Healthy lifestyles and health screening can increase an individual’s lifespan and quality of life. In 2006, a group of six organizations came together to en-hance health in the La-tino community. Im-proved outcomes are accomplished when community groups take the lead in getting people involved in healthy be-haviors that can reduce risks for chronic dis-eases, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. As members of the community, we are leading the way in pro-moting health and prevent-ing disease in the places where we live, learn, work and play.

The first Health Focus event was held in October of 2006 in Wyandotte County Kansas, an area with a high concentration of Latinos. It was very successful and the

need was clear. The focus areas this first year in-cluded: cancer, cardiovascu-lar disease, smoking cessa-tion, obesity and depression. Given the enormous turnout for this first event, we imme-diately began planning for the following year. In 2007, responding to feedback from participants, we expanded our focus areas to include dental and vision. In addition to a Kansas health event,

we conducted a second event in a large Hispanic community in Jackson County, Missouri.

Celebrating Our Success in 2007

Celebrating Healthy Family Objectives The overall goals of the Health Focus events are to increase awareness and access to health for the uninsured/underserved Hispanic community in both Kansas and Missouri.

The specific objectives of this project are:

Cancer, Diabetes and Car-diovascular Preventive screenings: Cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose, take home colorectal can-cer screening kits, prostate cancer screening (DRE &

PSA), skin cancer screen-ing, mammogram and pap smear registration.

Promoting Healthy Eating: Cooking demonstration and sampling of a healthy recipe, educational mate-rial about healthy eating and free grocery bag with recipe book and ingredi-ents for a healthy recipe.

Promoting Evidence-based Smoking Cessation and Home smoking restriction: Providing specific stop smoking material and re-

ferrals to state funded be-havioral telephone counsel-ing. Participants interested in stopping smoking were also eligible for smoking cessation pharmacother-apy.

Case management/referral: Working with par-ticipants identified as at-risk to get them into the local safety net clinics in order to access needed health care.

2007 Celebrating Healthy Families: Event Summary & Key Findings

Celebrating Healthy

Families Health Focus

events have provided

valuable screenings,

education and follow-

up to approximately

1500 Latinos in 2006-

2007.

2007 Event Outcomes

• 457 people registered for screenings

• 368 people completed all of the following: choles-terol, blood pressure and glucose screenings

• 168 dental screenings completed

• 114 people received skin/sun damage checks on site

• 69 eye exams completed

• 59 women scheduled for free mammogram and pap/pelvic exam

• 36 prostate exams were completed

• 27 people received on-site smoking cessation assess-ment, counseling and pharmacotherapy treat-ment

• 137 participants assessed their body mass index (BMI)

• 250 volunteers

We are already preparing for the 2008 Celebration!!!

October 4, 2008

a safety net clinic. We need to redesign current health systems for identifying and treating Latino males.

In terms of cancer screen-ing, 11.2% have ever had a colonoscopy and 14.3% had a prostate exam. Among women, 52.3% had a pap smear and 29.5% had a mammogram done in the past year. In terms of their cardiovascular screen-ing, less than one third had blood pressure (35.5%) or cholesterol (25.5%) levels checked in the past year.

To better characterize the par-ticipants of our 2007 Kansas and Missouri events, we sur-veyed 137 of the attendees while they were waiting for screenings. Media was the main vehicle used to promote the event; 42% of attendees learned about the event through television or radio.

The majority of attendees were female (63%), originally from Mexico (72%) recently immigrated, with low accul-turation. Approximately half were unemployed. Two thirds reported annual household income below $20,000, and one third had levels of educa-tion equal or below elemen-tary school. Household size varied between 1-9 members (average 4.23); 33% had 3 or more children and only 19.4% had no children.

Despite living in the U.S. for at least 10 years (60%), we iden-tified low acculturation levels:

67.2% only speak Spanish at home, 72.9% only speak Spanish with friends, 76.7% report thinking only in Span-ish.

More than two thirds of the sample had a permanent phone line (73.5%) that they had kept for more than 12 months.

Approximately one third of participants (36.4%) had regular access to a com-puter at home, library or work.

Latinos surveyed were largely uninsured (87.7%), more than half of partici-pants have had a doctor visit in the past 12 months (58.5%), more often in safety net clinics (58.8%). Compared to men, women are significantly more likely to report a doctor visit in the past 12 months and signifi-cantly more likely to attend

Who Were the Participants?

Approximately

half of the

participants are

unemployed, two

thirds reported

annual household

income below

$20,000. Latinos

surveyed are

largely uninsured

(87.7%).

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Effective case manage-ment requires systems to identify patients in need of service, track changes in healthcare needs, assure access to treatment in accor-dance with best prac-tices, and pro-actively engage patients in be-havior change. Many disease management programs utilize some type of case manager and proactive tele-phone contacts to de-liver specific elements of evidence-based care. These case man-

agers frequently pro-vide counseling and coordinate care. Our health focus events have relied on case managers to link Lati-nos with healthcare services and to coordi-nate care. • In each event, 8

case managers were available to review screening outcomes with par-ticipants.

