The pandemic revealed long-standing gaps in infection control knowledge and understanding among the frontline healthcare workforce. This is why CDC launched Project Firstline, a training and education collaborative designed to ensure all healthcare workers, no matter their role or educational background, have the infection control knowledge and understanding they need and deserve to protect themselves, their patients, and their coworkers. Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio, in partnership with the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) and CDC Project Firstline, brings you a two-part episode podcast series, “Behind the Mask,” to explore infection control. In this special Episode 43 of the Salud Talks Podcast, Dr. Jorge Moreno, assistant professor of medicine at ...
Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, leader of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio, shares insights on health on a new episode of the CDC's Listen Up! podcast series for health communicators, by health communicators. Her episode is "Not a Monolith: Empowering Latino Health." She also shares the importance of Salud America! Salud Heroes, how to take action to improve the non-medical drivers of health, and how to build trust and wellbeing within communities. Listen to Ramirez's episode. See the full Listen Up! podcast series, hosted by Dr. Betsy Mitchell in CDC’s Office of Communications. "It's family, faith, and language that are key, important ... issues to keep in mind [when sharing health messages to empower people]," Ramirez said on her episode.
Dr. Ramirez & Her Health ...
Janette Ramirez was looking for a way to help people. In her search, she walked into the Center for Service Learning, Internships & Civic Engagement (SLICE) at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). Ramirez jumped into multiple SLICE programs and helped empower the local community to overcome social challenges and differences in health, education, and economic opportunities – and she left with a passion for serving others. “That’s how I came to find my love for community service and serving others, because, you know, it’s just really important,” Ramirez said. Today, Ramirez is still seeking to help as many people as she can. As a medical student going into her second year at Midwestern University in Arizona and as a Robert A. Winn Diversity in ...
As a doctor’s son, Daniel Ruben Flores grew up in his family’s pediatric clinic. He and his siblings hammered away at their math and reading homework after school at the clinic, while their parents helped the sick. Flores often paused to admire the handwritten letters – and drawings of his father with a stethoscope – on the wall from patients thanking the pediatrician for caring for them. “Wow, all these other kids really appreciate my dad and all the work he’s doing,” Flores recalled fondly. “I feel like that just kind of motivates you ... to go into the field.” Witnessing his father’s work and the impact he had on his patients helped spark a fire in Flores to pursue medicine and help people, too. He’s taking big steps now – like ...
327 people in the US are shot every day — 117 don’t survive, according to statistics provided by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Incidents of gun violence have been on the rise over the last decade, impacting the lives of 54% of US adults and their families. With spike in gun-related deaths, including suicides, homicides, and accidental deaths, gun violence has now become the leading cause of death among children and adolescents. In the wake of mass shootings, gun-related suicides, and the mounting fear over gun violence, United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy declared gun violence in the US a public health crisis on June 25, 2024. “Firearm violence is an urgent public health crisis that has led to loss of life, unimaginable pain, and ...
The pandemic took a toll on many families across the country, especially Latino families. Some Latinos lost jobs while others lost the roofs over their heads, and many lost loved ones to the social, health, and economic impacts of COVID-19. To combat some of these hardships, the US government adopted several policies to assist families struggling financially. One such pandemic-era policy was the automatic renewal of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage making it easier to maintain coverage during a time of economic uncertainty. The policy stretched on for three years until states began the process of screening for eligibility in early 2023. The sudden upheaval of guaranteed medical insurance for low-income families receiving ...
You can help create a healthier future. Volunteers for registries, research programs, and clinical trials can help researchers learn how to slow, manage, and treat cancer and other diseases. “With improved research participation, researchers have more opportunity to create better prevention and treatments that work for all people,” said Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America! at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio. Here are seven research opportunities based in San Antonio and beyond to explore this month!
1. Latina Health Reproductive Health Screenings
University of Texas at San Antonio researchers are seeking Hispanic and Latina women between ages 50 and 65 living in San Antonio to comment about their last Pap ...
US Latinos and other populations made historic gains in healthcare coverage in the years after the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to five recent research briefs from the US Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE). In the research brief focused on Latinos, research showed that the uninsured rate for nonelderly Latinos decreased from 32.7% to 18% from 2010 to 2022. However, the brief also found that Latinos are more than twice as likely as non-Latino Whites to be uninsured. Let’s further explore health insurance coverage among Latinos.
Latinos Facing Health Challenges
For Latinos, health outcomes are affected by factors like lack of health insurance, language challenges, and lack of access to care. “Studies show that people without health ...
As COVID-19 exposed cracks in our healthcare system and health gaps, community health workers rose to the challenge to educate communities on virus prevention, dispel incorrect information, and advocate for the vaccine. Community health workers – called promotoras in Latino communities – are non-medical public health workers who connect people to healthcare and social services. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) is seeking public comments on the use of community health workers to increase “cultural competency in educational campaigns on public health vaccines and prevention, including but not limited to influenza and COVID-19.” Submit this Salud America! model comment to tell HHS about the importance of using ...
