Youth

Laredo 14th Annual Health Occupations Planning Exposition (HOPE)

UT Health Science Center Librarian Linda Levy talking to Laredo area students attending HOPE

Sponsored by the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) of the Mid Rio Grande Border Area of Texas

Students and teachers alike were very interested in a number of the features of
MedlinePlus and learning how NLM resources could be used for class projects. In
student health fairs, the MedlinePlus Videos & Cool Tools section often
gets the most immediate attention. We also handed out materials on ToxNet and
heard comments that some classes were working on projects with related topics and that this was a resource that they could use. We used the iPad exclusively at this fair and found that students were more apt to try their hand at looking up topics in MedlinePlus while also getting a chance to use the iPad.

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Library Staff Train Students in Eagle Pass

On Tuesday, March 18, Julie Gaines and Keith Cogdill traveled to Eagle Pass to provide training for more than 40 high school students on sources of health information. They introduced the students to MedlinePlus, ToxTown, PubMed and HOT Jobs. After the training they met with Becky Rios of the Winter Garden AHEC.

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Lotería de salud #7: La escalera

La semana pasada en la lotería de salud les dimos un anticipo del tema de esta semana: “súbeme paso a pasito, no quieras pegar brinquitos.” ¿Sabía usted la respuesta? Por supuesto, es ¡¡¡la escalera!!! Y con la escalera — y eso de andar paso a pasito sin pegar brinquitos — reconocemos que junio es el Mes Nacional de la Seguridad (National Safety Month). Este año, el Mes Nacional de la Seguirdad se enfoca en cuatro temas distintas de la seguridad, uno para cada semana. Y por tanto, aquí les doy enlaces a información sobre los cuatro temas del mes:

  • Tema Uno: Preparación para Emergencias. El Departamento Estatal de Servicios de Salud recientemente presentó su nuevo sitio “¿Estás Listo?” con consejos importantes sobre prepararse para emergencias y casos de desastre.
  • Tema Dos: Manejar sin Distracciones. Este artículo de MSN Latino cuenta los resultados de un estudio del Instituto de Transporte y Tecnología de Virginia y la Oficina Nacional de Seguridad de las Carreteras sobre las causas y los riesgos de manejar destraído.
  • Tema Tres: Prevención del Envenenamiento. Esta guía de la Texas Poison Control Network ofrece una gran lista de sugerencias prácticas para prevenir envenenamiento en el hogar y otros lugares.
  • Tema Cuatro: Prevención de las Caídas. Esta página de MedlinePlus ofrece mucha información sobre el peligro de caídas en los ancianos, mientras este librito de Texas Childrens Hospital ofrece muchas sugerencias para padres sobre prevención de caídas de los niños.

Uno, dos, tres, y cuatro — y si anda con cuidado sin pegar brinquitos, usted también puede sacar ¡¡¡buenas!!! Hasta la próxima semana…

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Lotería de salud #8: La botella

Esta semana en la lotería de salud se saca ¡¡¡la botella!!! Y qué bien, porque ya vamos entrando en el calor fuerte del verano de Texas — y hay que tomar siempre bastante agua para evitar las enfermedades que pueden afectarnos en los días de calor. Para aprender más sobre cómo protegerse de los efectos dañinos del calor, he aquí algunos enlaces:

La próxima semana en la lotería de salud: “da acá la pata y empiézame a platicar / los trabajos que pasabas cuando no sabías hablar.” ¿Lo sabes?

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March is National Nutrition Month

We have a serious situation on our hands.
For the first time in the history of the world we are seeing great progress in the near complete eradication of hunger. While we have not solved the problem completely, it can be said that we are supplying food to at least most of the world. More of the poorer countries are learning agricultural techniques to insure a sustained food supply.

Why then, with such success, are we now facing a global epidemic of obesity?  Perhaps nutrition cannot be defined merely as fuel for the body, but it must also include adequate work and exercise for the body.  Nutritious foods can make us healthy, but food alone will not necessarily produce a total picture of health; we need also nutritious work and exercise to build good muscle, bone, blood and tissue.

Last year, a global study performed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, (OECD),  on the health of the world in general, found that more than half a billion people, or one in 10 adults worldwide, were obese and that obesity was spilling over from the wealthy into poorer nations. It’s become an epidemic.

So, what can be done?

Most healthcare professionals agree that the most obvious and imminent causes for over-weight and obesity problems are consumption of excess calories, unhealthy eating habits and insufficient physical activity among children and adults. Individuals in the medical sciences, are being called upon to be leaders in opening the eyes of our communities to see the inherent dangers that threaten us all.

Below is a collection of articles aimed at studying and addressing our complete nutritional problem. You may want to share some of these articles and videos with your clients, patients, students and caregivers.  Together we can turn things around and help make lives better and healthier.

