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One of the most important strategies for diabetes management and improvement is through maintaining a healthy diet. Combined with physical activity, this can be the pathway to controlling this disease and improving health outcomes. Good nutrition is not only important for individuals currently diagnosed with diabetes, but it can be vital for preventing the disease, especially for those who may be predisposed to it, such as family members.
Community Health Workers in our healthy living initiative programs are helping Hispanic families change the way they approach food by providing essential education around nutrition that teaches them how to build healthier meals with the foods they know and love. Having knowledge around nutrition that is readily available is an important tool that has the potential to improve dietary habits and reduce the risk of chronic disease throughout a person’s life. But in many of the predominantly Spanish-speaking communities we serve, finding nutritional information that has been adapted to align with their language and culture can be challenging.
Our Community Health Worker (CHW)-led program, Juntos Podemos (Together We Can), is helping residents in the Rio Grande Valley change their lives by providing education and classes that promote healthy lifestyles. The program works specifically with Hispanic families who are enrolled in or eligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP). It lasts 4-weeks and runs multiple times throughout the year to help as many families as possible.
A recent study conducted by UC Davis discovered alarming differences in the causes of dementia among people of different ethnicities. Here are 5 ways Community Health Workers can help Latinos adopt heart-healthy habits to reduce their risk of chronic diseases.
Community Health Worker program can lead to powerful improvements in the health of patients with hypertension. They can help people overcome the challenges they may face in managing their blood pressure. including connecting individuals to affordable health care programs and insurance, providing individualized education and interventions on making healthier dietary choices, the importance of daily exercise, and providing individualized education on the importance of taking medications.
We are excited to announce the launch of our new training workshops. These 4-hour training sessions function similar to electives within our L.E.A.D. curriculum, which provides comprehensive training for Community Health Workers and individuals across the organizations they serve. Unlike the central curriculum, which seeks to educate and empower participants according to their role, workshops instead aim to enable an entire team within an organization to design and implement their own Community Health Worker program that addresses a specific issue within their community.
This lack of access could be a result of many factors. For some communities, healthy food isn’t available. There may not be a grocery store within 10 or 20 miles and food is often purchased from fast food restaurants or convenience stores where many items are highly processed and have lower nutritional value than fresh produce. In some cases, healthy food may be technically available but not accessible.
Many of MHP Salud’s direct service programs operate inside the Rio Grande Valley’s colonias, which are defined by The Texas Office of the Secretary of State as residential areas along the Texas-Mexico border that may lack basic living necessities like potable water, septic or sewer systems, electricity, paved roads, or safe and sanitary housing.
