Wednesday, August 31, 2011


Promotoras Influences Health Consciousness In Hispanic Communities

By Aziz Ali on August 30, 2011












35 Reactions and Comments



The Patient Navigator Research Program
brings together healthcare workers to assist Hispanic families in dealing with various health issues, but focuses extensively on cancer patients. It is being funded by the National Cancer Institute and LIVESTRONG, Lance Armstrong’s Foundation. According to Hispanic Trending:


Bilingual, bicultural patient navigators are stationed at cancer centers in a handful of U.S. cities with large Latino populations. They’re helping Hispanics with cancer fill out important medical forms, make doctor’s appointments and arrange transportation for treatment.

Interestingly, these workers are not professionals. The Latino Leadership Council frames these individuals as trusted, well-connected community members and pins their creation on the fact that there is a lot of mistrust between the Latino community and health care and social service providers. Many times this stems from negative past experiences, a sense of discrimination or even concern over documentation status.

Promotoras (or Patient Navigators) help bridge the gap between organizations and agencies and the communities they service.

As the video shows, Promotoras are a unique form of influencers in the Hispanic community, seen as experts without the rigid formality that everyone encounters in the healthcare system. This is a great initiative that can be conceivably useful for other underprivileged, non-English minorities in America.

The Patient Navigator Research Program


via PSFK: http://www.psfk.com/2011/08/promotoras-influences-health-consciousness-in-hispanic-communities.html#ixzz1Wcqi83fy

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Cervical Cancer for Latinas is twice as high

Cuidate. Armate. Educate. Latinas for Cervical Cancer Prevention Campaign is launched.

NEW YORK, NY -- According to the American Cancer Society, there are approximately 10,000 cases and 3,700 deaths from cervical cancer in the U.S. per year.

The incidence of cervical cancer for Latina women in the United States is almost twice as high as non-Latina white women. Latina women have the 2nd highest mortality rate from cervical cancer (after black women).


Cervical cancer is very preventable. 85% of women who die from cervical cancer never had a pap smear.

In June 2006, the FDA approved the first vaccine, Gardasil®, manufactured by Merck & Company, developed to prevent cervical cancer caused by four strains of HPV; two of which are responsible for 70% of cervical cancer incidences and two strains which are responsible for 90% of genital warts caused by HPV. 


Campaign Wrap-Up!

Many Latina Advocacy Networks of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and other affiliated organizations around the country have been hosting great events related to the Cuídate. Ármate. Edúcate. Latinas for Cervical Cancer Prevention Campaign. Read more.


WHAT CAN YOU DO? 


1. CUÍDATE

Take care of yourself and the women in your life. Make sure you get regular pap smears and screenings for sexually transmitted infections.


Help the women in your community access reproductive health care services. Create a resource guide to help women get pap smears and learn how to get the HPV vaccine. 


2. ÁRMATE

Ensure that you and others in your community are armed with the important tools needed to prevent cervical cancer. Support initiatives on the local and state level that expand public funding for cervical cancer screenings and access to the HPV vaccine.
Use the Cuídate. Ármate. Edúcate. Postcard and spread the word about cervical cancer prevention. Send the postcard to your friends, family and local decision makers (teachers, neighbors, local officials, community leaders) and start the discussion about cervical cancer and HPV. 


3. EDÚCATE

Educate yourself about cervical cancer and HPV, and share that information with the people in your life, family and community.


Host a cafecito and invite community members to talk about cervical cancer, HPV and the vaccine. See the Cafecito guide for more information and tips for your cafecito. 


Resources: Human Papillomavirus, Cervical Cancer and HPV Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions (Spanish)
Latinas and Cervical Cancer Fact Sheet (Spanish)
NLIRH Statement on the HPV vaccine (Spanish



Thursday, August 25, 2011

Latina picked as CEO for Girl Scouts


Ana Maria Chavez, a Mexican-American from Arizona, will be taking over the national Girl Scout's organization.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ana Marian Chavez
NEW YORK, NY As a young Mexican-American girl, Anna Maria Chavez was a member of the Girl Scouts in a small farming town in southern Arizona.

Now, she will lead the nonprofit as it experiences an increase in participation by Hispanic girls in the U.S., even as its overall membership has decreased.

The New York-based Girl Scouts of the USA announced Wednesday it had selected Chavez as its new chief executive officer — the first Hispanic woman to serve in the position.

