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2008 – 2009 Programs

Executive Office

Prevención, HPV and Cervical Cancer Community Engagement Program (CEP)
This program is in its first year of development in partnership with Merck to develop a community cervical cancer education and HPV awareness campaign. The program is in its pilot phase. Key activities will include development of culturally proficient educational messaging and materials for Hispanics. A toolkit of resources for consumers and providers will be developed at the end of the pilot phase. Prevención will work with sites in Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, and New York City. A major component of the program will provide key information to consumers and providers through the Su Familia and Prenatal Helplines.

COMMUNITY SERVICES

Su Familia (Your Family): The National Hispanic Family Health Helpline
(1-866- SU FAMILIA or 1-866-783-2645)
Su Familia offers Hispanic consumers free reliable and confidential health information in Spanish and English and helps navigate callers through the health system.  Nationwide resources and local referral services are provided depending on the need of the caller. Staffed by bilingual health promotion advisors the helpline provides basic information on a wide range of health topics. Using zip code information to search our up-to-date database of over 22,000 providers, health promotion advisors are able to refer consumers to health care facilities in their community. To provide consumers with culturally proficient health information, over 100 Fact Sheets (FAQs) have been developed on a wide array of health topics, including: infant mortality; cancer and cancer treatment; cardiovascular disease; child and adult immunizations; diabetes; HIV/AIDS; and mental health issues. New for 2008 are FAQs on Parkinson’s disease, hypertension, MRSA, autism, and adult and adolescent depression. FAQs are available on the Alliance website and over half are available in Spanish. In 2007 as part of the Para un corazón saludable, For a Healthy Heart campaign over 2500 calls were answered over the Mother’s Day weekend. Su Familia received over 8000 calls and provided 3250 referrals in 2007. Currently, the Helpline continues to undergo a major referral database upgrade to allow its 22,000 plus health care providers to add and update their information online.

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La Línea Nacional Prenatal Hispana, The National Hispanic Prenatal Helpline
(1-800-504-7081)
Hispanic consumers call from anywhere in the nation, and by providing their zip code to our bilingual health information specialists, can receive a referral to a culturally and linguistically proficient prenatal care provider in their community.  A comprehensive bilingual prenatal guide "Atención prenatal temprana y periódica Guía para tener un bebé saludable (Early and Regular Prenatal Care Helping You Have a Health Baby)" is available to both consumers and providers.  In addition numerous fact sheets are available on all aspects of prenatal care.  Over 2000 kits have been distributed in the past year.  Close to 4000 referrals to prenatal clinics that offer free or low cost prenatal care have been provided to Hispanic women in 2006.

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CENTER FOR CONSUMERS

Juntos Contra la Diabetes (JCD)/United Against Diabetes (JCDII)
The Juntos Contra la Diabetes/United Against Diabetes (JCD II) project addresses the severe and unequal burden of diabetes in Hispanic communities in the United States through outreach and education activities implemented in collaboration with community and national partners, and as an active member of the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP). The JCD II has achieved significant goals during its first three years of operation, including the production and dissemination of a special report on diabetes “El ABC del control de la diabetes” created in partnership with the American College of Family Physicians (ACP) and the American Diabetes Association (ADA); the production and broadcast of a five-minute television segment on diabetes prevention on the nationally syndicated NBC program “Hispanics Today”; the production of a six-minutes video, “Preventing Diabetes in the Hispanic Community”; the creation and distribution of a bilingual diabetes self-management curriculum, “Living with Diabetes.”; trainings for providers and consumers on diabetes prevention and management using the diabetes curriculum; diabetes awareness and education through local and national media campaigns; discussion groups with Hispanic consumers to evaluate television, radio and print public service announcements (PSAs) on diabetes; and, the strengthening of local Hispanic diabetes coalitions in five implementation partner communities around the United States. In 2008, the JCD II project entered its fourth year and will focus on expansion of its diabetes prevention education trainings; conduct a Video News Release (VNR) on diabetes awareness and prevention and will publish the “The State of Diabetes Among Hispanics” report.  The JCD II project is funded through a five-year cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Proyecto Informar™ Capacity Building Initiative
The Alliance's Proyecto Informar™ Capacity Development project promotes health and quality of life by reducing the disproportionate burden of preventable disease, death, and injury among Hispanics. This goal is being achieved by providing training and technical assistance to agencies that provide health services in Hispanic communities. In its first year, PICD conducted a needs assessment and developed a “State of the Regions Report” to identify Hispanic community health provider technical assistance needs, training priorities, and key programs delivering culturally proficient and linguistically appropriate public health services. The PICD project also developed a survey instrument to continuously update the Alliance’s Su Familia National Hispanic Family Health Helpline database of providers. This survey instrument allows providers to update service information with an emphasis on cultural proficiency and language appropriateness of available services. Most recently, the PICD conducted cultural proficiency training with representatives from health departments throughout the United States, including Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, South Carolina, Virginia, and Wyoming. Most recently PICD updated and revised and printed the fourth edition of Delivering Health Care to Hispanics and companion workbook.  PICD will be conducting a second round of cultural proficiency training for health department staff, and a training institute for Hispanic community-based agency staff. PICD is in its second year of a four-year Cooperative Agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Chagas Disease Intiative
TheChagas Disease Initiative is designed to assess the level of knowledge about Chagas disease among Hispanic consumers and health care providers serving Hispanics. Chagas disease is a vector-borne disease that is spread by infected bugs called triatomines. This disease is endemic throughout much of Mexico, Central, and South America. In the U.S. it is now estimated that there are 100,000 or more persons in the U.S. with the infection. While Chagas disease usually remains dormant for years or decades, approximately 20-40% of persons who are infected will develop cardiac disease, gastrointestinal complications, and are at increased risk of stroke. Chagas can be life threatening. In 2007, the FDA instituted screening for Chagas disease in the US blood supply. Blood and blood products that are infected with Chagas must be rejected. The major concern with this disease is that persons who are infected are not being identified, and those who are identified are not being referred to treatment. This effort is being carried out in order to better comprehend the level of knowledge about Chagas disease in order to help guide the development of educational materials. This initiative is a one-year program funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

