Making a Connection to Improve Latino Health
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I lost my mother to pancreatic cancer in 1995. It is impossible to forget the agonizing, pain, confusion, frustration, anger …. the emotions, the suffering. I had relocated a little over a year before her death to Oregon, and the separation was terrible. Pancreatic cancer is the cancer that is your “death sentence” once it is finally diagnosed. It is usually too late. A minimum are able to survive a year or more after their diagnosis. Everything they tried to do for my mom, I find out later, was preventive care. It was too late to save her life.
I am now a Food Instructor for PCRM *Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. As such, I work with mainly Latino communities to provide options for plant-based lifestyles as prevention for diabetes and certain forms of cancer. It is said “my people perish for lack of understanding.” That could not be farther from the truth. And it is a joy and a sense of fulfillment whenever I am able to have students come up and say “Thank you so much. I did not think eating without meat or dairy was possible until I came to your classes. I am willing to try.”
We see how the obesity rate is rising among our Latino population, especially with an almost child obesity epidemic. As a Latina myself, born and raised here in the US, I can share my own upbringing, what I ate, how it was made, what I know now, and how I have turned completely around for my own better and that of my family.
This is my passion. To help the Latino community through nutrition education, delicious food sampling, sharing stories, laughing and engaging in a new lifestyle.
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Editor’s Note: Dr. Lechuga lives in Milwaukee.
Medical College of Wisconsin researcher to study vaccination decisions in Latino community
The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) received a two-year, $440,000 award from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Nursing Research to investigate the decision-making processes between Latina girls and their mothers when it comes to obtaining the HPV vaccine.
Julia Lechuga, Ph.D., assistant professor in psychiatry and behavioral medicine in the Medical College’s Center for AIDS Intervention Research, is the principal investigator for the grant.
Cervical cancer incidence is two to four time greater among Latina women than non-Latina white women. Large ethnic disparities also exist in vaccination rates. For example, 50% of girls who have regular access to cervical cancer screening have been vaccinated, but only 13% of ethnic minority girls who are considered medically underserved have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Through this study, structured interviews will be conducted with 60 pairs of Latina mothers and their daughters who have not been vaccinated against HPV, and 60 pairs of mothers and their daughters who have been vaccinated against HPV. Following these two qualitative studies, a quantitative study will be conducted, consisting of a survey administered to 150 Latina mothers, 50% who have vaccinated their daughters and 50% who have not. This study will identify the factors that predict the greatest proportion of variance in vaccination behavior.
The findings from this research will be used to help create a program to promote vaccination in the Latino community, as well as informing health care providers of specific information that can be provided to Latina patients to motivate vaccination.
The primary community partner is the 16th Street Community Health Center in Milwaukee, which serves under and uninsured Latino families.
The Center for AIDS Intervention Research at MCW is one of five HIV prevention research centers in the United States funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. CAIR’s missions are to conceptualize, conduct, and scientifically evaluate the effectiveness of new intervention strategies to prevent HIV infection in populations vulnerable to the disease. CAIR’s research also develops improved strategies to promote health and alleviate adverse mental health consequences among persons living with HIV. CAIR is committed to disseminating its findings both to the scientific community and to public health providers so they benefit from Center research.
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