Can't decide what to get mom for Mother's Day on May 13, 2012? // Have her sign up for Text4baby, a free bilingual mobile information service that provides pregnant women and new moms with info to help them care for their health and give their babies the best possible start in life. First, text BABY (or BEBE for Spanish) to 511411. Once enrolled, women get free weekly text messages timed to either her due date or baby’s date of birth. Messages were developed by government and non-profit health experts, such as the CDC, and cover nutrition, immunization, and birth defect prevention, among other topics. Text4baby, an educational program of the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB), launched two years and has enrolled about 300,000 subscribers and sent ...
Latino patients reported significantly higher rates of pain, numbness, cognition difficulties, vomiting and severe sadness than non-Hispanics in a recent survey of 622 cancer patients awaiting appointments at three hospitals in the Bronx, New York City’s poorest borough, Internal Medicine News reports. About 45% of Hispanic patients reported moderate to severe pain, more than twice the percentage of whites (20%) and also more than African Americans (37%). On some measures, differences were seen between Latino patients who spoke English and those who did not. For example, 64 percent of Spanish-dominant Hispanics reported fatigue, compared with 49 percent of English-dominant Hispanic patients. Read more about the survey ...
A new online Spanish-language videonovela, Aprende a vivir (Learn to Live), features messages to help diabetes patients compare their treatment options to find a regimen that works best for them. The three-episode videonovela series, being distributed by the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), tells the story of Don Felipe, who has type 2 diabetes and is head of the Jiménez family, and how he is having a problem learning to manage his disease. Don Felipe, with the support of his family, comes to understand that he needs to speak with his health care team about his treatment options rather than skip his medication because of side effects. Watch Episodes 1 and 2 online or Facebook. Episode 3 will be ...
America's obesity epidemic is so deeply rooted that it will take dramatic and systemic measures—from overhauling farm policies and zoning laws to, possibly, introducing a soda tax—to fix it, according to a new report released May 8, 2012, by the influential Institute of Medicine (IOM), Reuters reports. The 478-page report, according to Reuters, refutes the idea that obesity is largely the result of a lack of willpower on the part of individuals:
Instead, it embraces policy proposals that have met with stiff resistance from the food industry and lawmakers, arguing that multiple strategies will be needed to make the U.S. environment less "obesogenic."
The IOM, part of the National Academies, offers advice to the government and others on health issues. Its report was released at ...
The time kids spend in front of a screen for entertainment has increased by an hour and 17 minutes since 2004, research shows. Check out this new infographic about the surprising amounts of TV, video game, computer and other entertainment screen time that children are getting, and the opportunities for physical activity that they are missing out on. The infographic, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also provides tips for healthier activities and ways parents can limit screen time in the home. Find the infographic here. For more information, visit ...
The ¡Nunca Más! Novela Health Series seeks to educate Latinas and their families about the importance of safe medication use. The series, launched in October 2011 by the Office of Women's Health at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, provides consumers and community leaders with access to four video novelas and free health materials about safe medication use, which is vital given that each year thousands of preventable injuries and deaths are caused by improper medication use. The series follows the lives of main character Lourdes and her family. In each episode, the family faces a problem because they don't use medicines wisely. Find more about the campaign in English or Spanish. Watch all episodes here. When you watch them, ask yourself: What lessons do Lourdes and her ...
With literally more than a million cancer cases a year in the U.S., the special emotional needs of children of adult cancer patients are sometimes overlooked. That's why Camp Kesem, a national nonprofit program, created a college-student-run summer camp for kids with a parent who has or has had cancer. The one-week camps give kids ages 6-13 a chance to have a fun-filled week and "just be kids" and get extra attention and support, according the group's website. Since 2001, Camp Kesem has grown from a single camp to 37 active chapters in 22 states. Camp Kesem Berkeley (Calif.), for example, supports children in the Greater Bay Area and Tri-Valley area by putting on a completely free week-long overnight summer camp for children and teens (ages 6-16) who have a parent that either has or ...
