Posts tagged california

Camp Offers Fun, Support for Kids of Adults with Cancer

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1 year ago
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With literally more than a million cancer cases a year in the U.S., the special emotional needs of children of adult cancer patients are sometimes overlooked.

That’s why Camp Kesem, a national nonprofit program, created a college-student-run summer camp for kids with a parent who has or has had cancer.

The one-week camps give kids ages 6-13 a chance to have a fun-filled week and “just be kids” and get extra attention and support, according the group’s website.

Since 2001, Camp Kesem has grown from a single camp to 37 active chapters in 22 states.

Camp Kesem Berkeley (Calif.), for example, supports children in the Greater Bay Area and Tri-Valley area by putting on a completely free week-long overnight summer camp for children and teens (ages 6-16) who have a parent that either has or had cancer or has passed away from cancer. The group buses from Berkeley to the Santa Cruz mountains for activities such as kayaking, drama programs, arts and crafts, cooking and science, archery, rock-climbing, and more.

Check out this video about the camp. Applications and more information are currently available at the Camp Kesem Berkeley website or the national organization’s website.

Study: Do ‘Tiendas’ Offer Healthier Food Options?

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1 year ago
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Barriers remain in Latinos’ ability to purchase healthier dairy and meat options in tiendas—Latino-focused grocery stores—according to a new study.

The study, published recently in Public Health Nutrition, compared the availability, quality and cost of healthy and unhealthy foods in 10 tiendas and 15 supermarkets in San Diego County, Calif.

Researchers found that tiendas were smaller, charged more for a gallon of skim milk, and offered less lean ground beef than supermarkets.

However, they also found that tiendas had similar fresh produce offerings at lower prices.

“These results highlight the potential that tiendas have in improving access to quality, fresh produce within lower-income communities,” the researchers concluded. “However, efforts are needed to increase the access and affordability of healthy dairy and meat products.”

VIDEOS: Health Efforts Helping Transform San Bernardino, Calif., and Hernando, Miss.

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1 year ago
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Throughout the country, people are coming together with a shared vision, strong leadership, and commitment to making needed and lasting changes that broadly improve community vitality.

This is happening in large urban settings and small rural ones; it’s happening in places with tremendous resources and in places with few resources to draw from; it’s happening in places with relatively few health challenges and in places where the challenges are many and daunting.

One place is San Bernardino, Calif.

In 2006, officials launched the San Bernardino Healthy Community Initiative. Since then, 17 of the county’s 24 cities have launched their own healthy city initiatives, including features such as Safe Routes to School, community gardens, shared resources and more.

Watch more about their effort here in this video from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Another county getting healthier is Hernando, Miss., where city leaders have been improving the city’s physical environment. Not only have all city parks been revamped, but they now have athletic facilities, community gardens and a local bike club. The city has also undertaken initiatives to stripe bike lanes, widen roads, and expand sidewalks to encourage residents to lead more active lives.

Watch more about Hernando’s efforts here.

The launch of the 2012 County Health Rankings and County Health Roadmaps also coincides with the release of the call for applications for the Roadmaps to Health Prize, another component of the County Health Roadmaps project that recognizes and honors the efforts and accomplishments of communities in the U.S. working at the forefront of better health for all residents.

Up to six Roadmaps to Health Prize winning communities will be honored in early 2013 and each will receive a no-strings-attached $25,000 cash prize.

Find out more and apply here, or watch this video.

Helping Teens Start Strong: Youths Highlighting Healthy Relationships

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1 year ago
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Editor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series that will highlight the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s work in Latino communities across the country.

Start Strong Bronx's Teen Advisory Board leaders "Freeze for Love" at the Bronx Museum of the Arts to raise awareness about healthy relationships during February's Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month.

By SaludToday Guest Blogger Kristin Schubert

According to the National Youth Risk Behavior survey, nearly one in 10 high school students nationwide has experienced physical dating violence. With a higher prevalence of dating violence among black and Hispanic students and serious concern over the negative health impacts of dating violence—national program by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is working to promote healthy relationships among young adolescents to stop the violence before it starts.

The program, Start Strong: Building Healthy Teen Relationships, targets 11- to 14-year-olds in 11 cities from Boston to Oakland, Calif. Now in its fourth year, it already has reached thousands of youths through education, community engagement, policy change, communications and social marketing. It also educates and engages parents, teachers, counselors, coaches and older teens to help younger adolescents develop positive, healthy relationship behaviors and attitudes.

February is National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, which helps draw attention to the work that Start Strong does year-round.

As James Marks, MD, MPH, senior vice president and director of the Health Group for RWJF often says, “We want to find the most promising ways to prevent teen dating violence because we know that the earlier that young people get relationships right, the better chance they’ll have to make their lives better over the long term. By addressing healthy relationships in middle school students and encouraging communities to embrace this idea, we’ll give those young people a strong advantage.”

Throughout the month, Start Strong teens across the country have been holding “flash mobs” at various locations in their own communities. These peaceful surprise events are incorporating music, dance, poetry, choreography and visuals as they take a stand against dating violence and abuse and share resources that can provide teens with support.

In New York, members of the Start Strong Bronx Teen Advisory Board put on “Freeze for Love” demonstrations at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. One moment they were just regular museum patrons, looking at paintings; the next moment, they were frozen in place, holding signs. Each sign offered words that represent a healthy relationship: Respect. Support. Safety. Happiness. Trust & Honesty.

As one teen who participated later explained, “Nobody should get hit for anything whatsoever, especially in a relationship.”

