Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez of UT Health San Antonio is launching the new "Avanzando Equidad de Salud: Latino Cancer Health Equity Research Center" thanks to a 4-year, $4.08-million grant from the American Cancer Society. The Avanzando Equidad de Salud Center, which will begin in February 2023, is a response to the severe cancer burden facing Latinos in South Texas. The center will unite South Texas research scholars and the community to reduce health disparities across the cancer care continuum by targeting social determinants of health that prevent Latinos from obtaining equitable care. "Our new center will conduct a unique combination of community-engaged research, training, patient assessment, and advocacy to address the social determinants of health — such as access to ...
Latino and Black patients on dialysis have higher rates of staph bloodstream infections, according to a new CDC report. Dialysis is a treatment for people whose kidneys are failing. “More than half of people in the U.S. receiving dialysis belong to a racial or ethnic minority group—about 1 in every 3 people receiving dialysis is Black and 1 in every 5 is Hispanic,” according to the CDC. Latino dialysis patients alone had a 40% higher risk of staph bloodstream infections than White patients on dialysis between 2017 and 2020. Let’s further explore the health disparities that impact dialysis patients.
Risks of Dialysis Treatment
While dialysis treatments are necessary and could ultimately save the life of patients with end-stage kidney disease, it does come with ...
As more healthcare systems start to screen patients for social determinants of health (SDoH), we at Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio are spotlighting why screening for SDoH is so important to improve health outcomes, especially among Latinos. Today, we are sharing three SDoH screening tools that can help address social needs, or the non-medical barriers to health, of Latinos and all patients. You can use these screening tools – questionnaires that gather information from patients – in your healthcare facility or use them as inspiration to create your own screening tool. Let’s dive into these health-changing tools!
The Protocol for Responding to and Assessing Patients’ Assets, Risks, and Experiences (PRAPARE®)
PRAPARE® helps health centers and other providers ...
In a modest house in Los Angeles, California, a young girl buried her nose in a book. She focused on the book’s colorful graphics of doctors helping sick patients. Closing her eyes, she pictured herself in this role. Her mother’s words echoed in her mind, “Education is the key to opening doors in life.” The young girl wasn’t sure how, but she decided she was going to go to medical school, and she was going to become a doctor. Decades later, the young girl — now a grown woman – has a successful career in medicine. Dr. Marlene Martin is an associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and a hospitalist at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH). In these roles, Marlene combines her passion for clinical care ...
Have you ever had a conversation with a doctor that left you feeling confused? These situations can be frustrating, especially when it hurts your health. Unfortunately, poor doctor-patient communication is common, even though doctors acknowledge they should avoid medical jargon when talking with patients. In a new study in JAMA Network Open, researchers surveyed 215 adults and found that when medical jargon was used by physicians, participants frequently misunderstood and often interpreted the exact opposite of what the physician intended. This confusion can lead to adverse health outcomes, according to the study. "You could be the smartest doctor in the world, yet you're useless if your patients don't understand what you are saying," Dr. Michael Pitt, study author and ...
Good news for Texans! A $3 million grant will help UT Health San Antonio train 275 new community health workers (CHWs) and support an additional 75 CHWs in maintaining state certification. The grant, issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services/Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), will train CHWs across 38 South Texas counties from Brownsville to Laredo, including the area’s rural communities. The grant is part of the federal government’s $226.5 million investment in the nation’s community and public health workforce, announced in September 2022.
The Importance of CHWs
Also known as promotoras de salud and patient navigators, CHWs connect patients to healthcare and facilitate communication between healthcare providers and patients, including ...
Cancer health disparities. COVID-19. Climate change. These challenges require public health leaders to create programs and policy solutions that address a complex web of factors that influence health status, from biology to social determinants and systemic inequities. In a new book, Health Program Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation, public health education specialist Dr. Lawrence W. Green and his team of editors and chapter authors combine their expertise to offer a high-level guide to public health promotion and programming. The book has a chapter, "Applications in Community Settings," written by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez and Dr. Patricia Chalela of UT Health San Antonio. "Program and policy solutions to population health challenges require systematic planning, ...
With the emergence of COVID-19, which continues to disproportionately impact Latinos, the world saw first-hand why public health is so important. To help Americans recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden Administration passed the American Rescue Plan in 2021. Since then, funds have been allocated to improve the health and wellbeing of Americans, including more than $226M to grow the community and public health workforce. Announced on Sept. 30, 2022, this large sum will specifically help train community health workers (CHWs) who connect people to healthcare, build trust within communities, and facilitate communication between patients and healthcare providers, according to a US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) press release. "Patients depend on community and ...
The Biden Administration has reversed the 2019 public charge policy changes implemented by the Trump Administration, according to the US Department of Homeland Security. The final rule was published on Sept. 9, 2022 and will go into effect on Dec. 23, 2022. The 2022 “fair and humane” public charge rule will benefit Latino immigrant families, as it will help address the “chilling effects” of the 2019 rule. Here’s what you need to know.
What is Public Charge?
A person is considered a “public charge” if they would be reliant on certain public benefits upon entry into the US. If someone is considered a public charge, officials can deny their entry into the US or modifications to their citizenship status.
What Changed Under the 2019 Public Charge Rule?
Before ...
