The month of May is Healthy Vision Month, a time to consider how our vision impacts our overall health and understand the importance of eye health. “When you make healthy lifestyle choices, like eating a balanced diet and staying physically active, you are also protecting your vision. In fact, there are several health conditions, like diabetes or high blood pressure, that can increase your risk of some eye diseases,” according to the National Eye Institute (NEI). With the help of NEI, let’s prioritize our eyes for Healthy Vision Month.
Get an Eye Exam
A comprehensive dilated eye exam helps check for eye diseases early on. “Even if your eyes feel healthy, you could have a problem and not know it. That’s because many eye diseases don’t have any symptoms or warning ...
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to spread awareness on the importance of mental health and promote helpful resources. With this in mind, Mental Health America created the Mental Health Month Action Guide. “There’s no right or wrong way to use this guide. Start where it feels helpful, skip what doesn’t fit, and come back as needed,” Mental Health America states. Let’s look closer into this guide and how it can help you and others.
Defining Good Days for Mental Health
The action guide aims to help users reflect on “good days.” “‘Good’ doesn’t have to mean happy or productive. It might mean calm, manageable, or something else,” according to Mental Health America. Through the action guide, Mental Health America provides several resources ...
Skin cancer is one of the easiest cancers to treat and one of the most preventable if you take action to protect your skin from the harm of sun exposure. Yet too many are still being diagnosed with the disease. This is especially true for people in overlooked communities, especially Latinos and others who work under the sun in construction, farming, and other outdoor jobs. May is Skin Cancer and Melanoma Awareness Month and we’re bringing attention to skin cancer by sharing these helpful resources and actions.
1. Calculate Your Skin Cancer Risk
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has an online tool to calculate your risk for skin cancer. Input your demographics (i.e., eye color) and UV-related habits (i.e., number of sunburns) and get your risk for developing ...
Health care providers are the most common source of health information for Americans, who view them as more accurate than other sources, according to data from the Pew Research Center. Pew research shows that 85% of Americans say they get health information from health care providers at least sometimes. Next up, 66% of Americans learn from others going through similar health experiences, 36% get health information from social media, and 22% from AI chatbots. Let’s dig deeper into this data and learn more about how this can impact health of others.
Sources of Health Information
Pew Research Center surveyed 5,111 U.S. adults from Oct. 20 to 26, 2025, to better “understand how Americans make sense of today’s crowded health information environment in a moment in which the ...
When we get older, our body changes.
The foods we like don’t respond quite the same way, it may be harder to get around, or it might even be difficult to recall certain memories.
While these are all symptoms of aging, there are also lesser-known factors that contribute to how we age and how quickly some of these issues are brought on.
One surprising factor is drought.
For instance, a recent study has found that environmental stressors like long periods of drought can cause faster cognitive decline.
Check out our new fact sheet, Does Drought Impact Brain Health in Older Latinos?, to help our abuelos and abuelas understand how environmental stressors can impact their brain health.
This fact sheet was created by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez of Salud America! and UT Health San Antonio based ...
Healthcare workers are constantly on the go. But it’s important for them to have access to infection control training and information on issues like whooping cough. With this in mind, the CDC’s Project Firstline developed Infection Control Micro-Learns – a series of guided discussions on infection control that can be easily incorporated into team meetings facilitated by an experienced team member with infection control expertise. These short, easy-to-understand learning opportunities can help healthcare workers recognize and minimize infection control risks to protect themselves, coworkers, and patients from infectious diseases. Let’s explore the topic of Whooping Cough (Pertussis).
What Does Whooping Cough (Pertussis) Look Like?
Whooping cough, formally known as ...
The US has an aging population, as the number of US adults aged 65 and older is set to increase from 58 million to 82 million by 2050, according to the Census Bureau. With aging comes many challenges, including cognitive decline. For example, as you age, your mind may take longer to recall names or words. Sometimes certain parts of the brain shrink, affecting memory and overall function. That’s one of the reasons that the Demography & Economics of Aging Coordinating Center (DECC) was created by the National Institute on Aging (NIA). The DECC is headquarters for 18 centers, including the San Antonio CAPAS Program at UT Health San Antonio, to help advance research on aging and Alzheimer’s disease. Let’s meet the centers and how they are working ...
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering whether to allow some flavored e-cigarettes on the market, according to new draft guidance. However, any new vape flavors could only be marketed to adults. Under the new guidance, the FDA may approve vape flavors like “mint, coffee, tea and spices like clove or cinnamon,” but it “will continue rejecting sweet or fruit-flavored products” that appeal more to teens, according to HealthDay, a news agency. FDA states that certain e-cigarette flavors can help facilitate adults switching away from tobacco cigarettes and increase quit attempts. However, public health leaders warn of harm. “Allowing any flavors on the market benefits only corporations and harms public health,” Kelsey Romeo-Stuppy of Action on Smoking ...
Hey San Antonio, ready to quit smoking?! Join the Quitxt Study in English or Spanish to take a powerful step toward quitting smoking. The study features Quitxt, a free bilingual text messaging program that helps Latino young adults in South Texas to quit smoking. Quitting smoking can help you save money and help with more independence, better fitness, better breath, and better health. "No matter where you are on your quitting journey, our Quitxt Study is here to help you every step of the way," said Dr. Patricia Chalela, study leader and tobacco researcher at UT Health San Antonio. QUIT SMOKING WITH QUITXT!
What Is the Quitxt Study?
The Quitxt Study aims to understand the impact of Quitxt, UT Health San Antonio's bilingual, evidence-based text messaging smoking ...
268 People Commented to Urge the FDA to Reconsider Allowing Flavored E-Cigarettes
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering whether to allow some flavored e-cigarettes on the market, according to new draft guidance. However, any new vape flavors could only be marketed to adults. Under the new guidance, the FDA may approve vape flavors like “mint, coffee, tea and spices like clove or cinnamon,” but it “will continue rejecting sweet or fruit-flavored products” that appeal more to teens, according to HealthDay, a news agency. FDA states that certain e-cigarette flavors can help facilitate adults switching away from tobacco cigarettes and increase quit attempts. However, public health leaders warn of harm. “Allowing any flavors on the market benefits only corporations and harms public health,” Kelsey Romeo-Stuppy of Action on Smoking ...
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