From Our Team
Engaging disconnected youth in the Paso del Norte region
Posted on December 9, 2016 by Bianca De León
What do you get when you take 13 rural communities, 12 youth-serving organizations, and more than 1 million hours of youth activities? You get more than 8,000 youth who have a safe place to go after school, a trusted adult in their lives, and a space where they can explore, learn, and have fun.
The goal of the IGNITE Initiative at the Paso del Norte Health Foundation is to improve a range of health outcomes by engaging disconnected youth in out of school programs in the Paso del Norte region. The Health Foundation has invested more than 3 million dollars in youth-serving nonprofit…
Maintaining healthy eating habits during the holidays
Posted on November 14, 2016 by Leah Whigham
The holiday season is upon us, and many of us have a hard time maintaining healthy eating habits during this time of year. One approach is to focus on including more vegetables and fruits.
Adequate intake of vegetables and fruits is important for several reasons:
- Many vegetables and fruits are good sources of nutrients that most of us don’t get enough of such as folate, potassium, dietary fiber, and vitamins A, C, and K.
- Eating vegetables and fruits is associated with decreasing your risk of cardiovascular disease (including heart attacks and stroke) and some types of…
Do El Pasoans have enough food?
Posted on October 10, 2016 by Leah Whigham
Although economic times seem to have improved since the Great Recession, many people still struggle to make ends meet. One measure of this is food insecurity - limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods.
Nationally, food insecurity has come down in the past 2 years. Data from 2014 show food insecurity in the US at 15.4%. El Paso fared better at 11%. However, if we consider data from households with children, food insecurity rates in El Paso climb to 25.5%, well above the US rate of 20.9%. To think that more than 1 in 4 of the children living in our county does not…
Collaboration is vital to improving health
Posted on September 19, 2016 by Enrique Mata
Some have said that El Paso organizations do not collaborate well. In fact, a 2014 assessment of the El Paso behavioral health system showed ‘the biggest challenge confronting El Paso’s behavioral health system was fragmentation and lack of program collaboration.’ Over the past 24 months, I’ve witnessed exactly the opposite as the El Paso Behavioral Health Consortium partners came together at all levels to address known gaps in the mental and behavioral healthcare system.
True collaboration requires organizations to exchange information for mutual benefit, alter activities, share…
Youth Use of E-cigarettes on the Rise
Posted on July 4, 2016 by Jana Renner
The smoking landscape has changed in the past five years. The good news is that youth smoking rates are down. The proportion of middle and high school students in the U.S. that regularly use cigarettes is below 10 percent. Years of comprehensive tobacco control prevention efforts have led to this decline in smoking rates. Cigarette marketing has been banned for decades, and many communities, like El Paso, are protected by Clean Air ordinances.
Big Tobacco has found ways to counter these decreases in smoking. The use of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS), more commonly…
Program helping disconnected kids connect with the outdoors
Posted on June 6, 2016 by Guest Author
I recently had the opportunity to accompany my eleven year old son on his first official Boy Scout camp-out. As a father who was once a scout himself and loved to camp as a young man, I found myself a little anxious about the experience. I wanted my son to love camping the way I had when I was young. In this day and age of computers and video games, I was worried how this real life experience would match up against the virtual world he’d become accustomed to in his Minecraft video game.
Upon arriving at camp, I was quickly relieved to discover that the young people of today…
Talking with kids about difficult topics
Posted on May 2, 2016 by Bianca De León
I recently answered a frantic telephone call from a friend. Let’s call her Sara. She caught her 13 year old son looking at pornography on his iPad. Sara was calling me because she heard me talk about my work and the importance of talking with your kids. Instead of ignoring the situation, or getting mad about it, she wanted some guidance and advice on how to address this uncomfortable situation.
Since 2007, the Paso del Norte Health Foundation has maintained a media campaign with a simple message: talk with your kids. Not to your kids, or at your kids, but with your kids. It’s part of the…
Healthy Eating Active Living - HEAL U offers information for health professionals
Posted on April 11, 2016 by Leah Whigham
Despite the many years of education received by physicians, nurses, and other health care providers, very few receive adequate training related to obesity, nutrition, and physical activity. And yet, the majority of our population – about 2/3 of people – are overweight or obese. Obesity is a complex disease that requires a complex approach in order to address it and the many other chronic diseases that are associated with obesity.
The Paso del Norte Institute for Healthy Living (IHL) with support from the Paso del Norte Health Foundation is hosting HEAL U on Saturday, April 23rd…
Stay connected with individuals to avoid risk of isolation
Posted on March 7, 2016 by Enrique Mata
As warm weather and more daylight approach our calendars quickly fill free time with outdoor work or activities for the kids. As outdoor activities gain traction remember to stay connected to friends and loved ones who may not be as agile or are at risk for isolation.
The importance of maintaining relationships that provide support, friendship, love, and hope cannot be emphasized enough. Being isolated from these types of support is a significant contributor to poor mental health and can lead to mental illness. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration…
Do I or will I have diabetes?
Posted on February 1, 2016 by Dr. Michael Kelly
I’ve seen it in restaurants, homes, sporting events, meetings, in cars, and other places. People who keep going back for another glass of water or juice, looking tired all the time or taking naps, complaining of blurry vision when driving, and seemingly always hungry. These are all symptoms of diabetes and should not be ignored.
Many people have either diabetes or prediabetes. While the exact number is not known, perhaps fifteen percent or more of adults have diabetes and more than one-third of the U.S. adult population is at risk for prediabetes. Prediabetes, like diabetes, is…
