News Roundup: Latino Education, Alzheimer’s & Community Service
Feb 26th
Check out these news tidbits that focus on Latino health and education:
Few states have measures for success in serving Latino kids, families
Preliminary findings indicate that states are lagging woefully behind in taking advantage of opportunities to better serve diverse student populations, particularly Latinos and English language learners (ELLs), according to a report released today by the National Council of La Raza, the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S. The report outlines unprecedented developments in U.S. policies and federal funding that would help states improve their early childhood education programs.
NCLR
Latino outreach network gets grant to reduce risk for Alzheimer’s
A $71,000 Desert Healthcare District grant to the Alzheimer’s Association will fund a yearlong outreach into the local Latino community aimed reducing the risk for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. About 35 percent of the district’s population is Latino, who are at higher risk for developing these types of conditions because of the higher incidences of diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and related diseases.
The Desert Sun
Schools recognized for community service
Six colleges and universities have been named as Presidential Awardees in the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement. At one school, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, students contributed more than one million hours of service last year in projects involving more than 150 community organizations. Projects focused on issues such as providing HIV testing and health support to individuals; and outreach to the growing Latino population.
PR Newswire
Alzheimer’s a ‘Cultural’ Issue for Latinos
Dec 7th
José Burruel (USA Today)
José Maria Burruel, 84, a retired educator, is helping give new insight into Alheimer’s disease to researchers at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, according to a USA Today news report.
Burruel, who has not been diagnosed with Alheimer’s, joined an Alheimer’s research study at Barrow. And when he invited a Barrow doctor to speak to his group of friends (”El Grupo”) at a get-together, 20 friends also joined the study.
Barrow officials say Burruel’s group is giving researchers a unique opportunity to better understand how cultural factors influence aging and Alzheimer’s in the Latino community.
Alzheimer’s Association data show 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, a form of dementia that slowly erodes memory and ends in death. About 200,000 Latinos have Alzheimer’s, and the figure is projected to increase 600% by 2050.
Studies have identified heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes – all conditions that affect Hispanics at high rates – as factors that may increase the risk of Alzheimer’s for Latinos, officials says, noting that Alzheimer’s symptoms begin, on average, almost seven years earlier in Latinos.
Read more of this story here.
News: Agency Helping Latinos with Alzheimer’s
Nov 16th
Check out this great story from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story about a family, AnaJulia Rutherford and her father, 85-year-old Placido Martinez, who has Alzheimer’s disease, and how they found help from a community group:
When her [AnaJulia’s] father’s lively personality began to vanish last year and was replaced by some of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s – forgetfulness, depression, increasing irritability and difficulty finishing simple tasks – she wasn’t sure what to make of it.
“My father has always been very interactive and loved talking about politics,” she said. “He is limited in his English and was always asking questions. All of a sudden, he didn’t want to have conversations. He would lose his temper for little tiny things.”
She turned to the Latino Geriatric Center Memory Clinic for answers.
The clinic, under the auspices of the United Community Center, provides memory screenings and other evaluations for early detection and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia. It serves Latinos who are 55 and older, as well as other older adults with physical impairments.
Last year, the clinic conducted more than 200 memory screenings, and Martinez is one of 60 people being seen on an ongoing, outpatient basis.
The clinic was a long time coming, said UCC official Al Castro, after years of planning among the agency, Froedtert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin. It grew out of an unsettling pattern of Hispanic patients who would be seen once at the hospital but wouldn’t return for follow-up.
Read more here about the agency and AnaJulia and her father.