Like many breast cancer survivors for Joan Treviño Lawhon her breast cancer detection started with a gut feeling. “My basic tests were within normal limits, but I had what I can only describe as a “gut feeling, “she says. “ I had some very supportive doctors who followed through on my instincts. It took five tests to confirm a malignancy.” As soon as she heard the diagnosis from her doctors and confirmed her “gut” feeling she immediately got into fighting mode. “We can freeze and let the disease consume us, or we can fight. My choice was to fight. I was going to make sure my choice was an informed one. My husband Garey had lost his valiant battle to pancreatic cancer the year before. I lost a brother to kidney cancer. I thought I would face “my cancer” alone.” Her ...
Stephanie Pitsirilos-Boquin, founder of Zoe Health, is using comic relief to talk about serious health issues in the Latino community, from breastfeeding and obesity prevention to affordable housing and gentrification. As the program manager for Choosing Healthy & Active Lifestyles for Kids (CHALK) and as a consultant with Zoe Health, she has helped businesses in Inwood (74% Latino) in northern Manhattan, NY, bridge commerce and community by modifying their services to provide healthier options for the past 10 years. She is a public health crusader working to build healthier homes, schools and communities to reduce Latino childhood obesity. In order to better develop health messages to resonate with Latinos, she is turning to the narrative. "In order to be an advocate, I ...
The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) is launching “Fresh Empire” a hip-hop themed anti-tobacco campaign targeted at Latinos and Blacks. “Unfortunately, the health burdens of tobacco use disproportionately affect minority teens – particularly African American and Hispanic youth,” said Jonca Bull, M.D., the FDA’s Assistant Commissioner for Minority Health in a press release. "The 'Fresh Empire' campaign will help reach teens at a key point in their lives when experimenting with smoking can lead to addiction." The “Fresh Start” campaign will target youth ages 12-17 with interactive content, songs and videos by up and coming hip hop artists. "We know from our research that remaining in control is an important pillar of hip-hop culture. But smoking represents a ...
Efforts to reduce health disparities among Latinos received a boost as $23.5 million was awarded for two new studies. Research teams from the University of Alabama and Johns Hopkins University were selected by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The two studies will compare ways to improve blood pressure and close the health disparities gaps experienced by Latinos. Previous research has rarely targeted these high-risk populations. “Even as health outcomes associated with blood pressure control have improved nationwide, striking disparities remain among racial and ethnic minorities, low-income individuals and rural residents,” said Dr. Romana Hanain-Wynia, Director of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Addressing Disparities Program. “This suggests ...
USDA Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) announces the Loving Support Award of Excellence program to recognize local WIC agencies that have provided exemplary breastfeeding promotion and support activities. Obesity risk is a grave concern facing WIC agencies because low-income children are at the greatest risk for obesity and are the least likely to breastfeed. In California, 80% of Latina women initiate breastfeeding, but only 29% breastfeed exclusively while in the hospital. Since a major goal of the WIC Program is to improve the nutritional status of infants, WIC mothers are encouraged to breastfeed their infants, and WIC agencies are provided with evidence-based programs and training, such as breastfeeding peer counselors, to support WIC ...
At age 29 Julie La Fuente Louviere was in perfect shape and training for a triathlon in her native Puerto Rico. “I found a knot near my collarbone, which I believed was nothing, but my husband made me get it checked out. The diagnosis was breast cancer.” La Fuente says. After going through chemotherapy and all the side effects related to it, Julie was cancer free. Four years later and while she was pregnant cancer came back. “But the cancer came back, now in my liver and bones. The doctors recommended termination of my pregnancy because they said it would be easier to treat. For me that was not an option.” On Valentine ’s Day in 1998 Julie gave birth to her second daughter and a few days later she found out from her doctors that she only had two months left to live. ...
Loving Support is a USDA initiative to support breastfeeding through WIC staff, community partners, moms, and family and friends. WIC staff Campaign Materials
Fathers Supporting Breastfeeding
Grow and Glow in WIC
Magical Bond of Love
Peer Counseling Community partners Building Breastfeeding-Friendly Communities
Campaign Materials
Partnering with WIC for Breastfeeding Success Moms Resources for Moms: Baby’s First Weeks
Ready, Set, Breastfeed!
Busy Moms
Confidence
Encouragement
You Have Everything Your Baby Needs Family and friends 10 Tips for Dads
Dads Play An Important Role
Grandparents Play An Important Role
Fathers Supporting Breastfeeding
Encouragement Breastfeeding is linked to numerous short- and long-term health benefits ...
A recent study by the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine found Latinos and other minorities spend more time traveling to and waiting for medical care, Fox Health reports. For the study, researchers used a sample of 4,000 people who reported their wait times and the travel time to the clinics. "Unfortunately, there are so many disparities in health care access and health outcomes already identified in our health care system that I don't think these results are necessarily surprising," said Dr. Kristin N. Ray of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, who worked on the study. The study found Latino patients spent an average 105 minutes waiting compared to 80 minutes of wait time among Whites non-Hispanics. "We have long known that there are disparities in ...
Meg Reyes, fue diagnosticada con cáncer de seno con apenas 33 años “Solamente requería una tumorectomía”, dice ella, “pero a causa del tamaño de mi tumor mis doctores fueron muy agresivos con mi tratamiento y me removieron 16 ganglios”. Con el apoyo incondicional de sus familiares y amigos Megan sobrevivió el cáncer de seno. Diez años después, Megan es una consejera no-oficial para pacientes recién diagnosticadas con cáncer, ha perdido 150 libras, ha vivido en Alemania e Inglaterra y ha sido madrina de un estudiante de intercambio japonés. El sobrevivir “significa vivir aun después de que algo difícil se cruce en tu camino. No tiene que ser cáncer, puede ser cualquier cosa que hayas sobrevivido y como manejas esas situaciones.” Lee la historia ...
