Within the United States, Lati-nos are a medically under-served population many who experience multiple barriers to healthcare access and treat-ment. The result is disparities in healthcare and health out-comes. The National Coalition of His-panic Health and Human Ser-vices Organizations has empha-sized the critical need for the development and evaluation of infrastructure to meet the health needs of Latino commu-nities. Latinos would benefit from community-based services

and sustainable efforts to reach the underserved. Aca-demic and religious institu-tions, philanthropic and social service organizations in com-munities across the country have joined efforts to support health events to serve Latinos. These health events reach the underserved and connect indi-viduals to community safety-net clinics and related health resources. With the same pur-pose, our 2008 health focus event took place at the Heart to Heart International Global Distribution Center.

Celebrating Our Success

The Health Focus Partnership Community partnerships have been used successfully to address a variety of health outcomes in ethnic minorities, including health dis-parities among Latinos. Following this approach, a working partner-ship of organizations was formed. Included in this group are: Coalition of Hispanic Women Against Cancer

The University of Kansas Cancer Center

El Centro, Inc. NCI’s Cancer Information Service

Heart to Heart International Truman Medical Centers

Midwest Cancer Alliance

Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the University of Kansas Medical Center

Celebrating Healthy Families 2008 Event Summary & Key Findings

We are preparing for the 2009 Celebration! October 3, 2009

2008 EVENT OUTCOMES

585 registered attendees

488 participants received at least one screening

SCREENINGS

372 Cholesterol

400 Blood pressure

392 Glucose

229 Dental

165 Skin/sun damage

111 Body Mass Index

82 Vision

63 Mental health

18 Interested in quitting smoking

13 Prostate

Celebrating Healthy Families has always been supported by wonderful vol-unteers from the community. In 2008, we had MANY dedicated volunteers assist with the event. 65 screeners (nurses, medical students, other health care professionals) 4 physicians 133 community members (interpreters, parking, registration and crowd control among many others) The screeners provided glucose testing, blood pressure, BMI, cholesterol, skin cancer, vision, mental health, dental and smoking cessation services.

Community lay health workers, Promotores de salud, from El Centro, Inc., reviewed the screening results and contact information of each participant for case management follow-up. They also handed out culturally and lin-guistically appropriate educational materials. This event would not be pos-

sible without the generous time donated by ALL the volunteers. We appreciate each and every one.

P A G E 2

Who Were the Participants in 2008?

Community Involvement

To better characterize the participants of our 2008 event, we surveyed 154 of the attendees while they were waiting for screenings.

C E L EB R A TI N G HE A L TH Y F AM IL I ES

Highlights 91.5% had no health insurance 68.8% originally from Mexico 64.7% spoke only Spanish at home 61% were female Average age was 37 Average annual household income: $18,000 68% had a high school education or less Average number of years in USA: 9.3 Average number of years in Kansas: 7.3

C E L EB R A TI N G HE A L TH Y F AM IL I ES P A G E 3

Connecting to a Medical Home

Health Care Access & Utilization

Case management goals: * Early detection * Collect baseline and addi-tional information about a condition * Connect participants to healthcare resources * Follow-up completed in 2 months

In 2008, a case manager was contracted and a protocol was developed among some of the planning committee members and a volunteer physician. Promotores confirmed contact information at the event for in-dividuals with abnormally high results (glucose, cholesterol, and blood pressure) and in

need of follow up medical care. According to protocol, the case manager followed-up with par-ticipants at weeks 1-4, 5-7, and 8. A behavior advice recom-mendation letter was mailed to the participants who did not fall into any elevated risk range. Using case management as an intervention to provide continu-ous care for Latinos in the Kan-sas City area benefits not only the individual patients but the overall healthcare system - as case managers and healthcare providers can collaborate to en-sure that patients receive the information, training, and sup-port needed to facilitate effec-tive management of their dis-eases.

The most important compo-nent that distinguishes Cele-brating Healthy Families from other health fairs is the case management offered to assist participants access and establish a medical home.

86.4% did NOT have a health care provider or a personal doctor

22% had a checkup in past year

~50% used community health clinics for their last health visit

At the event 154 participants completed a survey to determine perception of their health status and to evaluate access to healthcare.

