Health Advocacy
The LULAC National Office works to influence the enactment of policies and legislation that increase access to and improves the quality of medical services for Hispanics in the United States and Puerto Rico. Through advocacy and community education programs, LULAC places an emphasis on diseases disproportionately affecting Latinos, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, asthma, childhood obesity and HIV/AIDS.
Recent Events
On December 3, 2013 LULAC held conference call to discuss various health issues impacting Latino communities. Topics ranged from the Affordable Care Act updates, new initiatives from the Department of Health and Human Services and LULAC's on going work with SNAP and antibiotics. You can read highlights of the conversation here.
Health Care in our Community
Super Madres! Promoting Human Health
Now in partnership with the Pew Charitable Trusts, LULAC has launched the Super Madres campaign which will raise awareness and promote advocacy around the injudicious use of antibiotics in animal food production driven by the increasing awareness of antibiotic resistance and its link to food animal production practices.
84th National Convention
During the 84th National Convention LULAC featured three different workshops on healthy living to engage our membership and community into healthy lifestyles. These workshops included:
Real-life Super bugs: Antibiotic Resistance
As a part of LULAC’s Latinos Living Healthy Initiative and our Super Madres Campaign, a series of expert panelists discussed efforts to improve policy that protects the public’s health and raises awareness about individual protection. LULAC youth attendees then watched Contagion, a Hollywood thriller about the spread of a deadly disease and an international team of doctors hired by the CDC to deal with the outbreak. The purpose of the session was to teach young LULAC members about the important differences between viral illnesses and bacterial infections, how food safety can help protect them from disease, and how LULAC’s Super Madres campaign is working to protect them at the national level by supporting the Food and Drug Administration’s and Congress’ efforts to curb antibiotic overuse.
Community Health: Where You Live Matters
The community one lives in has a startling effect on how easily one can maintain a healthy lifestyle by making healthy life choices. Resources as basic as the ability to find healthy foods at reasonable prices, access to safe places to exercise and local weather patterns dictate many of our daily choices. Traci Traasdahl and Bryan O’Farrell from the Clark County School District described how they coordinated a walk to school program which allowed their students to get to school safely while exercising. Angelica Quiroz from Springs Reserve which is located in Nevada noted that even in harsh climates most local governments strive to provide some form of Community Park for their constituents. Finally, Tres Bailey, the Director of Agriculture and Food for Wal-Mart, notes how Wal-Mart has been actively working toward providing healthy foods for their consumers through their “Great For You” label and by cutting down on the sodium and trans-fats that can be found in the foods they sell.
Latinos Living Healthy Town Hall
In line with the Latinos Living Healthy Initiative this panel contributed to our efforts to grow a grass-roots awareness of the key processes and timelines for the application of the ACA. This town hall forum provided broad information and guidance to LULAC advocates and community leaders around the importance of Latino participation in the new health care system. The Latinos Living Healthy Town Hall drew from the expertise of key speakers from AARP and Health and Human Services and fostered meaningful discussion on how advocates from the local to the federal level can help ensure that Latinos benefit from the new law and that our communities continue to build upon this progress to advance health equity for all Americans.