Redes Report: News on Latino Cancer



Check out some Latino cancer news in the new issue of the Redes Report, the quarterly newsletter of Redes En Acción: The National Latino Cancer Research Network, a national program led by the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the team behind SaudToday. The report contains news from the Redes network and the excellent work being conducted by dedicated role models working in Latino cancer research, training and awareness throughout the U.S. Read the newsletter ...

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How Healthy is Your County?



For the first time, residents from Carolina to California can find out exactly how healthy their county is. The health status of nearly every one of the nation's more than 3,000 counties is ranked in the new report, County Health Rankings: Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health, released Feb. 17 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute. The rankings can be used to mobilize communities to improve health disparities. A USA Today story draws a few generalizations from the rankings: Healthier counties tend to be urban and suburban, while most (84%) of the 50 least-healthy counties are rural, sparsely populated areas where care is poor and the economy is depressed. Rates of premature death are also significantly higher (2.5 ...

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Spanish-Language Ads Get Message Across for ‘Quit Smoking’ Lines



It pays to advertise in Spanish if you want Spanish speakers to use a telephone helpline to quit smoking, according to a new study, Newswise reports. A study of usage of the Colorado QuitLine before and during a Spanish-language media campaign found that more Latinos called during and after the campaign and a greater percentage of those who called successfully quit smoking, according to the news report. Smoking cessation phone services offer counseling or coaching on how to quit smoking and sometimes offer nicotine replacement therapy products. Latinos who called the Colorado QuitLine because of an ad campaign were significantly younger and more likely to be uninsured and less educated. The seven-day abstinence rates for Latinos who dialed in during the campaign was 41 percent, compared ...

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Latino Rises from Slums to Prominent Cancer Research Career



The story of SaludToday researcher Dr. Dan Hughes, assistant professor at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, was featured in the CRCHD Cancer Disparities E-Bulletin: Daniel C. Hughes, Ph.D. has never forgotten his beginnings. Much of his work is dedicated to studying cancer health disparities as a researcher and assistant professor at the Institute for Health Promotion Research Group at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio. He grew up in the slums of Mexico City, the 4th youngest of five siblings which to a single mother. “We never knew how poor we really were,” Hughes said. His mother received no child support, no welfare checks, and the family had no refrigerator, no television set, not even a ...

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San Antonio Students Help Put Spotlight on Tobacco Cessation



Eight San Antonio high-school students, including several Latinos, will be recognized on Jan. 22, 2010, for their outstanding work in a Photovoice project that highlights youth tobacco concerns in the community. For the project, students from Kennedy and Memorial high schools in San Antonio identified important issues related to tobacco through group discussions and Photovoice, which blends a grassroots approach to photography and social action, to empower the students to take social action within their community. Students created presentations using their photos and captions. An award ceremony for the students starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 22, 2010, at the Casa de Mexico International Building at the Alameda Koehler Auditorium in San Antonio. The public is invited to this free ...

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Latino Diabetes Association Founder Nominated for Award



The Latino Diabetes Association has announced that its founder, Heberto M. Sanchez, is a finalist for the first-ever Los Angeles Business Journal Latino Business Awards in the non-profit category along with 14 other honorees. Sanchez founded the Latino Diabetes Association ("LDA"), a 501c3 nonprofit organization, in 2003, after his father's death that resulted from complications caused by diabetes. His family's experience dealing with his father's diabetes left an impact in his life that resonates in the work of the LDA. Under Sanchez, the LDA has: developed a grass roots outreach program that has provided diabetes education in both Spanish and English to thousands of families in the Los Angeles area since 2004; established the LDAkids.org Web site for interactive on-line video ...

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Nat’l Program to Reduce Health Inequities in Latino, Minority Communities



The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has awarded grants of up to $250,000 to 10 local organizations to implement community-based strategies to build and sustain healthy neighborhoods from East Los Angeles to Harlem. The 10 groups are funded through Communities Creating Healthy Environments (CCHE), a new RWJF national program, and will organize community residents to become more involved in the policy-making process and build public support for changes to help families lead healthier lives. CCHE will help them develop effective interventions to address root causes of childhood obesity in their communities. The 10 selected groups are: Inner City Struggle, East Los Angeles, Calif., empowers youth and adults to advocate for school policy changes. Asian Pacific Environmental ...

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Award-winning cancer resource available in Spanish



If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with cancer, make sure you have the Cancer Survival Toolbox®, a free, award-winning program that helps people develop essential skills to deal with cancer, such as finding reliable information, communicating with your doctor and finding ways to pay for care. Each section of the program is available in Spanish. Two new stand-alone sections focus on living with multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. The Toolbox can help anyone who is facing hard decisions due to cancer, and can be used by family members or caregivers on behalf of someone else affected by cancer. You can read and listen to each program for free here or download free podcasts from iTunes. To order a free CD version of the program in English or Spanish, go here or call ...

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New Bi-Cultural Anti-Smoking Campaign Targets Latino Youths



Smoking makes you "Stupidiota." That's the simple thought behind the new bi-cultural youth smoking prevention campaign by DC Tobacco Free Families, which seeks to empower Latino youths to become the messengers and stewards of this cause. A powerful and fascinating creation of Communications-Marketing agency, Elevation, Stupidiota features two TV PSAs inspired by popular video games (The SIMS and World of War Craft), a radio PSA with a catchy Reggaeton beat and other guerilla marketing tools. The campaign equips youth with the tools they need to stay tobacco free and proclaim No Soy Stupidiota (I ain’t no Stupidiota). For more information on Stupidiota, click here. Watch the stupidiota PSA inspired by World of War Craft here or ...

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