Even though the participants are young, more than two thirds of participants reported that their health in general was fair or poor.

Celebrating Healthy Families recognizes the importance of healthy life-styles. We also recognize the challenges that minority groups, particularly Latinos, face in receiving culturally appropriate information and care to implement behavior change. And we know that Latinos are less likely to receive advice on healthy lifestyles from healthcare providers, to utilize evidence-based treatments, and utilize state-funded resources. This health focus event provides fun and culturally appropriate activities to promote and encourage the participants to practice healthy lifestyle changes. These include cooking demonstrations of Latin Ameri-can dishes to promote healthy eating, Mexican folkloric dancing and Zumba (Latin music-based aerobic exercise) demonstrations to promote physical activity.

P A G E 4

Cancer Prevention

Smoking Cessation

Promoting Healthy Lifestyle

The Coalition of Hispanic Women Against Cancer (Coalition), is a volunteer driven non-profit organization that provides educates on breast and cervical cancer as well as other cancer related diseases and provides screening services to the underserved. Early de-tection screening is the key to surviving cancer, which can be accomplished by increas-ing access to free or low cost programs. Our survey data show that of the women respondents that were 35 years or older, 67.9% indicated they had a clinic breast exam or mammogram in the past year. This data indicates the need to increase awareness about breast cancer screening and im-portance of “getting screened” among Latina women in the Wyandotte County. At the

event the Coalition registered 74 women for mammograms and of those, 52 received mammogram screening post event. Community health events can be an effective way of identifying and connecting women to early cancer screening reducing cancer-related disparities.

C E L EB R A TI N G HE A L TH Y F AM IL I ES

Pharmacotherapy and behavioral counseling can dramatically increase rates of smoking cessation. However, Latinos are less likely than other ethnic groups to receive these interventions. Latino males, in particu-lar, smoke at much higher rates than Latino women, yet are much less likely to access the healthcare system than Latino women or chil-dren. In order to bring smoking cessation services to Latinos, we need to redesign current systems for identifying and treating Latino smok-ers. Health events represent a great new venue to reach smokers and engage them in treatment. During the health focus event, we identi-fied that ONE in FIVE Latinos currently smoke cigarettes. All 18 partici-pants interested in smoking cessation treatment left the event with a smoking quit plan including educa-tion about importance of using smoking cessation resources, counseling and pharmacotherapy to sup-port a quit attempt.

C E L EB R A TI N G HE A L TH Y F AM IL I ES 2 0 0 8 E V EN T S UM M A RY & K EY FI N D IN GS

The health focus event is making a difference in the health of the Kan-sas City Latino community. Edu-ardo is just one of the many com-munity members who, thanks to the free screen-ings, was able to identify and ad-dress personal health issues.

Eduardo is a 57 yr old male who heard about the Celebrat-ing Healthy Families event on the radio. He decided to attend because he had not been to a doctor in a long time and had not been feeling well. Eduardo had a high glucose result when

he was screened. He had already been pre-scribed medi-cation for his blood pres-sure and blood sugar but had not been taking his medica-tions for quite some time.

He could not afford the medica-tions or doctor visits necessary for follow-up. Our case man-ager was able to connect Edu-ardo with the Jay Doc Free Clinic. This clinic offers urgent care services, and was able to provide Eduardo with the

medical care that he needed. After his visit with the Jay Doc Clinic he was referred to Sil-ver City Health Center for con-tinued care. He is feeling fine and is continuing his follow-up and taking care of himself. He expressed many thanks for the event and the help of the case manager to meet all his needs. He stated that without the Celebrating Healthy Families event and case management he would not have known about the safety net clinics, services, location, …and he probably would not have sought care. *Names have been changed to protect privacy

P A G E 5

Success Story - Eduardo*

Media Outreach Media was the main vehicle used to promote the event; 42% of attendees learned about the event through television or radio. Dos Mundos, La GranD Radio and Univision sup-ported us along the way. Thank you!!! Celebrating Healthy Families brought to you by:

October 3, 2009 Heart to Heart International

1021 Pacific Avenue Kansas City, Kansas

SAVE THE DATE for 2009