 

MedlinePlus: Obesity rates rise, threaten health in OECD nations:

US Department of Agriculture:

National Heart Lung and Blood Institute – For Health Professionals:

Texas Department of State Health Services:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

MedlinePlus:

MedlinePlus
Nutrition for Seniors:

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics:

 

Scholarly articles

OECD

Obesity in Latino Communities:

Obesity prevalence and the local food environment

Texas Health Institute, 2006 Report

MedlinePlus.gov:

Behavioral intervention program

Science Daily

Children and Nature Network

 

 

Posted in Articles, Hispanic health, Minority health, News, Reports, Resources, South Texas, Staying Well. Connected., Websites, Youth | Comments Off

Muevete USA: combatting obesity among Hispanic youth

Hispanic nursing students from San Antonio, Edinburg, Brownsville, Phoenix, and Chicago, all member of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) are participating in the Muevete USA training curriculum.  Through the curriculum, they will develop the skills necessary to become trainer-influencers to their communities, educating Hispanic youth and their families on the lifelong effects of childhood and adult obesity and to spread the message of benefitting from healthy choices in diet and exercise. 

Norma Martinez Rogers, a professor of family and community health systems at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio (UTHSC), is the project director.  The training curriculum will use a program called “Healthy Choices for Kids,” which is a summer camp run by medical and nursing students from UTHSC as a model of outreach in the five cities.  Student interaction with children and their families may be part of afterschool programs, church programs, or outdoor meetings.  The program will be implemented wherever there are children determined to be at risk for obesity.  Thirty-five students from the participating cities and from Los Angeles gathered in San Antonio on March 5-6 to learn about Muevete USA.  This program is funded through a generous grant from The Coca Cola Foundation, and Dr. Rogers said that this is the first time that the foundation has partnered with Hispanic nurses in their effects to combat obesity in Latino youth.

Posted in Minority health, Staying Well. Connected., Youth | Comments Off

New NIH Cookbook Encourages Families to Eat Healthfully

Keep the Beat ™ Recipes: Deliciously Healthy Family Meals   is the new family cookbook from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health.   The cookbook features more than 40 kid-tested recipes and a variety of healthy entrees, side dishes, and snacks that parents and children can enjoy together. The free cookbook also offers time-saving tips and helpful resources for busy families.

The recipes in the cookbook were designed and created for the NHLBI by David Kamen, a professor in Culinary Arts at the Culinary Institute of America, trained chef/instructor, and father of two. All of the recipes are based on heart-healthy principles from the NHLBI, include nutrition analysis, reflect the principles of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and provide guidance for preparing meals that are low in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, and added sugars. The recipes also adhere to the NHLBI’s Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, which supports an overall healthy eating plan.

The cookbook as well as individual recipes are available for free on the Keep the Beat: Deliciously Healthy Eating website, and hard copies can be ordered through the NHLBI Health Information Center. The site also features a searchable database, family resources, healthy shopping and cooking tips, videos, and information for the media. Visitors are also invited to engage in an online community through the Keep the Beat Facebook page, which contains information about upcoming events and cookbook highlights.  Log on at <http://hin.nhlbi.nih.gov/healthyeating>  or contact the NHLBI Health Information Center at 301-592-8573 for more information.

Keep the Beat Recipes: Deliciously Healthy Family Meals was developed in collaboration with the NIH’s We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition) program. We Can! is a national education program supported by four NIH institutes and led by the NHLBI. The program is designed to provide parents, caregivers, and entire communities with strategies, tactics, and tools to help children stay at a healthy weight by eating healthfully, being active, and reducing screen time.  The cookbook can be used by the We Can! community sites as they implement programs for both parents and youth.

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New NLM Website for Environmental Health Information

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has made available a new environmental health science website for middle and high school students.  According the site, “Environmental Health is the interrelationship between human health and the environment, either natural or manmade.” Users can search topics on this free site to learn about  air polution, chemicals, climate change, and water polution. The site includes resources for teachers and students that are ” within the context of current middle school science curriculum standards.”  For further study, a variety of links are provided to trusted sources such as the Smithsonian Education site for Prehistoric Climate Change and Why It Matters Today.

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New Report – Rural Children’s Dental Health and Access to Care

A new report of a national study conducted by the South Carolina Rural Health Research Center provides information about children’s dental health and access to care:

“The majority of parents in the United States reported that their child had received a preventive dental visit during the past year (72.2%)… Across rural children, Hispanic children were least likely to have had a preventive dental visit (58.0%), followed by black (64.7%), other race/ethnicity (67.6%), and white (73.0%).”

(Thanks to Siobhan Champ-Blackwell for announcing this on her blog, Bringing Health Information to the Community)

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New Report on Hispanic-White Disparities in Child Health

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has released a new report about Hispanic-White disparities in child health, with data from 1997 to 2006.

Thanks to Siobhan Champ-Blackwell’s “Bringing Health Information to the Community.”

Posted in Hispanic health, Staying Well. Connected., Youth | Comments Off