Editor's Note: This is the story of a graduate of the 2012 Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program. Apply by April 1, 2013, for the 2013 Èxito! program. Lizbeth Del Toro
Puerto Rico Puerto Rican native Lizbeth Del Toro was always encouraged by her sharp-as-a-tack grandmother, who advised her to hang with the right crowd, do her chores, and stay focused on her grades and her studies. Her grandmother passed away shortly after being diagnosed with cancer in 2010. But Del Toro took her advice to heart as she obtained a bachelor’s degree in biology/biomedical sciences from the University of Puerto Rico, works as a graduate research assistant and earned her master’s degree from the university in 2012. “Last week I ended my master’s degree program, I just ...
Check out these new videos from the CDC on preconception health and health care: My health, my choice, my future
Mi salud, mi decisión, mi futuro
Me? Have a baby? Preconception Health
¿Yo? ¿Tener un bebé? Salud pregestacional Learn more about preconception health in English or ...
About 40% of Latinas have two or more risk factors for having a heart attack, according to a recent study. But fewer than half of Latinas recognize the typical heart attack symptoms of chest pain, shortness of breath, and pain that spreads to the shoulders, neck or arms, according to the American Heart Association. So the Haga La Llamada, ¡No Pierda Tiempo! campaign, based on the HHS Office of Women’s Health’s successful "Make the Call, Don’t Miss a Beat” campaign, aims to educate, engage and empower Latinas and their families to learn the seven most common symptoms of a heart attack and encourage them to call 9-1-1 as soon as they experience one or more of the following heart attack symptoms: Chest pain, discomfort, pressure or squeezing
Shortness of ...
Editor's Note: This is the story of a graduate of the 2012 Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program. Apply by April 1, 2013, for the 2013 Èxito! program. Elie Benavidez
San Antonio, Texas A few years ago, Elie Benavidez was in the middle of her studies in San Antonio when she got a heartbreaking phone call: “Your mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.” Benavidez, with her mother’s encouragement, maintained her studies. Five years later, her mother—and other family members—are survivors, giving Benavidez all the motivation and support she needs to positively impacting the lives of students as a teacher and the community as an aspiring public health worker. “They taught me that, even though something bad has happened, they can still persevere,” ...
Check out this new video about healthy changes being made in Santa Cruz County, Calif., one of six winners of the inaugural Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Roadmaps to Health Prize, which honors outstanding community partnerships helping people live healthier lives. Using their Community Assessment Project Report's local data as a guide, public and private community partners have pinpointed areas where they can make the biggest difference. Santa Cruz County's population is about 32% ...
To help Latinos from suffering from heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases, the Million Hearts program has released some new Spanish-language resources to get this group information and tools needed to improve their heart health. Resources include: Million Hearts website (en Español)
Four Steps for Heart Health
Community Health Workers Fact Sheet
How to Control Your Hypertension by Learning to Control Your Sodium Intake: A Fotonovela
How to Control Your Hypertension by Learning to Control Your Sodium Intake: Promotora Guide Million Hearts is a national initiative that was launched by the Department of Health and Human Services in September 2011 to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes over five years. The group asks you to share your heart ...
Editor's Note: This is the story of a graduate of the 2012 Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program. Apply by April 1, 2013, for the 2013 Èxito! program. Alyssa De Santiago
Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. As a first-generation college student, Alyssa De Santiago experienced many challenges because she had little help navigating her way through her undergraduate education. But with a father who said she could do anything and a grandmother who would help her talk through any problems as she rolled and made tortillas, she capitalized on a strong support system to become her family’s first college graduate when she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Whittier College in California. With experience as a pharmacy tech, children’s tutor, and public health intern, ...
The Prevent Cancer Foundation has designed, developed and pilot-tested “Campeonas contra el cáncer de seno” (Champions Against Breast Cancer), a culturally appropriate, peer-to-peer outreach effort to improve breast cancer screening among Latinas. By sharing their own experiences with being screened for breast cancer, “Campeonas” encourage their female friends and family members over the age of 40 to get mammograms. “Campeonas” training and free-standing community educational materials are now available for free on the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s website (in both Spanish and English) for community health organizations. One of these materials is an illustrated novela, “Un Encuentro Oportuno: Conversando Sobre el Cancer de Seno” (A Timely Encounter: Talking About ...
Guided grocery store trips, menu labeling at restaurants, community gardens, and video-game-based exercise programs are among several promising, culturally appropriate ways to prevent obesity among Latino children, according to a new collection of studies from Salud America! The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children published in a supplement to the March issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Salud America! is a national network of researchers, advocates, and policymakers established in 2007 that seeks environmental and policy solutions to Latino childhood obesity, an American epidemic. The supplement focuses on Salud America! achievements in the past five years and features 19 papers of groundbreaking research on ...
