SaludToday Guest Blogger: Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez Obesity causes more than 15 percent of this country’s preventable deaths—more than alcohol, toxins, care accidents, gun-related deaths, drug abuse and STDs combined—and it causes a huge financial strain on the health care system. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), obesity affects approximately 34 percent of adults and 17 percent of children in the U.S. The agency recently estimated the costs of obesity at almost $150 billion per year. The obesity statistics for young Latinos are particularly frightening. Mexican-American children ages 2 to 19 are more likely to be obese or overweight (40.8 percent) than white (31.9 percent) and African-American (30 percent) children. Among preschoolers, nearly ...
Redes En Acción: The National Latino Cancer Research Network has released three videos on cancer issues and research methods that were used to train Redes En Acción researchers and patient navigators in Miami and San Antonio and Austin, Texas, who are involved in a study examining how patient navigators who use the LIVESTRONG Cancer Navigation Services Program can improve the quality of life of Latino breast, colorectal and prostate cancer survivors. The videos are designed specifically for the study, funded by the National Cancer Institute; but the videos may be useful in any patient navigator studies involving Latinos. Video 1 teaches researchers and patient navigators the proper steps on how to manage a potential mental health emergency or psychological related emergency that may ...
Editor's Note: This is the testimonial of a graduate of the 2011 Summer Institute of Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training. Read more testimonials here or apply by March 1 for the 2012 Èxito! program. Maria Priscilla Brietzke
Houston, Texas After seeing how media can help improve Latinas’ health behavior during a practicum along the Texas-Mexico Border, Maria Priscilla Brietzke believes that small changes have big power to help the disadvantaged. Brietzke, who currently is a research assisting at the University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston School of Nursing, is focusing on making both small and large changes in age-related chronic illness. Because she had questions about balancing work and life in a doctoral-level research career, she took a friend’s ...
Editor's Note: This is the testimonial of a graduate of the 2011 Summer Institute of Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training. Read more testimonials here or apply by March 1 for the 2012 Èxito! program. Marina Daldalian
Kansas City, Kan. Growing up, Marina Daldalian’s mother, the daughter of a migrant worker, and her father, a native of Lebanon, taught her the importance of education and about caring for those with few resources. As she volunteered locally and abroad for several years, a focus on health became Daldalian’s calling. In Kansas City, Kan., Daldalian is a master’s of public health degree student at the University of Kansas Medical Center, where she also serves as a research assistant in the JUNTOS center for Advancing Latino Health in the Department of ...
Editor's Note: This is the testimonial of a graduate of the 2011 Summer Institute of Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training. Read more testimonials here or apply by March 1 for the 2012 Èxito! program. Christina Munoz-Masso
Puerto Rico Christina Munoz-Masso works hard to improve the health of boricuas—Puerto Ricans—and Latinos in general. She is an epidemiologist at the University of Puerto Rico Comprehensive Cancer Center. She coordinates a study investigating DNA methylation in leukemia patients and collaborates on a population-based study on cervical cancer. After Munoz-Masso graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in biology, she applied for a master’s degree in epidemiology because it allowed her to combine science with helping people. To add an ...
Editor's Note: This is the testimonial of a graduate of the 2011 Summer Institute of Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training. Read more testimonials here or apply by March 1 for the 2012 Èxito! program. Donaji Stelzig
Houston, Texas Contributing in several research studies at the University of Texas School of Public Health’s Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research in Houston, Mexico native Donaji Stelzig developed a desire to work with minority populations, promote opportunities, and foster team work with diverse background community members. Since then, she’s become a full-time senior health education specialist at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Division of Public Affairs, carrying out community outreach. Stelzig is part of many ...
Yvette White, a P.E. teacher from Carroll Bell Elementary School in Harlandale Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas, was selected as one of the 21 champions for the Healthy Schools Program of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. Champions are selected based on their commitment and passion to motivate and lead students and staff toward a healthier school environment. According to KENS-TV report, here's what she did:
Specifically, White helped convince her school to remove unhealthy snacks available to the children and replace them with healthy alternatives. She worked with the food service director to remove some of the unhealthy items that peppered the school cafeteria menu. And she created teaching plans that teachers can use to instruct their students about ...
Find the latest in Latino health—from fighting Latina breast cancer to helping Latinos pursue doctoral degrees—in the new E-newsletter from the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the team behind SaludToday. The E-newsletter has these stories: Story and Video: Giving Latinas a Chance vs. Breast Cancer (Pg 1)
Story: How a Typewriter Helped a Latina Launch a Career in Health Promotion (Pg 2)
Story and Video: Depression after Cancer Keeps Latinas from Follow-Up Care (Pg 3)
Story: Apply by 3/1/12 for Éxito Program to Get Help Pursuing a Doctoral Degree (Pg 5)
Story: San Antonio Schools Get Salad Bars (Pg 6)
Story and Video: Latino Man Works to Interrupt Street Violence (Pg 8 ) The E-newsletter is jam-packed ...
Be sure to check out a new event, Nursewise: Tobacco Cessation, Nutrition and Physical Activity, at 8 a.m. Nov. 12, 2011, at Courtyard by Marriott in San Antonio, Texas. The event will initiate discussion on current recommendations and evidence-based techniques for every nurse. Register here. The registration fee is $50 for nurses and $25 for promotores, community health workers and students. The program is presented by the Nurse Oncology Education Program (find out more here) and made possible by a grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of ...
