Posts tagged English

May 9: Bike to Work Day

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2 weeks ago
by admin in

Many people will leave their cars parked and ride their bicycles to work on “Bike to Work Day” Thursday, May 9, 2013.

Check out these related videos in English and Spanish.

The videos were posted by Mark Jones.

Feb. 1 is ‘National Wear Red Day’ for Heart Disease Awareness

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3 months ago
by admin in

Go Red Por Tu CorazonIn 2003, the American Heart Association faced a challenge: cardiovascular disease claimed the lives of nearly 500,000 American women each year, yet women were not paying attention.

In fact, many even dismissed it as an “older man’s disease.”

To dispel these myths of heart disease as the No. 1 killer of women, the American Heart Association, along with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute created National Wear Red Day to raise awareness of this critical issue. Each year, on the first Friday in February, millions of women and men come together to wear red, take action and commit to fighting this deadly disease.

Join the Wear Red Day event on Facebook.

Or go here to learn more about what to do for Wear Red Day, or learn more about heart disease in English at Go Red for Women or Spanish at Go Red Por Tu Corazón.

Also check out English and Spanish videos on heart attack warning symptoms.

Also check out English and Spanish videos on heart disease risk factors.

Latinos, Looking for Help to Quit Smoking? Try This Study

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5 months ago
by admin in ,

stopsmokingsiteA new study is testing whether an automated self-help “Stop Smoking” website—available in both English and Spanish with various resources and tools to track quit progress—can help smokers quit at higher rates than trying to quit on their own.

Visit the website in English or Spanish to enroll in this no-cost study.

The study, led by Redes En Acción: The National Latino Cancer Research Network, which is funded by the National Cancer Institute, is a collaboration between researchers at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Upon enrollment, researchers will randomly assign participants to one of two methods to quit:

  • Immediate no-cost access to the UCSF “Stop Smoking” website
  • “Quit on Your Own” plus no-cost access to the same website after 6 months

Participants’ smoking status will be evaluated at 1, 3, and 6 months.

This project has a very strict privacy policy, and only researchers will have access to personally identifiable information. The study website site is a self-help health resource. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

How a Professional ‘Abuela’ Spawned a Career in Health Promotion

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11 months ago
by admin in , ,

Armida Flores

Armida Flores was a professional abuela—babysitting her granddaughters, volunteering at their schools, etc.—until they moved to California a few years ago.

Then Flores wasn’t sure what to do with her newfound spare time.

So the Mexico native, who was 30 years removed from school, didn’t know much English and had no career training, decided to enroll in bilingual nursing classes at Palo Alto College in San Antonio and simultaneously earned her GED in Spanish in 2008.

She also took beginner and advanced English to polish her language skills, and in May 2012 earned an associate’s degree in social work, psychology and Spanish.

“The biggest obstacle I had to overcome was to accept that I am not too old to start a new process in my life,” said Flores. “Now that I have overcome this obstacle, I continue working to improve my language and computer skills.”

She’s kick-started her career as a health educator at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio.

She serves as a patient navigator to help cancer survivors navigate the complex health care system, get emotional support, and access needed care services.

She also is a promotora—a community health worker for Latinos—on an IHPR-LIVESTRONG partnership to identify Latino cancer patients and refer them to LIVESTRONG’s cancer survivor services.

LIVESTRONG recently lauded Flores for having the highest number of referrals, and invited her to a national conference in July 2012.

Flores also coordinates workshops, member recruitment and record-keeping for the San Antonio Community Health Association, and she co-founded the Cuenta Conmigo cancer support group for Spanish speakers.

“Armida is the perfect bridge between our Latino community and our health care providers/system,” said IHPR researcher Sandra San Miguel de Majors. “Latino cancer survivors are able to relate to her because she’s from their own community, she speaks their same language and she understands their culture and barriers.

“I admire her positive attitude and willingness to help everyone. She’s got a quiet approach, but makes a very strong impact in our community.”

Flores hopes to eventually earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in counseling.

“My motivations to accomplish my goals are my family, myself, and my desire to learn how to be able to help people in my community,” she said.

Study: Latino Cancer Patients Suffer More Pain, Severe Sadness

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1 year ago
by admin in

Latino patients reported significantly higher rates of pain, numbness, cognition difficulties, vomiting and severe sadness than non-Hispanics in a recent survey of 622 cancer patients awaiting appointments at three hospitals in the Bronx, New York City’s poorest borough, Internal Medicine News reports.

