers, groups and organizations around the country have often sought out unique innovations to encourage more Latino engagement in education. In Goshen, Indiana (29.12% Latino population), representatives for Goshen College developed a unique approach to encouraging Latino students to enroll and succeed at their university. Richard Aguirre, the director of corporate ...

Read More

What are the Least-Stressed Cities in the U.S. for Latinos?



Stress often factors in as a huge burden on the health of many Americans, including much of the Latino population. A survey by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that health concerns – either an existing illness or disease or the financial costs associated with needing medical care – are serious causes of stress for many people. Yes, stress is everywhere. However, some people in some cities experience less stress in the U.S. The financial website SmartAsset recently examined positive and negative factors in 500 cities (with populations of 67,500 or more) in the country to determine the stress level citizens face. Positive factors include the rate of physical activity in the cities and the average hours of sleep; negative factors include hours of work per week and ...

Read More

UTSA’s Food Pantry Helps Hungry Students


roadrunner food pantry

For many college students, in addition to strict study schedules, adjusting to new surroundings and responsibilities, and new life experiences, one harsh reality that many have to deal with his hunger. Food insecurity – the lack of reliable access to sufficient quantities of affordable, nutritious food – is common at colleges and universities across the country, and it has the potential to derail the educational success of thousands of students. According to the National Student Campaign Against Hunger & Homelessness, 48% of students polled for a recent survey reported food insecurity in the previous 30 days, including 22% with very low levels of food security that qualify them as hungry. In an effort to curb some of this concern on their campus, one university as ...

Read More

What are the Best/Worst States to Live in?


best states

It is a known fact that one of the most important social determinants of health is where you live. More and more local and state governments are realizing how important environment is to overall health and well-being. For Latinos, where they live is often leads to unavoidable health disparities due to lack of access to healthcare, healthy food choices, and educational opportunities. Recently U.S. News & World Report outlined the best and worst states to live in based on a host of categories that residents value the most. Categories include healthcare, education, infrastructure, crime rates, and economic opportunities. The Top States Massachusetts (10.56% Latino population) was rated No. 1. Not surprisingly, as Massachusetts is home to Harvard University, Williams College, ...

Read More