According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 50% of all post-Millennial youths will be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes during their lifetime. Latinos are the group that is likely to be the most susceptible to the disease. Two nursing school students from Arizona State University (ASU), Tatianna Alvarado and Jamie Karch have taken on roles in a community-based diabetes prevention program aimed at Latino youths called “Every Little Step Counts.” “Many of my family members have diabetes and my mother is a type 2 diabetic,” Alvarado said. “The last year of high school I took care of her. I’d interact with her, told her what diabetes was … but there was only so much I could do as a daughter.” The program is funded by a $1.2 grant from the ...
A study released by the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine found that minorities, especially Latinos, have longer wait times obtaining medical care than whites. On average, the wait time is 25% longer than whites at 105 minutes. While Latinos and whites spend the same time in face-to-face interaction with their doctors, they do have an average of 10 minutes longer to travel to their appointments. "It could be bias, conscious or unconscious, on the part of providers, or other staff that work at the site where they're receiving care," said Alexander Green, associate director of the disparities solution center at Massachusetts General Hospital. "Wait times are something very subjective, in that it could be any number of reasons it might seem justified in ...
The National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) is hosting a virtual conference from October 13-16 with the topic being “Educating the Latino Community on the Affordable Care Act.” The goal of the conference is to educate nurses, students, healthcare professionals, and anyone else interested in educating Latinos on the benefits of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The training module component will help prepare attendees that deal with Latino patients on a regular basis educate Latinos on the fundamentals of the ACA. This will include assisting them on applying for coverage through their state’s Medicaid site, through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) or through the Health Insurance Marketplace. Attendees will be able to connect the importance of health ...
Indiana state's new preschool program discriminates against undocumented children. In order to prevent discrimination, federal law requires public schools to provide public education for ALL children; however this begins in kindergarten and does not cover preschool. Without federal law requiring public education for ALL children at ALL ages, states, like Indiana, are allowed to impose eligibility requirements on children and prevent them from attending preschool. Indiana is 6.4% Latino, although, some counties exceed 13%, such as Cass (13.6%), Clinton (14.5%), Elkhart (14.9%) and Lake (17.8%) counties. Estimates suggest that 10,000 foreign-born students in Indiana will be affected by this policy. Early learning is crucial to close the achievement gap for low ...
Since 2011, Oakland (25.4% Latino) residents have advocated for changes in zoning regulations, to Oakland City Council, in order to make it easier and cheaper for Oaklanders to grow, harvest, and sell their own food. "This isn't about people toying with their hobbies. This is about food. This is serious stuff." Said Jodi Noble-Choder when advocating for urban farming-friendly policies in Pittsburgh. In November 2014, Oakland City Council approved changes to expand areas where residents can grow food and to eliminate the need for special permits. Previously, special permits for community gardens could cost thousands of dollars and could take several months to be approved. Now, Oaklanders can garden "by right." Urban gardens are an excellent way to increase ...
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) health care law requires most insurance plans to offer a range of preventive services: (1) Breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling; (2) Screening and counseling for interpersonal and domestic violence; (3) Screening for gestational diabetes; (4) DNA testing for high-risk strains of HPV; (5) Counseling regarding sexually transmitted infections, including HIV; (6) Screening for HIV; (7) Contraceptive methods and counseling; and (8) Well woman visits. This toolkit is provides: (1) information on the coverage of breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling; (2) instructions on how to call insurance companies and how to file an appeal if the plan denies coverage; and (3) draft appeal letters tailored to commonly encountered scenarios. Access ...
In June 2015, Minnesota lawmakers passed a measure requiring the state to examine and develop statewide swimming resources for kids. The commissioner of education must establish a working group of stakeholders to assess statewide access to swimming resources and provide recommendations "on the curriculum, resources, personnel, and other costs needed to make swimming instruction available in all Minnesota public schools for children beginning at an early age" by February 2016. The ultimate goal is to pass a mandate requiring swimming for all Minnesota children; however, the state must first address drastic inequalities in access to pools. For example, there is one pool for every 28,000 people in St. Paul (9.6% Latino and 15.7% African American) compared to one pool for every ...
SaludToday Guest Blogger
Jefferson Dental Clinics Mexican-American kids have more than two times as many untreated cavities as their peers. Why the disparity? Parents might be passing down poor dental habits, as 38% of Mexican American adults have untreated tooth decay, the second-highest rate behind only to African American adults (40%). Others argue that importance placed on dental health care is cyclical, or that dental care is seen as a luxury, not a necessity. Cost is the most-cited reason for avoiding annual dental visits, according to the American Dental Association. The enactment of the Affordable Care Act made general health care more accessible for millions, but did little for dental coverage. Government programs such as Medicaid, CHIP and Medicare offer dental ...
The environments where people live, learn, work and play influence health outcomes across diverse populations. These social, physical and economic environments are developed and implemented by various agencies and departments that are typically not associated with health. Health in All Policies is an efficient model to ensure that health is consistently considered in policymaking across multiple agencies and departments over the long-term. For example, "the transportation department, planning department, public health department, law enforcement, and school board can coordinate programs and adopt policies that encourage kids to safely walk, bike, and roll to school." ChangeLab Solutions developed the From Start to Finish: How to Permanently Improve Government through ...
