A great leader must have tremendous understanding, and a keen ability to see from other people’s perspectives. Geraldine Massuh is such a leader. Massuh, spurred to reduce public health disparities by her experiences as a first-generation bilingual daughter growing up in Queens, New York, has taken big leadership roles in improving healthcare quality for Latinos and all people by promoting cultural competence, workforce diversity, and mentoring. Massuh, who earned her master’s degree in public health in health policy and management from Columbia University in 2016, is currently a healthcare management and diversity strategist, currently consulting on nationwide projects for CulturaLink on linguistic and cultural competence and diversity and inclusion in the workforce in ...
Childcare centers are serving healthier food and pushing more physical activity than they did five years ago. But it's less clear that these changes are promoting health equity for Latinos and other minority children, according to a new report. The report, Early Care and Education Policies and Programs to Support Healthy Eating and Physical Activity: Best Practices and Changes Over Time, reviews policy and system changes in food service, physical activity, and screen time in early care and education (ECE) settings from 2011 to 2016. ECE settings include childcare centers, day care homes, Head Start programs, and preschools. The report was led by Healthy Eating Research. "The early childhood years are critical to the prevention of obesity," according to the report. "The role of ...
"Know Your Role." "Know Your Rights." These are the two key phrases being taught to Oregon Latino immigrants in new free workshops, which offer bilingual help on interacting with police and understanding one’s rights whether they are documented or undocumented. The workshops, led by the Rural Organizing Project in Oregon (11% Latino), help Latinos integrate in the community and build resiliency. "Oregon has become our home, and as such, we need to learn how to protect it, starting with ourselves and our own families," according to a blog post by Jessica Campbell of the organization. "Let’s not allow fear to break us! We are resilient people that made the heartbreaking choice of leaving our home countries behind, searching for opportunities to rebuild ourselves and our ...
Sheila Mota is the embodiment of resiliency. The Utah native has overcome a debilitating illness and the loss of her father to cancer, and is now committed to improving the delivery of healthcare and increasing the quality of life of those who “grew up on the wrong side of the train tracks.” She is a master’s-degree student in public health and healthcare administration at the University of Utah. She also is a health educator at the Health Advocate and Interactive Health, Inc., and is a certified medical assistant at Granger Medical Clinic in West Valley, Utah. She already has experience in front-line patient care and the design and implementation of programs to address health promotion and wellness, especially among the underserved. To further her training and ...
On average, heart disease causes 1 death every 38 seconds, according to the American Heart Association. Latinos are often unaware of their risk for heart disease. Mexican Americans in particular have higher levels of uncontrolled blood pressure than non-Latino whites and are less likely to receive treatment for high blood pressure. This, poor diet and lack of physical activity, can put them at great risk for heart disease. What else contributes to poor heart health? Growing evidence shows that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) also play a role in developing heart disease. Let’s use #SaludTues on Feb. 13, 2018, to chat about ways to promote heart health and prevent ACEs in Latino communities! WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “Latinos, Heart Health and ACEs"
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No parent should have to face the sheer agony of losing a baby. But it happened to Servando Salinas and Roxanne Alvarez. The San Antonio parents recently spent time at a relative's house. So Salinas and Alvarez had their eight-month-old daughter, Heaven, sleep in bed with them. When Salinas woke up, he noticed Heaven was not breathing. They called EMS, but the baby was pronounced dead at the scene, according to FOX-29. “I couldn't move. I couldn't stand. I was crying so much,” Salinas told Fox-29. Sadly, in two San Antonio zip codes—mostly Latino 78203 and 78220—Latina mothers have the highest infant death rates in the state, says a UT System study. That's why we are glad to see that San Antonio leaders, health advocates, parents, and groups are stepping up to ...
Children don't magically "get over" trauma when they turn 18. Trauma, toxic stress, and adverse childhood experiences permanently change a child's body and brain, which can have serious, lifelong consequences, according to a recent report from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Here are four ways trauma can overload a child's developing system: 1. Hormone level changes: Cortisol and adrenaline are the "stress hormones" that help you react to a perceived threat or danger by directing blood flow to major muscle groups and bypassing the thinking part of the brain to activate the survival part. High levels of these hormones keep your blood pressure elevated, which weakens the heart and circulatory system; keep your glucose levels elevated, which can lead ...
Araceli Guzman wants to make a difference for the Latino community. The California native is off to a good start. Guzman recently became her family’s first college graduate after earning a bachelor’s degree in public health promotion at California State University of Northridge. Now she is working on a master’s degree in public health, and gaining valuable research experience helping Latinos with disaster preparedness and working with Latinos in a reproductive health clinic. To further her training and education, Guzman applied for the Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program. The program, led by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez at UT Health San Antonio with support from the National Cancer Institute, recruits 25 master’s-level students and professionals each ...
For the first time since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2012, the rate of uninsured Americans rose during the fourth quarter of 2017. The uninsured rate rose 1.3 percentage points from to 12.2% from its all-time low of 10.9% at the end of 2016, CNN Money reports according to a Gallup Poll. The increase reflects roughly 3.2 million new uninsured Americans in the U.S. The uninsured rate for both blacks (2.3 percentage points) and Latinos (2.2 percentage points). The ACA-based healthcare exchanges opened in 2014, the same year that Medicaid expansion began. One of the central tenets of the ACA was its individual mandate, which required all Americans to obtain health insurance or incur a tax penalty. Those circumstances were credited with helping reverse the ...
