Some doctors prescribe only medicine, but others like the pediatrician, Robert Zarr, MD, in Washington, D.C. are prescribing nature to children as a way to prevent obesity and to address a nature deficit disorder. In a blog from the Children and Nature Network, Dr. Zarr said he noticed that too many of his patients weren't getting outside like they should. Fortunately through a collaboration of several healthcare providers, private foundations,and partners like the National Park Service, the DC Department of Health, US Health and Human Services, NEEF, GW University, and AAP, Zarr and his colleagues launched the DC Park Prescription Program (DC Park Rx). Within four months, Zarr had handed out over 400 park prescriptions and some of his colleagues have reported positive ...
After school, kids in Harlem can take advantage of a free program that teaches ice hockey to students ages 6-17. According to an article from New York Daily News, more than 200 boys and girls are currently enrolled in the program offered by the non-profit group Ice Hockey Harlem, and about two-thirds of them are African-American or Latino. One Ice Hockey Harlem participant, twelve year old Wesley Dominguez said: "It feels good to be on the ice, it feels exciting, especially when you try it for the first time. It feels like you're free." According to New York Daily News, parents of students in the program don't have to pay for equipment, rink time or instruction. Ice Hockey Harlem also places importance on education. In addition to providing kids with a free hockey program, ...
Many Latino neighborhoods don't have easy access to fresh, affordable fruits and vegetables. When local grocery store owners take it upon themselves to stock their shelves with healthy apples, oranges, and bundles of broccoli, it can make a lasting effect on the health of the community. Jose Garcia owns a handful of grocery stores in the Goshen, Indiana area. He immigrated from Mexico when he was 18, and later moved to Indiana where he began working for a local grocery store. His experiences there led him to open up his own grocery store, Carniceria San Jose, in Goshen in 2002. After this success, he opened a handful of other stores in the area as well as a taqueria. Now he is expanding one of his stores so he can sell more fresh fruits and vegetables, which are ...
Using fresh vegetables, sizzling fajitas, and mouth-watering frijoles, the folks at Growing Up Healthy’s Dinner Time Cooking Club are making more than just dinner, they're making friends. Growing Up Healthy is coalition of community organizations and neighborhood leaders who work together around grassroots initiatives, community education, and systems change in Rice County, Minnesota, all tied to considering the social determinants of health and their impact on the lives of community members in the area. Much of their work involves the area's Latino community. In 2007, Growing Up Healthy workers looked for ways to provide space for often isolated and fragmented Latino community members to socialize together. The cooking club was one of these ideas. The club ended up ...
Studies show that Latino kids tend to drink more sugary drinks than their peers, putting them at a higher risk for weight-related issues like diabetes. One California lawmaker wants to insure that people are aware of the health risks of consuming too much added sugar. State Senator Bill Monning, responsible for attempting to pass a sugary drink tax a few times in the past, introduced a bill that would require a warning label on any drink with added sweeteners that has 75 or more calories in every 12 ounces. Monning said his labeling bill is akin to health warnings already carried on tobacco and alcohol products and focuses on health risks that a broad body of science has clearly linked to sugary drinks. Updates:
The bill cleared its first legislative test on April 9th, ...
Folks at Stanford University are empowering Latino youth and seniors to work towards an improved built environment for their community. In 2013, a team of researchers from the Healthy Aging Research and Technology Solutions (HARTS) lab at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, led by Abby C King, Ph.D., teamed up with adolescents and older adults from a low-income neighborhood in the predominantly Latino (73%) city of North Fair Oaks, CA to assess features of the neighborhood environment that help or hinder healthy active living. The researchers, led by Dr. Sandra Winter, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Stanford, and Lisa Goldman Rosas, an Instructor of Medicine, partnered with a Public Health Educator, Priscilla Padilla-Romero, from the Fair Oaks Health Center. "There are a lot ...
Folks in Memphis can now enjoy a stroll or bike ride along the Mississippi river, thanks to a new one-mile car free zone, which debuted in Spring 2014. According to a People for Bikes blog post, in March of 2014, at the advice of city planner Jeff Speck, the city and traffic engineer John Cameron, decided to move forward with implementing a plan to create a permanent car-free zone near downtown Memphis. The two-way bike lanes and pedestrian lane were installed where a four-lane river front boulevard used to exist. Now the four car lanes have been reduced to two car lanes and the new one-mile segment of street for walking and biking. In addition to providing users with a scenic river view, the bicycle and pedestrian lanes will serve to connect to the Harahan Bridge---a bridge ...
As families become more and more aware of the harms of consuming too much sugar, the sugary drink industry has been brainstorming ways to respond. Last year, Coca-Cola tested a new "mid-calorie" beverage they call "Coca-Cola Life" in Chile and Argentina. Coke Life has around 89 calories compared to the 140 in a regular Coke, and is sweetened with sugar and stevia. Coke plans to launch Coke Life in the U.K. this Fall. If the drink makes it to the United States, will Latino kids, who drink one more sugary drink a day than their White peers, switch to the lower-calorie option? Is this part of a solution to sugar over-consumption or just a ploy by a beverage company to retain customers in a declining market? Advertisements for the new beverage appeal to consumers' emotions ...
Over 55% of kids in the Waco Independent School District are Latino, and when summer hits, many of these kids are left without the free and reduced lunch they depend on for nutrition during the school year. Luckily, Waco ISD, the City of Waco Parks and Recreation, and the Texas Hunger Initiative have partnered to improve food access options for the children of Waco, Texas this summer. The new program, called “Meals on the Bus”, brings hot lunches to kids in certain designated sites in Waco. These air-conditioned school buses are loaded with hot lunches and stop at each of these designated sites, as kids are encouraged to come on board and enjoy a free meal. The summer feeding program, which runs from June to mid-August, is open to all children up to age 18, regardless of ...
