Jade Hércules, was born in July 2012 in Guatamala, where she was diagnosed with terminal liver disease. She needed a donor. Jade's condition deteriorated over the next year to the point where her parents thought, as she celebrated her first birthday in July 2013, she wasn't far from her final moments on earth. Then doctors at University of Chicago Hospital, where her family had come to seek treatment, told her parents a liver donor was found. “We were grateful to God for the parents who had the courage to donate their little boy’s organs because thanks to them our little girl is alive. We always think about the parents who made this miracle possible because it is truly a blessing that a year later although she is not yet walking, Jade can stand and is such a happy ...
Shape Up San Francisco, a coalition of community leaders, wanted to know if kids in San Francisco were meeting state requirements for time spent in PE. They convened a group called the PE Champions and began to study 20 elementary, four middle, and four high schools. After learning that almost 80% of elementary schools were not getting enough PE time, Shape Up SF’s PE Champions partnered with school officials to develop a plan to change this. Now, thanks to the partnership, the district has 38 PE specialists to train teachers in the skills needed to provide students with quality PE.
The Need for More Physical Activity for Children in Schools
Awareness: Local health advocates Christina Goette and Marianne Szeto were concerned about the city’s growing childhood obesity rates and ...
Kids need Salud Heroes to help fight childhood obesity. Can you step up? Visit our new website, Salud America! Growing Healthy Change, to read stories about real-life Salud Heroes who are making healthy community changes—from improved marketing to increased access to healthy food and physical activity, etc.—for kids in your neighborhood and across the nation. You can also share your own Salud Hero stories and photos with us saludamerica1@gmail.com. The Growing Healthy Change website was created by Salud America!, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation based. The site was initially part of the Community Commons ...
Want to address childhood obesity, but don’t know where to start or how to make a change? Start at Salud America! The new website is a first-of-its-kind clearinghouse of resources and stories to promote changes—healthier marketing and improved access to healthy food and physical activity, etc.—for kids in your neighborhood and across the nation. Right now at the site, you can: Find resources to start a change;
Watch and read about real-life “Salud Heroes” of change; and
Become a “Salud Hero” by sharing your own stories. Here are some examples of Salud Heroes who have made healthy community changes: The site was created by Salud America!, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The site was initially part of the Community Commons ...
If you could wave a magic wand, what would you do to fix school lunches? If money was no option, what would you do to bring healthier foods into schools? These are the kinds of questions students at Sunset High School in Del Norte County, California asked while dreaming-up big solutions to their less-than-great school food. Fed up with the pre-packaged lunches and unhealthy options, the youth organized and pushed for change, building partnerships and leadership skills—using the PICO community organizing model—that will last a lifetime. Del Norte County (DNATL) is one of the 14 communities selected to participate in the Building Healthy Communities (BHC) program. Funded by The California Endowment, BHC is a ten-year, comprehensive community initiative in 14 places across ...
Alicia Gonzalez, a young leader with experience in community development, was eager to keep kids stay active, given the rise of local obesity. She partnered up with a local family foundation who wanted to start a running program. The result was Chicago Run, a non-profit incentive based program which has promoted running to over 13,000 children.
The Need for More Physical Activity for Children
Awareness: Chicago resident Alicia Gonzalez enjoys improving the quality of life in her community. She has experience teaching youth about AIDS, mentoring kids in Boston, and building private-sector partnerships to better people’s lives through asset-based community development (ABCD)—an approach to community development that emphasizes a community’s assets rather than its ...
After realizing that patients were not participating in regular physical activity, clinicians at the Community Health and Social Services (CHASS) Center in the Mexicantown neighborhood of Detroit decided to try something different to get residents moving. Physicians like Maricela Castillo and Richard Bryce teamed up with local organizations to host the neighborhood’s first-ever 5K race. Because the 5K entry was made affordable, many of the 200 participants were CHASS patients. The clinic plans to make the 5K an annual event as a means to promote its other nutrition and fitness programs for patients.
The Need for More Physical Activity for Children
Awareness/Learn: The Community Health and Social Services Center (CHASS) is a nonprofit clinic that provides affordable health care ...
Commentary by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez San Antonio is what the entire United States will look like in 40 years, some say. That’s good news, but not all good. San Antonio’s large Latino population contributes immeasurably to the uniqueness and vitality of our city, just as the continued growth of the Latino population reflects our nation as a whole. At the same time, some families in our neighborhoods increasingly lack access to the kinds of neighborhood amenities that Americans rely upon to stay healthy, and face some obstacles to good health. These are challenges to health in all cities across the country. Research has found that, some people live in areas with more fast-food restaurants and unhealthy food advertising, and higher consumption of sugary beverages, per capita. ...
Eating the right food can help fight cancer. But what foods are right? Are there such things as healthy—and tasty—traditional dishes? Check out a new bilingual cookbook, Nuestra Cocina Saludable: Recipes from Our Community Kitchen, to guide you and your family to eat healthy and help protect against cancer and other chronic diseases. The cookbook is from the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) and the Mays Cancer Center (formerly the Cancer Therapy and Research Center) at UT Health San Antonio. Download the free cookbook in English or Spanish. Inside are 46 recipes for healthy, delicious foods straight from real kitchens in South Texas. The cookbook originated when people from across South Texas shared their mouth-watering recipes—like Aurora Rodriguez of ...
