Efforts, Initiatives Seek To Address Infant Mortality, High Blood Pressure Awareness Among Blacks, Extend Employer-Sponsored Coverage To Hispanics

Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Also Included In: Hypertension;  Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 23 Feb 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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Berkeley, Calif.: A high blood pressure education campaign called Heart 2 Heart raises awareness about the disease among black residents by concentrating only on high-risk families living on four city streets, the Oakland Tribune reports. The three-year, $500,000 collaborative effort between the city and LifeLong Medical Care calls for workers to reach about 500 households through door-to-door communication, community organizations and a mobile health van. The targeted area was chosen after gathering input from the local police department, churches, community groups, public health workers and residents, according to organizers. The goal is not necessarily to find to ways to treat patients but to find new ways of encouraging people to seek medical care, the Tribune reports (Oakley, Oakland Tribune, 2/12).

Detroit: The Wayne County Four Star Health program this week opened an office in the Latino Press Building as part of an effort to help small business owners offer health coverage to their employees, the Detroit News reports. According to Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, there are many Hispanics living in southwest Detroit, which also has many small businesses. The county has partnered with St. John Health, Henry Ford Health System and Oakwood Healthcare to offer the program to small businesses at lower fees. The new office will have bilingual staff and data (Esparza, Detroit News, 2/17).

San Diego: To mark California's Black Infant Health Week, the Family Health Centers of San Diego held an open house for its Black Infant Health Program. The Black Infant Health Program for the past 20 years has worked to promote healthy living among black women and their children. The open house included a discussion about the high black infant mortality rate, associated risks and efforts to address the problem (Cavanaugh, KPBS radio, 2/17).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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