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HELO Health Day Examines Health Disparities
by
 by Mary Gordon
NLC’s Hispanic Elected Local Officials (HELO) President Carol Alvarado, councilmember, Houston, invited HELO members and colleagues of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) to focus on health disparities during the recent “HELO Health Day,” a forum recently held during the NALEO annual conference in Orlando.
NALEO Executive Director Arturo Vargas and outgoing NALEO President John Bueno, former HELO President, offered special greetings to the group.
Topics included an overview of health disparities issues in Latino communities nationwide, examples of best practices of practical and service-based community collaborations for health care, strategies and resources for local officials to address health care issues, and information about improving access to health care, prescription medicines and health insurance.
Notable speakers included Dr. Reed V. Tuckson, executive vice president and chief of medical affairs, UnitedHealth Group, Minnetonka, Minn.; Dr. Elena Rios, president and CEO, National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA), Washington, D.C., who both provided an overview.
In addition, individuals spoke about best practices of service-based community collaborations for health care. They were Christina Lyons, community health liaison, Healthy Avondale 2010, Neighborhood and Families Services Department, Avondale, Ariz.; Dr. Lovell Jones, director, Center for Research on Minority Health, Department of Health Disparities Research, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; and Dr. Jay Flicker, clinical director, Hope and Help Center of Central Florida, Winter Park, Fla.
Another segment of the program dealt with Strategies and Resources to Address Health Disparities. Speakers included Neil Bomberg, NLC staff; Gary A. Puckrein, Ph.D, president and CEO, National Minority Quality Forum, Washington, D.C.; Sharon Brigner, deputy vice president, affordability and access, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), Washington, D.C. They spoke about methods to improve access to health care and medicines and about health insurance options for Latino communities.
Co-moderators of the event were HELO leaders Sergio Rodriquez, alderman, New Haven, Conn., HELO treasurer, and Carlos Silva, alderman, Bridgeport, Conn., HELO second vice president.
Dr. Tuckson provided an overview and said, “Health in minority communities cannot be handled in a single approach. It has to be handled in a holistic manner. Leaders in municipalities must keep reminding state officials of local issues concerning health disparities.”
Dr. Rios stated, “Individuals must take care of their health individually. We need to exercise more and improve our diets and get better nutrition. There also needs to be more of a focus on chronic disease.”
Dr. Punkerin emphasized that as part of the information age and as a society, we are demanding more information and people need more access to information critical to their health needs.
Health disparities range across the board. There are higher rates of diseases such as cancer, birth defects, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and infant mortality among specific populations and communities. Lack of access to health care and medical information, differences in environmental and occupational exposures, being among the nation’s uninsured, and low-income status and poverty all play roles in creating health disparities within Latino and other diverse communities.
This event was cosponsored by PhRMA and UnitedHealth Group.
In addition to the HELO Health Day, HELO convened its Board of Directors meeting chaired by Alvarado. Discussions focused on policy development issues concerning access to broadband communications for citizens and the issue of underrepresentation of Hispanics in the federal government. Also, the issue of the hazards of railroad crossings in cities became a discussion point as a public safety issue.
Immediate Past President Joseph Maestas, mayor, Espanola, N.M., encouraged HELO leaders to consider running as candidates for next year’s NLC Board of Directors and for the NLC second vice president position.
Details: NLC TV will feature footage from HELO Health Day in the near future at www.nlctv.org. For more information about HELO and membership opportunities, contact HELO’s NLC staff at (202) 626-3169.
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