Christmas is the perfect holiday to learn more about your family history and listen to the stories of your abuelo and abuela; catch up with la typical tia who wants to know everything about your romantic life and los primos you haven’t seen the whole year. Christmas can also be the perfect opportunity to learn about your family medical history and how likely you are to develop one of the 100-plus autoimmune diseases. The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) has the following advice to help you get started:
1. Get educated.
There are more than 100 known autoimmune diseases (ADs) and an additional 51 diseases that are suspected to be autoimmune-related. Autoimmunity is the underlying cause of these diseases. It is the process whereby the immune system ...
Spreading the word about how to improve health is a dire need. That’s why we created the Salud America! program. We recently won a trio of Web Health Awards for our digital efforts to raise awareness for health from the Health Information Resource Center, which gives awards twice annually for online health information. We earned a “gold” award for our @SaludAmerica Twitter/X feed, a "silver" award for our Growing Healthy Change Platform and a "bronze" award for the Salud Heroes story "Wild About Health." Please help us continue to raise awareness of health issues and solutions by following us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and ...
Our @SaludAmerica (formerly @SaludToday) health social media handle was honored to be nominated for the Best Health channel to reach people through Tech Innovation and Social Media award from LATISM, a nonprofit group that empowers people through tech innovation and social media. Although we didn't win (congrats to our friends at the American Heart Association!), we love being part of a huge push to improve health. During the LATISM conference, our social media coordinator, Carlos Valenzuela of the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the UT Health Science Center, was honored to speak on behalf of IHPR Director Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez about how we’re using using our social media accounts and digital communications via Salud America! to raise awareness of childhood ...
A coalition formed by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) resulted in a 40% increases in colorectal screening rates over four years. The program is now being looked at as a possible pilot for other communities to boost their cancer screening rates. A report headed by Dr. Steven Itzkowitz, a professor of medicine/oncological sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS), now provides a framework for how communities might learn from a program to increase screening rates and ensure access for all people. “The increased screening rates from 2003 to 2012 translates to an additional 833,000 New Yorkers who have undergone screening colonoscopy and represents an important public health intervention,” said Dr. Itzkowitz. “By making ...
Bishop Jose Torres, a father of three girls who plays volleyball in his spare time, was concerned about the lack of health awareness among his congregation in Severn, a suburb of Annapolis, MD. He wanted to do something about it. So with a few dedicated partners, he created a Health Festival for his community. For over five years, the Health Festival has provided much-needed health information and services to hundreds in the community and has even saved a few lives.
Concern Over a Community's Health
Located in Severn, a suburb of the city of Annapolis, MD (16.8% Latino), the Heritage Community Church has a sizeable Latino population. Bishop Jose Torres and the rest of the Church leadership were concerned about the health and health literacy of their congregation ...
A vaccine can't prevent disease unless people use it. In Texas, a largely Latino state, only 39% of girls and 15% of boys ages 13-17 complete the three-dose HPV vaccine for the human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted infection that can cause cervical cancer and other problems. Dr. Deborah Parra-Medina has a plan to change that. Parra-Medina, a health researcher at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio, received a new $1.2 million grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas to develop an professional education and community outreach program to increase awareness and uptake of the HPV vaccine among children in South Texas. She and her team will train local health care providers to deliver accurate HPV vaccine ...
Diabetes is one of the major illnesses that impacts all people, including Latinos. Yet it is also one of the more preventable and treatable illnesses. Do you know how important a healthy diet and exercise are to preventing or controlling diabetes? What's the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes? How often should you check your glucose levels? Let’s use #SaludTues on Nov. 17, 2015, to tweet about all the need-to-know facts about diabetes. WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “Diabetes”
TIME/DATE: 1-2 p.m. ET (Noon-1 p.m. CT), Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues
HOST: @SaludAmerica
CO-HOSTS: USA.gov (@USAgov); Diabetes Hands Foundation (@diabetesHF); U.S. FDA (@FDAenEspanol) Together with our partners, we’ll discuss: Key ...
La retinopatía diabética es una de los tipos de enfermedad más comunes que afecta los ojos de diabéticos. Actualmente esta condición afecta a más de 7 millones de personas en EE.UU y se pronostica que para el 2013 afectara a más de 30 millones, según el instituto nacional de los ojos (NEI). Los latinos, nativos americanos y afroamericanos están a mayor riesgo. “Lamentablemente, solo la mitad de las personas con diabetes se hace un examen completo de los ojos con dilatación de las pupilas.” según lo ha expuesto el experto del Instituto Nacional del Ojo, el Dr. Eduardo Alfonso. “Este examen es clave para detectar la enfermedad diabética del ojo en sus primeras etapas, cuando se puede tratar efectivamente.” Las enfermedades de diabetes en el ojo incluyen ...
Diabetic retinopathy, the most common type of diabetic eye disease, affects more than 7 million Americans and that number is expected to rise to 11 million by 2030, according to the National Eye Institute (NEI). Some people are at higher risk. “Only about half of all people with diabetes get an annual comprehensive dilated eye exam, which is essential for detecting diabetic eye disease early, when it is most treatable,” Dr. Paul Sieving, director of the NEI said in a press release. Diabetic eye disease is a group of conditions including cataract, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy and everyone with type 1 and type 2 diabetes is at risk. What can you do if you have diabetes? Take your medications as prescribed by your doctor
Reach and maintain a healthy weight
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