A wave of shock swept over Olga Cardona as she listened to her doctor. “You have breast cancer.” Cardona knew nothing about cancer. She thought it was a death sentence. She was scared. She worried more when her insurance wouldn’t cover all chemotherapy. How could this be happening to me? A patient navigator calmed her fears. The navigator, a trained community health worker, taught Cardona what cancer is, got her in a breast cancer support group, and led her to resources to cover her treatment. Cardona, years later, now is in remission—and she became a promotora to promote health at the San Ysidro Health Center in California, where she was first diagnosed. “I wanted to pay it forward because I felt so grateful to everyone that had helped me through my battle,” Cardona ...
The Union City's Youth Commission in California is comprised of teens from local schools that want be active in their communities. These teens most recently decided to take on the issue of tobacco products, specifically how the products are targeting youth and teens, reports ChangeLab Solutions. The members of the Youth Commission are concerned about how easy the access is for their peers to get cigars, e-cigarettes, and cigarillos. These tobacco products are often flavored to appeal to youth. The Youth Commission approached the City Council with information about how the tobacco industry targets youth in advertising and with price promotions, along with resources from ChangeLab Solutions about e-cigarettes and the model Tobacco Retailer Licencing ordinance. The ...
A new article and infographic from The Washington Post shows all the ways that sitting is negatively affecting the health of the average U.S. adult. Whether it be working at a desk or sitting in front of the television, sitting contributes to many health issues that already plague Latinos such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Sitting causes the muscles to burn less fat and causes blood to flow at a slower pace, which allows more fatty acids to easily clog the heart. Long-term effects of prolonged sitting also include high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol. People with a sedentary lifestyle, that includes sitting a majority of their day, are more than twice as likely to have heart diseases and related issues than those who sit less frequently. Latinos are already at huge ...
Diabetes and obesity are the two most significant health threats in South Texas, according to a new report published online in Springer Open Books by the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. The South Texas Health Status Review, originally self-published in 2008, was updated this year to study more than 35 health conditions and risk factors and how people in South Texas may be differently affected than those in the rest of Texas or nation. The Review, in addition to singling out diabetes and obesity, also indicates that the South Texas region faces higher rates than the rest of Texas or nation for: Cervical, liver, stomach and gallbladder cancers
Child and adolescent ...
Latinas who have an abnormal mammogram result take 33 days longer to reach definitive diagnosis of breast cancer than non-Hispanic white women, according to a new study by the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Such a time delay can have a critical impact on tumor size, stage at diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and survival of subsequent breast cancer. For this study, published online in SpringerPlus in March 2013, IHPR researchers worked with partners in the federally funded Redes En Acción: The National Latino Cancer Network to evaluate the differences in time to diagnosis of breast cancer among 186 Latinas and 74 non-Hispanic whites who received an abnormal mammogram result in six U.S. cities. Analysis ...
Cancer just surpassed heart disease as the No. 1 killer of Latinos. Yet, as the Latino population surges, there aren't enough Latino researchers who are working to uncover new ways to treat cancer or pave way for novel studies of cultural, linguistic and socioeconomic issues to prevent Latinos from suffering worse cancer outcomes. But there is good news. The number of Latino cancer researchers is starting to grow, thanks to Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training, a program that encourages master's-level students and professionals to pursue a doctoral degree and careers studying how cancer affects Latinos differently. Éxito! participants attend a five-day summer institute that enhances understanding of cancer and research, encourages networking among peers and leaders in ...
Sandra San Miguel de Majors, a research instructor at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the Health Science Center at San Antonio, touted the use of community health workers—called promotores—to improve people's health at the Latina Health Policy Briefing for Promotores de Salud on Sept. 26, 2012, at the White House in Washington, D.C. The policy briefing, organized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to review the affordable care act, united key Latino health care providers, researchers, stakeholders and promotores to discuss successful evidenced-based Latino research initiatives utilizing promotores. The briefing featured Cecilia Muñoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and Kathleen Sebelius, HHS secretary. San ...
Cancer is now the leading killer of Hispanics in the U.S., the latest sign it's beginning to displace heart disease as the nation's top cause of death, the Associated Press reports:
The rest of the country may not be far behind, "probably in the next 10 years," said Rebecca Siegel of the American Cancer Society. She is the lead author of a study reporting the new findings. That may be a conservative estimate. Government health statisticians think cancer could overtake heart disease as the top U.S. killer as early as this year, or at least in the next two or three.
For decades, heart disease has been the nation's leading cause of death. But cancer has been closing in on it. That's largely because of better heart disease treatments, including statin drugs that lower cholesterol.
Why is ...
A free telephone/web education program available in English, Spanish or Portuguese is set for 1-2:30 p.m. EST on Sept. 13, 2012. The program, NHL (non-Hodgkin lymphoma) & CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) Diagnosis and Treatment Update, will feature speaker Dr. Christopher R. Flowers from The Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta. Participants will have the opportunity to ask Dr. Flowers a question during the program. This program is sponsored by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) in collaboration with Abrale and Alianza Latina and supported by a grant from Genentech and Biogen Idec. The continuing education portion is sponsored by LLS. To register, go ...
