Issue Brief Co-Authored by Health Outreach Partners and the Kaiser Family Foundation
Information provided by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured
Publication Number: 8249
Publish Date: 2011-10-27

This brief examines how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may impact immigrant families based on data collected from Outreach/Eligibility Workers in four regions of the country and supported by needs data from several health outreach programs around the country.  You will note that the pivotal role of Community Health Centers (CHCs)  to connect immigrant families to coverage and care is highlighted.  Migrant Health Centers and Homeless Health Centers are specifically cited because of their history of pioneering and strengthening many of the models and strategies that will be needed to connect immigrant families to health coverage and care come 2014.

Download report here.

EthnoMed contains information about cultural beliefs, medical issues and related topics pertinent to the health care of immigrants to Seattle or the US, many of whom are refugees fleeing war-torn parts of the world. Search the site via culture and clinical topics.

HEAT ILLNESS CAN BE DEADLY. Every year, thousands of workers become sick from exposure to heat, and some even die. These illnesses and deaths are preventable.

OSHA has now posted a new Heat Illness Web Page that includes educational materials in English and Spanish, including low-literacy fact sheets for workers, worksite and community posters, and a public service announcement from Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.  The Web page also includes a video from Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels (in English with a Spanish transcript).  OSHA will be posting additional materials on the Heat Illness Web page, including a lesson plan that employers can use to train their workers to stay safe in the heat and a heat index Smartphone app. 

The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE) is a network of nurses from around the country (and world) who are acting on the notion that our environment and health are inextricably connected. We are a group of nurses from all walks of our profession – hospital-based, public health, school-based, academics, and advanced practice, to name a few.   

We are helping to integrate environmental health into nursing education, greening our many workplaces, incorporating environmental exposure questions into our patient histories, providing anticipatory guidance to pregnant women and parents about environmental risks to children, implementing research that addresses environmental health questions, and advocating for environmental health in our workplaces and governmental institutions.

The Health Protection Agency's role is to provide an integrated approach to protecting UK public health through the provision of support and advice to the NHS, local authorities, emergency services, other arms length bodies, the Department of Health and the devolved administrations.

Fighting cancer is difficult enough, but living with it is even tougher - and that's where the Cleaning for A Reason Foundation steps in.  This nonprofit offers free professional housecleaning, and maid services to improve the lives of women undergoing treatment for cancer - any type of cancer.

Mobile Voices (VozMob) is a platform for immigrant workers and / or low income can create stories about their lives and communities directly from their mobile phones. Each week the team discusses popular media stories, develops and shares knowledge, designs the system, and creates training tools. The communication equipment is made popular by day laborers, domestic workers, and youth volunteers have taken very seriously the role of writing their own history. We also meet every week at USC to develop research on the project.

Poder Sano is a new initiative by Farmworker Justice to help mobilize rural Latino communities around the prevention of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, and tuberculosis. Through this project, Farmworker Justice will provide free capacity-building assistance and community mobilization tools to strengthen community-based organizations' HIV prevention programs, improve monitoring and evaluation practices, and create partnerships for program support.

Poder Sano aims to mobilize rural Latino communities around the prevention of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and other health concerns relevant to migrant farmworkers.

A Child and Teen Card, both in Spanish/English. MCN, along with CHEC (Community Health Education Concepts), has developed patient-friendly, low literacy, bi-lingual immunization cards for you to use with your clients. The cards are 5x7, and can be printed from your clinic computers. MCN designed the card to be as simple as possible, and to include only the most important information. If the information is meaningful and understandable to the clients, they are more likely to understand the importance of keeping their shots up to date.

This brochure was created by the Migrant Clinicians Network Diabetes Program with funding from the Texas Department of Health Diabetes Program / Council. Brochure details basic information on Acanthosis Nigricans. Available in Spanish and English.

California Department of Public Health, Division of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control has identified several cases of mercury toxicity linked to the use of adulterated, unlabelled face creams in the Latino community.  

The Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) has recently released its fall issue of Needle Tips, http://www.immunize.org/nt with news and information for all health professionals who give vaccines.  Also available is Vaccinate Adults, http://www.immunize.org/va  a condensed version ofNeedle Tips for those who work only with adult patients. 

Again, Dr. Deborah Wexler, the Executive Director of the Immunization Action Coalition provides further reading and research on the topic of parental hesitation.  In the second half, we take a brief look at adults specifically:  why do adults hesitate to receive vaccines?  Are these barriers the same as for parents on behalf of their children?  Please feel free to send responses, comments, thoughts, and ideas to the listserv administrator atkath@healthletter.com. If you send comments, we will follow up with your responses and ideas in the next listserv.

FDA Alert:  Conusmers, especially pregnant or breastfeeding women, should avoid consuming a product called “Nzu”, taken as a traditional remedy for morning sickness, because of the potential health risks from high levels of lead and arsenic.