About 45% of Hispanic patients reported moderate to severe pain, more than twice the percentage of whites (20%) and also more than African Americans (37%).

On some measures, differences were seen between Latino patients who spoke English and those who did not. For example, 64 percent of Spanish-dominant Hispanics reported fatigue, compared with 49 percent of English-dominant Hispanic patients.

Read more about the survey here.

Vital Vaccine Information Now in Spanish

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1 year ago
by admin in ,

Photo from the new Spanish-language vaccines.gov website

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently launched a Spanish version of its vaccine information website, which aims to answer questions, educate about diseases that vaccines prevent, and connect individuals with resources to keep themselves and their families healthy.

The Spanish version of the site includes the following:

  • Easy-to-read vaccine recommendation schedules for all age groups and health conditions;
  • Clear information about vaccines and the diseases they prevent;
  • Tips on travel immunizations and staying healthy abroad;
  • Resources regarding vaccine requirements for school or child care entry;
  • Info on where to get vaccinated and programs to make immunizations more affordable, including a community clinic locator; and
  • Tools to share content via social media

To visit the English version, click here.

To visit the Spanish version, click here.

Thanks to the Border Health Commission for the tip on the new website.

VIDEOS: ‘No Excuses’ for Not Getting Colorectal Cancer Screening

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1 year ago
by admin in ,

What’s your excuse?

A new bilingual public service announcement (PSA) from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) addresses common excuses and misconceptions that lead people to delay or avoid getting screened for colorectal cancer.

The PSA features men and women who voice their personal reasons for not being screened, while an off-camera announcer responds by providing facts about colorectal cancer screening and its importance. Adults ages 50-59, Hispanics, and persons with lower income, less than a high school education, and without health insurance were least likely to have been screened for colorectal cancer, according to CDC statistics.

Watch in English:

Watch in Spanish:

NCI’s Cancer.gov Goes Mobile

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1 year ago
by admin in ,

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has launched a new mobile website, m.cancer.gov.

Designed specifically for mobile phone users on any mobile platform, the site in English and Spanish offers much of the same high-quality information found on cancer.gov’s desktop site.

Available in English and Spanish, m.cancer.gov provides cancer patients, their loved ones, and their caregivers with credible, current information about:

  • A wide range of cancer types
  • Cancer diagnosis and treatment
  • Dealing with treatment side effects
  • Questions to ask your doctor
  • Breaking and current cancer news
  • A dictionary of cancer terms that includes audio pronunciations
  • One-touch connection to NCI’s 1-800-4-CANCER information specialist line

In the future, additional content, including information about clinical trials, will be added to m.cancer.gov.

Latina Moms and Moms-to-Be, Get Free Health Tips by Text

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1 year ago
by admin in ,

text4babyCheck out Text4baby, a free bilingual mobile information service that provides pregnant women and new moms with information to help them care for their health and give their babies the best possible start in life.

Sign up for the service by texting BABY (or BEBE for Spanish) to 511411.

Once enrolled, three free SMS messages are sent each week, timed to either a woman’s due date or baby’s date of birth.

Text4baby has proven beneficial effects, according to a recent study of 122 women by the National Latino Research Center at California State University, San Marcos, and the University of California, San Diego:

  • 64% reported text4baby helped them remember an appointment or immunization they or their child needed.
  • 75.4% reported that a text4baby message informed them of medical warning signs they did not know.
  • 71.3% reported talking to their doctor about a topic that they read on a text4baby message.

Text4baby, an educational program of the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB), launched two years and has enrolled almost 300,000 subscribers and sent more than 28 million text messages. The program has more than 700 outreach partners including MTV, the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, and more.

Learn more at www.text4baby.org. Follow the effort on Facebook and Twitter.

VIDEO: A Day in the Life of a Promotora

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1 year ago
by admin in

To address the needs of Latino cancer survivors, the LIVESTRONG organization created a cancer survivorship training curriculum to increase the number of Latino community health workers, otherwise known as promotores, and their skills, knowledge and confidence on the physical, emotional and day-to-day concerns of cancer survivors.

To date, LIVESTRONG has trained more than 500 promotores across the country.

What exactly is a promotora?

Watch this video of Guadalupe Cornejo, a promotora at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, who explains what she does and who she helps.

To see more of what a promotora does, watch a video, “A Day in the Life of a Promotora,” in English subtitles or Spanish.

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