• Based on individual needs, case man-gers provided tai-lored educational

material and refer-ral to safety net clinics.

• All participants were invited to at-tend an educa-tional session on cardiovascular risk factors one month post event.

• Case managers followed up with participants identi-fied with high car-diovascular risk factors to promote connection with the healthcare system.

Connecting to a Medical Home

Helping Our Community Members Quit Smoking quit attempts and low utilization of standard smoking cessation methods. Latinos at-tending the Health Fo-cus reported limited knowledge and utiliza-tion of existing smoking cessation resources; 52% had tried to quit cold turkey, 91.2% had never heard about state tobacco counsel-ing quitline, and only 14% had used some form of nicotine re-placement. The vast majority of participants (85%) were very inter-ested in participating in research studies to stop smoking and

62.9% would definitely participate in a free stop smoking program. These results illustrate that Latino smokers are interested in par-ticipating in smoking cessation interventions and in using pharmaco-therapy and behavioral counseling for cessa-tion. Efforts to increase awareness and access to treatment among Latinos are key ele-ments to be addressed in this community.

Our goal was to de-scribe the demograph-ics, smoking behaviors and cessation prefer-ences among Latinos in Kansas City. Current smoking was reported by 17% of participants, and another 20% re-ported ever using to-bacco. In terms of smoking patterns, the great majority were light smokers and non-daily smokers. Half of the sample reported having at least one smoker in the house-hold and half reported smoke exposure in the home. We identified a high rate of previous

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“I was impressed

with how well

organized this event

was and how many

participants showed

up. I focused

primarily on

smoking cessation

and I think the

health event

provided a wonderful

opportunity to get

smokers engaged in

smoking cessation

efforts—smokers

who might otherwise

have no access to

smoking cessation

resources.”

- Edward Ellerbeck,

MD, MPH

“I sincerely enjoyed volunteering at this event because the need in the community is so great. People were lined up long before the event started, and we were busy all day. Clearly, this community has a great need for health screenings and information, and everyone I spoke with was eager for more knowledge about how to improve their health, make sound decisions for their children and access other health care resources. Most of all, everyone was extremely grateful to all the medical professionals and other volunteers who came out to help." Christina Slape, Volunteer Intreperter

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Concorde Career College Receives Traveling Spirit Award

Concorde Career College received the Traveling Spirit Award which recognizes the campus that demonstrates the most community involvement. Concorde offers training in many health care careers and provided students to serve as screeners at the Health Focus event.

“The screeners provided by Concorde Career College are instrumental to the success of the Health Focus event,” said Brooke Groneman, Outreach Director, University of Kansas Cancer Center. “We are pleased to see them recognized for the quality service they provide.”

Success Stories - Benjamin and Carlos* The Health Focus event is making a difference in the health of the Kansas City La-tino community. Benjamin and Carlos are just two of the many community members who, thanks to the free screenings, were able to identify and address issues with their health.

Benjamin learned during a screening that he needed follow up for a suspicious pros-tate exam. The volunteers at the Health Focus event helped Benjamin locate a medical home that was able to diagnose and provide care for prostate cancer. Ben-jamin is now in treatment and doing very well. He visits his urologist every four months, paying $100 per visit, and receives his medicine for free or reduced cost through the Duchesne Clinic.

Benjamin is grateful for the free screening provided to him stating, “Mi salud ha me-jorado muchísimo después que fui a la feria de salud porque recibí la atención me-dica necesaria, muchas gracias.” (My health has improved a great deal after I went to the Health Focus event because I re-ceived the medical attention that was necessary, thank you.)

Carlos learned during a screening that he was at risk for prostate cancer. After re-turning to Mexico for further testing, Car-los and his wife were happy to learn he did not have cancer and he is now taking preventive medication.

Like Benjamin, Carlos and his wife were also very thankful for the Health Focus event. His wife said, “Un excelente servi-cio voluntario muy humano de gente que se preocupa por otra gente. Gracias por ofrecer este tipo de ayuda.” (Health Focus is an excellent free service and very car-ing people that worry about others. Thank you for offering this type of help.)

*Names have been changed to protect privacy

We want to give

a sincere THANK

YOU to all of our

wonderful 2007

partners, funders

and volunteers!

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Celebrating Healthy Families brought to you by:

Special funding provided by: Blue Cross Blue Shield; Office of Women’s Health; BPU; Office of Minority Health; Hy-Vee; Lipari’s Thriftway; Samuel Rodgers Health Center

SAVE THE DATE for 2008

October 4, 2008 Heart to Heart International

1021 Pacific Avenue Kansas City, Kansas 8:00 am to 2:00 pm