By CDC Healthy Schools
Guest Blogger for Salud America! Even though parents are used to juggling multiple roles and responsibilities, 2020 has brought on challenges. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has particularly impacted Latinos, many parents are helping their children with virtual learning while also balancing responsibilities at work and at home. If one of your new responsibilities is making sure your student is set up for success with breakfast and lunch, but you are stressed over buying groceries and making nutritious meals during the school day, there are solutions! The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is providing free school meals for all kids younger than 18 years during the entire 2020-2021 school year through June 20, 2021. USDA previously ...
Día de los Muertos, also known as the Day of the Dead, is the annual holiday where we honor our loved ones who have passed away. This year, Día de los Muertos is celebrated Oct. 31 to Nov. 2. During Día de los Muertos, Latino families gather to remember relatives who have died and often honor their memory by preparing the relative’s favorite foods and building ofrendas, or alters, decorated with candles, flowers, and photographs of those who passed. While a typical Día de Los Muertos celebration calls for parades with large gatherings of singing and dancing, this year it will look different.
Latinos and COVID-19
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic means many cancelled celebrations or virtual gatherings. But it also means a greater loss in the Latino community. The COVID-19 ...
In spite of the countless burdens of COVID-19 on Latinos, rates of increased household wealth have been on the rise. In fact, 40% of Latinos who do not own a home plan to become homeowners by 2025, according to a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP). This presents a shift, not only in the housing market but in the state of race and class in the U.S., according to Veronica Figueroa, a veteran realtor in Orlando. “In recent years, Latinos have proven to be more confident than ever when it comes to homeownership and entrepreneurship," Figueroa told Click Orlando. "We are also seeing overwhelming confidence in Latino investors who choose to invest in real estate. Latinos are overcoming the stigma of being considered an ...
Smoking kills, and it’s not just lung cancer — but heart disease, too. Smoking, especially those who begin at a young age, seriously increases a person’s risk of cardiovascular issues, including incidences of mortality, according to recent data from the Journal of the American Heart Association. Smokers, especially those who began the habit before adolescence, showed a correlated increase in cardiovascular-related deaths. “Age at starting to smoke is an important, but underappreciated, determinant of adult cardiovascular mortality, and this study indicates that the [roughly] 5 million US smokers who began before age 15 years are at especially high risk of premature death from cardiovascular disease if they do not quit,” the study states. “If the associations between ...
Nearly three-fourths of all coronavirus cases in some of the country’s most critical industries are happening among Latinos, the group already experiencing harsh burdens from the virus. Of the 5,721 workers in food processing, food manufacturing, and agriculture fields who tested positive for COVID-19 early in the outbreak, 72.8% were Latino, according to October 2020 data from the CDC. These numbers shouldn’t come as a total surprise, based on the conditions these laborers face in the workplace, said Dr. S. Patrick Kachur, a population and family health professor at Columbia University. "Workers come and go from the workplace on a daily basis,” Kachur told TODAY Food. “If they are living in communities with widespread transmission, or households with other persons who ...
Breast cancer affects different women differently. That's why the Breast Friends Forever (BFF) support group enables young breast cancer survivors to share their experiences in San Antonio, Texas (64% Latino). Recently, some BFF leaders joined the "Health Conversations with Anna Smith" Podcast. They talked about the need for the group and its origins in celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. These include: Sandra L. San Miguel, BFF co-founder and program director at the National Cancer Institute; Brenda Garza, BFF co-founder and a survivor; Stanlie Murray, BFF executive director and a survivor; and Erica Ann De Zaiffe, BFF member and a survivor. Listen to the podcast Part 1 and Part 2. "BFF was a pioneer in those days, combining outreach and education activities with ...
Latinos will account for the largest non-white voter demographic in history, as 2 million Latinos are expected to vote during the 2020 presidential election. Moreover, every 30 seconds, a young Latino in the United States becomes eligible to vote. This data, collected by the Pew Research Center and the U.S. Census, respectively, makes one thing clear: the Latino vote will play a key for the 2020 election outcome. Due to the numerous disparities impacting this community, especially amid COVID-19, issues like the economy and health care—not immigration—will drive the Latino vote in 2020, according to a new report by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative. “Latinos will be critical in deciding the most consequential election of our lifetime,” Sonja Diaz, founding ...
Ángela García wasn’t planning on becoming an artist. She entered college in the pre-med track, intending to go into a medical career. But then she started taking art history classes. And she kept taking them, despite still being in the pre-med track. “I was like, ‘You know what? I don’t like this. Maybe I don’t like the sciences as much as I thought I did. And I’m really interested in this art history curriculum.’ So, I switched over at the end of my sophomore year,” García said. Now she’s a senior art history major at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, with several large-scale art projects under her belt, having rekindled a passion for creative work from her childhood. “I used to do painting when I was younger but I kind of fell out of it for a ...
Latinos and other people who have diabetes are getting more access to much-needed supplies amid COVID-19. Beyond Type 1—a diabetes nonprofit organization—launched a new bilingual tool last week: GetInsulin.org in English and GetInsultin.org in Spanish. This online platform is a tool to help those using insulin find inexpensive options. It also has assistance programs for patients in any financial circumstances. “The job losses we’ve seen during COVID-19 mean that many individuals who lost their employer-based health insurance due to COVID-19 are experiencing insulin access issues for the first time in their lives,” Christel Marchand Aprigliano, Beyond Type 1's chief advocacy officer, told Healio. “List prices for insulin are high, so a sudden insurance loss may ...