VIDEOS: Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities

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1 year ago
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Watch new videos from Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, showcasing how the program is helping dozens of communities across the country to reshape their environments to support healthy living and prevent childhood obesity.

The videos below feature program achievements in Chicago, and Central Valley, Calif.

Study: Menu Labeling Can Increase Health in Latino-Serving Restaurants

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1 year ago
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Editor’s Note: This is a 20-part series featuring new research briefs on Latino childhood obesity, nutrition, physical activity and more by the 20 grantees of Salud America! Part 2 is Dr. Carmen Nevarez. Find all briefs here.

Dr. Carmen Nevarez

Dr. Carmen Nevarez
“Salud Tiene Sabor: Creating Healthy Eating Environments for Latino Families”

In her Salud America! pilot research project, Dr. Carmen Nevarez of the Public Health Institute evaluated the Salud Tiene Sabor program. Sabor, the first program of its kind in California, supports healthy food choices in restaurants by providing access to healthy menu items and nutrition information, including calories posted on menu boards.

Seven independent restaurants have implemented the Sabor program at Mercado La Paloma, a community marketplace in South Los Angeles that serves primarily Latino residents with restaurants, shops, social services and cultural events.

Key preliminary findings include:

  • customers are aware of and use nutrition information on menu boards;
  • restaurant owners support the Salud Tiene Sabor program; and
  • healthy eating options are available to Mercado la Paloma customers.

Early findings indicate that small, independently owned restaurants in low-income Latino communities can help improve local nutrition environments. They also show that Latino communities are aware of and positively influenced by menu labeling.

Read more here.

Salud America! is an RWJF national program directed by the Institute for Health Promotion Research at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the team behind SaludToday.

Growing Number of Hispanics Affected By Diabetes

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1 year ago
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Diabetes, a disease that is expected to affect 9.9% of the world’s adult by 2030, takes an especially heavy toll on U.S. Hispanics, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Huffington Post reports.

Hispanics have double the risk of developing diabetes compared with non-Hispanic whites, according to a CDC a study on diabetes prevalence among Hispanics in California, Florida, Illinois, New York/New Jersey, Texas, and Puerto Rico from 1998 to 2002.

The CDC study also found that:

  • Hispanics tend to develop diabetes at a younger age
  • The prevalence of diabetes decreased with higher education levels; among Hispanics with less than a high school education, 11.8% had diabetes, compared to 7% of college graduates

Read the full news report.

Watch an interesting video on one Latino teen’s experience with diabetes here or below:

Webinar: Linking After-School Program Participation with Latino Youth’s Obesity and Physical Fitness Outcomes

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2 years ago
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Dr. Rebecca London of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities

Dr. Rebecca London of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities

The California School Boards Association and the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities (JGC) at Stanford University invite you to attend a Webinar at 11 a.m. central time today on new research linking after-school program participation with Latino youth’s obesity and physical fitness outcomes.

As part of Salud America! The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children, Dr. Rebecca London and JGC are working with community partners in Redwood City, Calif., and the CSBA to understand the effects of participating in a variety of after-school programs on Latino and other students’ obesity and physical fitness outcomes.

In the Webinar, JGC staff will present research results and share and discuss the implications of the study.

To join the Webinar, at 11 a.m. central time today:

  • Visit http://csba.na4.acrobat.com/youth/
  • Choose the option “Enter as Guest,” type in your name and click the “Enter Room” button
  • To hear the audio portion of the webinar, please dial toll-free number (US/Canada): (866-910-4857)
  • Enter meeting code: 9821176#

Read more about Dr. London and other Salud America! pilot research here.

Liver Cancer Rapidly Increasing in Latino Men in California

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2 years ago
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Rates of liver cancer in U.S.-born Hispanic men in California have increased by 87%, according to scientists at the Cancer Prevention Institute of California (CPIC), who looked at a recent 16-year span of statewide cancer registry data, Hispanically Speaking News reports.

These men are at a significantly higher risk of liver cancer than California Hispanic men born outside of the U.S. Liver cancer risk is also higher among both Hispanic males and females in more ethnically isolated and lower income areas of the state.

The results of this study, which is the first to examine liver cancer rates by neighborhood acculturation level and socioeconomic status, were recently published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.

“California Health Interview Survey data show that levels of obesity and alcohol abuse are higher in U.S.-born than foreign-born Hispanic men. The next steps are to find out what other liver cancer risk factors differ by birthplace, and then develop ways to target those factors especially in U.S.-born Hispanic men to lower their risk of liver cancer,” said CPIC Research Scientist Dr. Ellen Chang, who led the study.

Soccer as a Way to Promote Exercise, Eating Right & Voting

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2 years ago
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Copa COFEM Youth Soccer Tournament

Copa COFEM Youth Soccer Tournament

Several California groups joined forces recently to show how soccer can be an organizational tool to help youths and parents move more, eat healthier and vote.

The groups—Anahuak Youth Sports Association, The City Project and Consejo de Federaciones Mexicanas en Norteamérica (COFEM)—hosted the Copa COFEM, a youth soccer tournament at Rio de Los Angeles State Park at Taylor Yard on Oct. 29-30, 2010.

At the tournament, health advocates provided educational programs about physical activity and healthy eating. City leaders, including Los Angeles City Council member Ed Reyes, urged residents to vote. The City Project worked to engage, educate and empower community members to support plans to save California parks, enforce physical education laws in public schools and other initiatives.

For more about the event and to see photos, go here.

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