by Minority Nurse Staff | Apr 4, 2013 | Hispanic and Latino Nurses, Magazine, Minority and Community Health
Texas is a big state with a big population. To be singled out as one of the most powerful and influential people in the Lone Star state is quite an achievement, and it’s one that Norma Martinez Rogers, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., can now celebrate.
Rogers, a clinical nursing faculty member at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, was named one of the “Most Powerful and Influential Women in Texas” by the National Diversity Council in April 2011. She was one of 20 women given the title at the seventh annual Texas Diversity and Leadership Conference.
The National Diversity Council had ample accomplishments to review when considering Rogers as one of their honorees, particularly with regard to her mentoring initiatives. She founded the Juntos Podemos (Together We Can) mentoring program in 2000, with just 20 students. Since then the program has served about 2,400 students, around 200 each semester.
In 2010, both the Health Resources and Services Administration and Congressional Hispanic Caucus gave Rogers $900,000 and $500,000 grants, respectively, to support her mentoring programs. In her current role in the Department of Family and Community Health Systems, Rogers has developed even more mentoring programs specifically for diverse nursing students.
In addition to a slew of organizational roles, including a member of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health’s Movilizandonos per Nuestro Futuro (as a part of the steering committee), the commissioner of the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, and a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rogers also led the National Association of Hispanic Nurses from 2008–2010.
Find out more about the award and next year’s 2012 Texas Diversity and Leadership Conference at www.texasdiversityconference.com.
by Minority Nurse Staff | Apr 4, 2013 | Black and African-American Nurses, Magazine
African Americans are becoming infected with HIV/AIDS more than ever before, comprising nearly 50% of all AIDS diagnoses in 2009, despite representing just over 12% of the U.S. population. The YOUR Center, a community development center, has launched a new initiative, YOUR Blessed Health (YBH), to put an end to the spread of HIV, AIDS, and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) around Flint, Michigan.
Through providing resources and education to faith-based institutions and community based organizations, YOUR Blessed Health hopes to educate 13 to 19-year-old African American teens who represent 65% of new HIV/AIDs cases in the American teen population each year. There are currently 46 faith based organizations in the area that now participate in this youth program, which has been up and running for five years now.
The group’s primary focus is 11- to 25-year-old African American men and women. YBH wants to spread their message to African American children through the churches and community organizations by providing more trusted areas for adults and teens to discuss the actions that may put them at risk for HIV/AIDS. Before YBH, sex and HIV were forbidden discussion topics for community churches. Director of the YOUR center, Bettina Campbell, believes this is even more of a reason to expose the program to these youths, as they are statistically more at risk than other minority groups and whites.
Though the group experienced much resistance from church leaders in the creation of the youth program, YBH offers training and support for participating pastors, as well as their spouses, and other community and religious leaders. The faith leaders are able to choose from a list of educational activities based on their own beliefs and culture. For example, one pastor may be against showing his youth members how to properly apply a condom using a banana, while another may give consent as long as it is off church property.
Campbell says churches across the United States are interested in duplicating the program, and they plan on using YBH has their primary model. Find out more about getting tested and getting your community involved at www.yc4w.org.
by Minority Nurse Staff | Apr 4, 2013 | Magazine
As a partnership between the Healthy Schools Campaign, Chicago Public Schools, the Office of Minority Health, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Heroes for Healthy Schools week-long campaign launched in May in Chicago public schools to revolutionize the way schools and children think about health and exercise in the classroom.
The week’s events were held in Chicago to recognize the city’s public schools’ efforts to change the thinking in low-income minority students about nutrition and fitness. The Heroes for Healthy Schools campaign is a part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move program and HealthierUS School Challenge. Chicago adopted the USDA’s food program in its schools in 2010, and was the first major public school system to do so. Chicago public schools have a goal to get at least 100 schools to meet the USDA’s HealthierUS School Challenge.
Heroes for Healthy Schools week included visits from Chicago chefs; classroom breakfast initiatives; school-wide fitness challenges; conferences and professional development classes for teachers, administrators, and school nurses; local farm support with “buy local” webinars for low-income families; and meetings for parents to learn about the national initiatives to transform health education in public schools.