CENTER FOR PROVIDERS

La Promesa (The Promise) Medicare Preventive Benefits Counseling Program
Since its inception in 2004 has delivered on its name by providing one-to-one outreach to Hispanic seniors. The program has built a legacy of capacity development in over 25 communities that have worked on the program for the past five years. As part of its current efforts, La Promesa is educates Hispanic seniors on the Medicare diabetes screening benefit as well as other preventive benefits offered through Medicare. Thirteen communities and CBOs are conducting counseling sessions and other activities to get the word out on Diabetes screening and other preventive benefits. Close to 3000 individual counseling sessions have been conducted in an 8-month period. The program has developed an outreach and educational toolkit that includes a bilingual consumer booklet “Take Control of Your Health: Medicare Diabetes and Other Preventive Care Benefits/Tome el control de su salud: Beneficios de cuidado preventivo de Medicare para la diabetes y otras condiciones.” This publication provides information about diabetes and other preventive benefits. A Spanish language DVD with English subtitles and a PowerPoint CD in Spanish and English are available as educational teaching tools. The program is funded by a grant from GSK.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): What Parents Should Know
To provide Hispanic parents linguistically appropriate and culturally proficient information on ADHD with resources to effectively navigate the educational and health systems, the Alliance partnered with McNeil Pediatrics to promote ADHD Awareness Day (September 19, 2007) as part of Hispanic Heritage Month. A bilingual radio media satellite tour was conducted to reach a greater Hispanic audience. Technical assistance was provided to McNeil on its 2007 ADHD Awareness Day Survey. To increase awareness educational materials were revised and printed to provide the latest information on the disorder. Resources include a bilingual FAQ and  “Educational Rights for Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Primer for Parents”. 

The Community Engagement Program (CEP) Understanding, Preventing, and Treating Hypertension
The program works to increase awareness of prevention and treatment for hypertension.   In its first year, the program conducted a needs assessment working with four lead Hispanic CBOs. The four lead communities conducted blood pressure screenings nationally in the first of the program. Currently in it’s second year, the program is developing a series of bilingual publications on hypertension. The new DVD, “Hypertension… Control is in your hands. Presión alta…El control está en tus manos,” is available for providers. Through the Su FamiliaHelpine individuals can call and obtain free information and referrals to a local provider in their area. Local efforts include one-to-one counseling sessions. Easy to use bilingual diaries for monitoring blood pressure readings are available free of charge. The program is funded by a grant from Novartis Corporation.

CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND POLICY

Proyecto Ciencia® (Project Science)
Proyecto Ciencia® promotes innovative research about Hispanics and communicates new developments to the science community and to consumers in order to support them in making the best-informed decisions for their health. In a new broader phase Proyecto Ciencia® has been funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Proyecto Ciencia® has inaugurated a Hispanic Pioneers in Science video and podcast series profiling the extraordinary contributions of Hispanics in health and the sciences. The initiative has also developed and widely distributed a Scholarship Resource Guide to encourage Hispanic youth to pursue science and health careers. In addition, Proyecto Ciencia® will disseminate its bilingual (English/Spanish) consumer health materials resource kit to Hispanic consumers and Alliance community partners for use in their community-based health and education programs. Over 100 university-based partners power the reach of Proyecto Ciencia® and help the program support the next generation of Hispanic scientists.

Proyecto Informar™ FDA Hispanic Outreach Initiative
The Proyecto Informarä FDA Hispanic Outreach Initiative is an innovative umbrella cooperative agreement. The Alliance leads FDA development of Hispanic community outreach materials and initiatives. The program adapts current materials for use in the Hispanic community in support of the FDA’s consumer protection mission as well as quickly disseminating information on food and drug warnings and recalls so that Hispanic consumers receive information in a timely manner. The program also implements special initiatives in support of key FDA outreach efforts including support of FDA’s development of a Spanish language web presence and special health topics. As part of this effort, the program works closely with the FDA in the Spanish adaptation and media dissemination of crucial consumer health information to Hispanic communities. Recent efforts include: FDA warnings on contamination of toothpaste; the buying of potentially risky drugs over the internet; new safety information on the diabetes drugs; the recall announcements of canned food and possible botulism toxin contamination; and, the imports alerts on farm-raised seafood. Media dissemination includes wide placement on wire services serving Spanish language media, community newspapers, as well as national coverage on network news.

The Health and Environment Action Network (HEAN)
HEAN is a national and locally driven effort committed to securing the right of all people to clean air and water. The network has been initiated in four communities to document the nexus of environmental risk and health impacts, mobilize community solutions, and secure national and local action on the environmental risks that compromise the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the health and well-being of communities. HEAN has introduced innovative new technology to the United States that takes pollution monitoring from a stationary platform to a mobile platform, about the size of a cell phone. Volunteers of HEAN youth take the lead to take measurements of air pollution in their community, on their way to school, where they play, and where they live.

¡Vive tu vida!   Get Up!  Get Moving!™ 
This is the Alliance’s national healthy lifestyle initiative. The annual family health celebration promotes physical activity, strengthening families, and community opportunities. The focus of the GUGM initiative is on making movement a part of our daily lives for people of all ages and all sizes. Leading Hispanic community-based organizations organize these annual family health celebrations. Events for 2008 will take place in 9 communities throughout the summer and early fall across the country. Local activities are consistent with local resources and take place in neighborhood schools, downtown areas, parks, malls, stadiums, or even indoor gyms. Each year the activities will emphasize the importance of being active, supporting families, and building community.

¡Para un Corazon Saludable! For a Healthy Heart
This is a national initiative to raise awareness and understanding of heart health, including atherosclerosis, in Hispanic communities. The program has established a landmark partnership with the American College of Cardiology (ACC) to found the National Hispanic Cardiologists Leadership Network, the first health professional network of Hispanic cardiologists and those that serve Hispanic communities.  Workforce development, patient education and support, international efforts, and science and public policy are part of the local efforts. The program is also conducting community heart health education and screening programs with results of the first year’s screenings widely featured in the media including Univision, NBC, Associated Press, EFE, and Telemundo. In 2008, heart health education will be a part of ¡Vive tu Vida! Get Up! Get Moving!™ family healthy lifestyle events. In addition, all patients and providers reached by this initiative will receive personalized assistance through the Alliance’s bilingual Su Familia Helpline (1-866-SU-FAMILIA) or through text messaging “HEART” or “CORAZÓN” to 56658. Para un Corazon Saludable is funded through an educational grant from AstraZeneca.

CENTER FOR TECHNOLOGY

hispanichealth.org
Designed for Hispanic health consumers and health providers, the Alliance website (hispanichealth.org) offers a suite of health resources and online communication tools. Web visitors can access up-to-date news and information, statistical data, downloadable health materials in both English and Spanish, and a growing number of other online resources. Recent enhancements to the site include a secure area for members to join or renew individual or organizational memberships, purchase publications, and make online donations. Members may opt-in to receive e-newsletters and text messaging alerts. Members may also participate in important action campaigns or Tell-A-Friend of impending legislation. Recent implementations include the integration of the Alliance’s Helpline Referral database with hispanichealth.org. This online Referral database gives clinics, CBOs, and health providers the ability to modify and update their referral profiles for use by the two Alliance Helplines.