The importance of quality healthcare is essential to obtaining a better education, achieving sustained professional success, and long-term financial stability. Good health starts when you’re a kid and right now, millions of kids across the country depend on two government-sponsored health insurance programs: Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). According to a study by Child Trends, 43% of all kids in the country receive health insurance from either Medicaid or CHIP and 15 states – including heavily Latino-populated states such as California, Florida, and New Mexico – have more than half of their kids enrolled in these programs. As of August 2017, the states are: Alabama 54.9%
Arkansas 57.8%
California 53.6%
Florida 57.8%
Kentucky ...
The San Antonio City Council voted 9-2 today to approve a measure to raise the tobacco sale age from 18 to 21 within the city limits, according to FOX29-TV. San Antonio (68% Latino) now is the first city in Texas to have raised to the minimum age. The city also joins five states and over 280 communities in 13 states. Health experts lauded the measure. Tobacco use claims 480,000 lives each year, including 28,000 in Texas, and causes $8.8 billion in direct health care expenses. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among Latino men and the second-leading cause among Latinas. “UT Health San Antonio seeks to make lives better through improved health for all,” said Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San ...
“You’re never done, no matter how old you are. There’s always more you can do.” Eliani Uc, inspired by these words from her mother, has made the most out of the many changes and challenges in her life. In fact, the Mexico City native moved to San Antonio, learned a new language and culture, earned a bachelor’s degree in forensic science at Baylor University, earned a master’s degree in health in kinesiology at UT San Antonio, and now is pursuing her passion for nutrition and health promotion. Uc is currently a clinical registered dietitian at Methodist Healthcare System in San Antonio. Her research areas of interest are nutrigenetics, nutrigenomics, and their relation to cancer. To further her training and education, Uc applied for the Éxito! Latino Cancer ...
Access to free drinking water is not a given in schools and child care centers, although it is a key strategy to build lifelong healthy habits in children. Safe and appealing drinking water is particularly important to increase water consumption among Latino kids, who face more obstacles to being healthy, thus face higher rates of obesity and chronic disease. At the state policy level, drinking water availability in child care centers is governed by child care center licensing regulations, and drinking water availability in public schools is primarily governed by school nutrition policies, state plumbing codes, and school facilities standards. A recent study looked at state-wide policies in 20 states for drinking water quality and access in public schools and licensed child-care ...
It’s a brand-new year, as 2018 is here! If you are like millions of others across the country, you probably took some time to come up with a New Year’s resolution or two. Each New Year, millions of people make New Year’s resolutions. These vary from eating healthier, getting more exercise, and being more aware of their mental health. While the intentions are good, these resolutions are not always easy to stick to. So, what if, for 2018, we did something different? What if we resolved to make this year healthier for Latinos? Despite being the largest and youngest racial and ethnic minority group in the country (and their numbers are getting larger and younger with each passing year), Latinos still suffer from numerous disparities that prevent them from obtaining the best ...
For Elidia Tafoya, calavera—the Spanish word for “skull”—has a positive connotation. It reminds her that opportunities in life are abundant. Tafoya is certainly taking advantage of growing opportunities to study health issues and promote healthy lifestyles among underserved populations. After earning her master’s degree in public health from San Jose State University in 2015, Tafoya has worked as a clinical researcher at Stanford School of Medicine. She manages several dermatologic projects, ranging from investigator-initiated, to industry, and federally funded clinical trials to test new therapies for skin conditions. Tafoya also has served as an advocate on a diabetes prevention program to reduce the risk of diabetes and minimize health disparities. Due to the ...
Millions of kids depend on the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for healthcare coverage. This care helps ensure their physical, mental, and emotional health and helps to keep them on track toward a better chance at academic success. Latino kids have especially benefited from CHIP program. More than 9 in 10 Latino kids were covered by CHIP in 2015, research shows. Yet CHIP remains in jeopardy. It expired in September 2017 and is only continuing thanks to "temporary measures" in early 2018. In fact, The Hill reports that three state governments have sent warning letters to families alerting them that they could lose coverage for their children by Jan. 31, 2018, if new permanent funding from Congress is not approved. Alabama (4% Latino), for example, recently ...
More than 8.7 million people signed up for healthcare coverage during the recent Open Enrollment period that ended on Dec. 15, 2017, a promising number despite a shorter signup period than previous years. Of the 8.7 million signups, 2.4 million were new enrollments and 6.3 were re-enrollments, according to federal data. About 9.2 million signed up last year, including 1 million Latinos. This year, given the closeness in overall signups this year to last year, it can be estimated that about the same number of Latinos sign up this year, too. Although slightly lower overall than last year, the new 8.7 million sign-ups are strong. This is because the Trump administration slashed advertising funding for Obamacare by 90% and cut spending on the navigator program, which funds ...
Math often gets a bad rap in schools. But what if students could count bikes and buses, and solve word problems about local bike lanes and bus routes? That is what's happening in Santa Monica, Calif. (18.1% Latino)—elementary students get "Math in My World" booklets with problems involving how people stay active and move around their community, like walking, biking, skating, scootering, and public transit. The booklets launched December 2017 by the city's Safe Routes to School program. "So instead of showing a six-year-old the somewhat-abstract idea that 2+1=3, they learn that Grace has 2 scooters and Sam has 1 scooter and together they have 3," wrote Jack Moreau, a transit official for the City of Santa Monica. All kids benefit of course, but this could help students ...
