Bus service is slow and sporadic in eastern Suffolk County, N.Y. A 15-minute drive can take two hours by bus. This makes it hard to get to a doctor for people in this 19% Latino county. Take it from Byrony Freij, a local Spanish-speaking pediatric counselor. She told Newsday that some households share one car, which is usually in use during the day. Undocumented residents avoid driving. Hours on a bus to visit a pediatrician is difficult for mothers recovering from childbirth. That's why Freij is happy to see that nonprofit Organización Latino-Americana is launching a free transportation program to help Latino and all residents get to pediatric and other doctor appointments. "It's a huge relief," Freji told Newsday. "But it’s a shame that it has to be a nonprofit that ...
Looking for an easy way to improve your school's health? Look no further! Watch the new Salud America! webinar How to Get a Water Bottle Fountain at Your School to get all the info you need to bring all-day access to clean water to your school or district. The webinar features our very own Salud Hero, Cathy Lopez, an elementary school teacher at South San ISD in San Antonio, who raised funds and worked with school and community leaders to add her school's very first water bottle fountain! The webinar also provides information on: Why all schools need water bottle fountains;
How Lopez rallied support from students, parents, and school and community leaders;
How Lopez worked with her school's maintenance staff to install a water bottle fountain in less than 6 months and ...
Dr. Janet Houser wants her Regis University in Denver to "make a difference in the world" for better health. So they've started in their own backyard. Houser, the university's provost, is uniting community groups and developers to "cultivate health" in the neighborhood around the university—creating affordable housing and surrounding it with a health clinic, health education, and access to active spaces and healthy food. In just a few years, they want to give local families a place where they can equitably live, learn, work, and play. Is such a big transformation really possible?
A Rising Latino Population Denver is one of the largest, fastest-growing cities in the country. It also has a rising Latino population, from 23% in 1990 to 31% in 2014. This changing ...
More Latinos walk and bike instead of drive cars than non-Latinos, which could be the key to address climate change and health equity, according to a recent English and Spanish survey by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Transportation design, however, doesn't always make it easy to walk and bike safely. Salud America! continues its three-part series exploring the issue of climate change for Latinos, today tackling whether leaders get more people out of cars and into active transportation, boosting health and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Part 1 of the series tackled what climate change is, why Latinos are worried, and whether they should be. Part 2 addressed what kinds of policies Latinos would support to address climate change.
The Rise of Latinos Walking ...
U.S. Latinos are more supportive of climate change policies and are more willing to demand political action than non-Latinos. In fact, half of Latinos (50%) think the United States should make large-scale effort to reduce global warming, even if it has large economic costs, compared to 33% of non-Latinos, according to a recent English and Spanish survey by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Salud America! continues its three-part series exploring the issue of climate change for Latinos, today addressing what kinds of policies Latinos would support to address climate change. Part 1 tackled what climate change is, why Latinos are worried, and whether they should be. Part 3 will focus on a potential solution for both climate change and health equity.
Two Big Policy ...
More than three of four Latinos worry about global warming and climate change, a higher worry rate than their non-Latinos peers, according to a recent English and Spanish survey by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Why are Latinos so worried? What policies can help? How willing are Latinos to take action, and how will that impact health equity and safer streets? Salud America! is excited to launch a three-part series exploring the issue of climate change for Latinos. Today we will tackle what climate change is, why Latinos are worried, and whether they should be. Part 2 will address what kinds of policies Latinos would support to address climate change. Part 3 will focus on a potential solution for both climate change and health equity.
What is Climate ...
Ricardo Rocha believes anyone can be a hero and improve local healthy food access. Even someone like him. Someone who grew up in a poor family that toiled to put food on the table in Mexico. Someone who immigrated to the deserts of New Mexico, and eventually Denver (31% Latino). Someone who was a struggling, undocumented high-school student. “I was not doing very well in high school. Someone there told me about the College Assistance Migrant Program," Rocha said. "That helped get me into [Metropolitan State University of Denver],” Rocha said. “I learned a lot about what it really meant to belong somewhere." Rocha wanted to do more than "belong somewhere." He wanted to make that somewhere better. So, when he noticed many people trying and failing to find healthy food ...
U.S. children's sugary drink consumption has declined over the past 15 years, but rates remain higher than federal dietary guidelines and among Latinos and other minorities, according to a new report by Healthy Eating Research. The new report cites "clear evidence" that sugary drink consumption increases a child's risk for overweight, obesity, and dental cavities. It also has insulin resistance and caffeine-related affects. These health consequences are especially worrisome for Latino kids, who consume more sugary drinks—soda, sports and energy drinks, sugary fruit juices, and flavored milk—than the average child at all ages, according to a Salud America! research review. "Reducing [sugary drink] consumption would help improve children’s health by decreasing the risk for ...
If you're in the hospital, your health and your pocketbook are taking a hit. A TV station in Seattle (6.5% Latino) tried a unique way—buying debt from people's medical expenses, then forgiving it(!)—to improve the lives of locals dealing with cancer, The Hill reports. Buy why?
'Big Issues with the Bills' TV station KIRO reporter Jesse Jones – a cancer survivor himself – reported a story about a cancer patient that was struggling to pay her bills and couldn’t afford further treatments. Many Latinos face this situation. 27% of Latinos have no usual health care provider and 15% have no health insurance, according to a Salud America! research review. These Latinos often end up seeking routine healthcare in the emergency room, which can be very costly. After his ...