Thirty public health educators came to Chicago to run events and programs during the campaign, including Cornell McClellan, the Obama family’s personal trainer, and Tonya Lewis Lee, the official spokesperson for the Office of Minority Health.
The Office of Minority Health also hosted a screening of Lewis Lee’s documentary Crisis in the Crib: Saving Our Nation’s Babies and a citywide forum on private-public school partnerships to target nutrition and fitness education in children from minority and low-income families.
For more information on Heroes for Healthy Schools week and how you can get involved in your school system’s efforts, visit www.healthyschoolscampaign.org.
by | Apr 3, 2013 | Magazine
Child obesity is more of a problem in the United States today than it was a decade ago. Now, Kids LiveWell, a program sponsored by the National Restaurant Association and Healthy Dining, is taking action. USA Today reported more than 15,000 restaurants are now representing healthy eating for kids. Chains such as Burger King, Chili’s, Friendly’s, and IHOP are now featuring kids’ meals that contain no more than 600 calories. USA Today states the lower-fat, lower-sodium meals must have an entrée, side dish, and beverage while still fulfilling the calorie and other nutritional requirements. You can find these healthy meal options with a designated red apple on the menu at participating locations.
Over time, the group hopes to recruit more restaurants to offer healthier kids’ meals, says Dawn Sweeney, President of the National Restaurant Association. There are plans to expand the program throughout the United States in upcoming weeks. Since children get about one-third of their calories from eating at fast food restaurants, having healthier options is very important, says Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The food kids fuel their bodies with at such a young age is going to effect them for the rest of their lives, so it is crucial to not get hooked on junk food.
Depending on the parents’ schedules, some kids eat fast food multiple times a week. Now, Kids LiveWell is making the circumstances a lot easier on families to eat healthily, says Wootan. The program seems to be having a big impact on most restaurant chains, as menus are being modified all over the United States.
To learn more about the Kids LiveWell program and find participating restaurants near you, visit www.healthydiningfinder.com!
by | Apr 1, 2013 | Magazine
Some children already suffering sickle cell disease may find themselves at risk for yet another malady: “silent strokes.” Researchers found those children with a combination of sickle cell, high blood pressure, and the anemia inherent with sickle cell were more vulnerable to this dangerous, symptomless neurologic condition, according to findings published in the November 2011 issue of Blood.
Part of an international, multicenter trial funded by the National Institutes of Health, the study surveyed 814 patients ages five to 15. (None had reported or showed signs of previous strokes.) Using MRIs, researchers found 31% of those children had experienced a silent stroke. Though both anemia and high blood pressure on their own were found to increase the risk of stroke, patients with both were nearly four times as likely to have a silent stroke, when compared to the children with the lowest blood pressure and highest hemoglobin numbers.
While strokes are far more common among children with sickle cell than those without, silent strokes do not exhibit the telltale signs nurses and other practitioners may be accustomed to, such as paralysis and loss of speech or vision. Rather, silent strokes can cause brain damage and further hinder a child’s development. By targeting anemia and high blood pressure, nurses can help mitigate the risk of silent strokes in children with sickle cell through early awareness and preventive care.
Children with sickle cells also need extra fluids: at least five cups of water or other liquids for children up to 30 pounds, with one added cup for every additional five pounds. “We can all be a part of this process if we share the importance of hydration, hydration,” says Donna Edwards, M.S.N., R.N., a nurse with 25 years experience in medical/surgical, critical care/interventional radiology nursing, and education fields. With a grandson living with the disease, Edwards says the top five things nurses need to know about sickle cell include the following:
- Red blood cells break down every 14 days.
- Patients may exhibit acute abdominal pain (gallstones, constipation, dehydration).
- Bone pain can be part of the disease but can also be osteomyelitis.
- Patients may develop increased respirations with a moist cough/impending infection.
- Patients should dress appropriately for cold and warm temperatures.