"We wanted to find someone who had a strong leadership story of her own whose journey in life could serve as a shining example for all of our girls," said Connie Lindsay, the national president of the organization and a member of the search committee.

Chavez, 43, has been the chief executive of Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas since 2009. She will be taking over for CEO Kathy Cloninger, who is retiring after leading an overhaul of the leadership organization's programs and direction over the past eight years.

Chavez, born in Arizona, was raised in the small town of Eloy, about 50 miles northwest of Tucson, before the family moved to Phoenix. She said the experience of being a member of Girl Scout Troop 304 in Eloy was formative.

"One of my best friends came to school one day and said she was going to be a Girl Scout, and I decided that was for me, even though my family hadn't had a tradition of Girl Scouting," said Chavez, speaking by phone from San Antonio.

"The Girl Scout opportunity that went on from there really opened my eyes," she said.

Before working for the Girl Scouts, Chavez served as an urban affairs policy adviser to former Arizona governor and current U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and for other state agencies involved in providing community services. She also worked for the federal government, including as chief of staff for the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Government Contracting and Minority Enterprise Development.

The Girl Scouts is increasingly seeing its future in the growth of the Hispanic community.

The organization, founded in 1912, said it had noted a 55 percent increase in the number of Hispanic girls who have joined its ranks over the past 10 years. They now account for about 12 percent — or 272,000 girls — of the nearly 2.3 million girls who were Scouts in 2010.

In response to the growth of Hispanics among its membership, the Girl Scouts of the USA has redoubled its outreach to the community, including with bilingual public campaigns.

Overall, membership has declined by 14 percent since 2006, when there were 2.7 million Scouts, the organization said. It attributed the decline to the economy and a decrease in funding for large nonprofits. 


Hispanic Nurse group awards $40k in scholarships

National Association of Hispanic Nurses Awards $40,000 in United Health Foundation Scholarships
WASHINGTON, D.C.
-- The National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) awarded a total of $40,000 to eight NAHN student members enrolled in a baccalaureate or graduate nursing program at its recent 2011 Annual Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Each student received a $5,000 Scholarship.


The United Health Foundation National Association of Hispanic Nurses Scholarships, funded by a grant from United Health Foundation, aim to increase the number of qualified, bilingual/bicultural Hispanic/Latino student nurses. As the Hispanic population increases in the United States, the need for bilingual/bicultural Hispanic nurses rises. Of the more than 3 million registered nurses in the United States, only about 3.6 percent are Hispanic.

The following students were selected based on their outstanding academic achievements and commitment to the Hispanic community:

-- Maria Beltran, RN of New York;

-- Luz Marina Bradberry, BSN, RN of Arizona;

-- Lorraine Cuesta, MS, RN, ANP of Arizona;

-- Josephine Foley, BSN, RN, CCM, of Michigan;

-- Alessandra Gonzales of Texas;

-- Amy Hardy of Oregon;

-- Paulette Lizarraga of Arizona; and

-- David Sanchez, RN of California.

"We had a very strong group of students this year, four of whom are pursuing their Masters or Doctorate degrees in Nursing. These nurses will help expand the number of culturally competent Advance-Practice Nurses serving our diverse population," said NAHN President Angie Millan, RN, MSN, NP, CNS.

"With these scholarships, United Health Foundation is helping to address disparities in the nursing field to ensure that everyone, including diverse communities, has access to quality, culturally competent care. Partnering with a respected organization such as the National Association of Hispanic Nurses to create these scholarships is an effective way to help foster a more diverse health care workforce," said Kate Rubin, President, United Health Foundation.

About the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN)

The National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) is actively involved in issues affecting Hispanic nurses and the health of Hispanic communities on local, state, regional and national levels. The organization is committed to work toward providing equal access to education, professional and economic opportunities for Hispanic nurses and to improving the health and nursing care for Hispanic consumers.

United Health Foundation Guided by a passion to help people live healthier lives, United Health Foundation provides helpful information to support decisions that lead to better health outcomes and healthier communities. The Foundation also supports activities that expand access to quality health care services for those in challenging circumstances and partners with others to improve the well-being of communities. Since established by UnitedHealth Group in 1999 as a not-for-profit, private foundation, the Foundation has committed more than $187 million to improve health and health care. For more information, visit www.unitedhealthfoundation.org .

SOURCE: National Association of Hispanic Nurses