Latina elected officials are on the vanguard of shaping health policies for communities throughout the nation. They generally agree that policymakers are most effective in this area when they make policy decisions based on their community characteristics, thread leadership for healthy communities throughout their various roles, and effectively connect health to community priorities. One of the most important issues facing Latinos is the staggering increase in the rates of obesity and chronic disease. Inherent in everyday decision-making, Latina elected officials have the opportunity to inform and shape policies concerning school wellness, community design, neighborhood safety, transportation, housing, and recreation, as well as access to affordable fresh foods. These very decisions affect opportunities for physical activity and healthy eating, which are both directly associated with the prevention of obesity and chronic disease.
Latina elected officials at various levels of government are working towards making healthy communities a reality for the constituents they serve. Illinois State Senator Iris Y. Martinez (D-IL) has consistently sponsored and passed legislation to improve the health and welfare of the neediest residents of her district and throughout the state, focusing mainly on women’s health issues. Texas State Representative Carol Alvarado has supported various legislative solutions that focus on removing dangerous additives to food and prohibiting smoking in public places. Board Member Blanca Brown of the Lemon Grove School District in San Diego County, California has worked to expand opportunities for physical activity for the children and families of her community.
Iris Y. Martinez, Illinois State Senator, District 20 Senator Martinez has served on the Public Health Committee for the past five legislative sessions and emphasized the need to expand education and access for healthcare and disease prevention. Within her District, the Senator organizes a Health Committee with members of the medical community, healthcare organizations and community partners to plan an annual Family Wellness Day. Now entering its fifth year, this day is held to provide residents with access to free healthcare services including screenings for chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, mammograms, dental services, and immunizations and wellness physicals for schoolchildren. Senator Martinez chose late August for the date of the health fair in an effort to coincide with back to school preparations and the need for many children to have accurate physicals and the necessary tests and immunizations to enter school.
While attending the Conference of National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, the Senator, along with her colleagues, discussed the need to increase awareness of the importance of immunizations.
Iris Y. Martinez
Senator Martinez remarked on how the recent outbreak of the H1N1 virus has highlighted the importance of flu shots, “by bringing the message to our communities that children and the elderly must be properly immunized in order to avoid the spread of all flu, not just H1N1, so that we can hopefully reduce the number of deaths attributed to the common flu as well.”
Senator Martinez has focused particularly on the need to inform the Latinas in her district about taking care of their health. “Women are often so busy taking care of the rest of their family that they do not often make the time for their own preventive care,” she said. Additionally, the increasingly diverse makeup of urban areas requires messages that reach people of all ages, languages and educational backgrounds.
Carol Alvarado
Carol Alvarado, Texas State Representative, District 145 State Representative Alvarado is serving her first term in the Texas House, after several years as a member of the Houston City Council. Throughout her years in public service, she has focused on reducing the amount of trans-fat oils in food served and sold throughout her jurisdiction and prohibiting smoking in public places such as restaurants, bars and workplaces. Representative Alvarado focuses on the fact that “our community is faced with chronic disease such as obesity, diabetes, strokes and heart disease, which has led me to work on legislation that can directly prevent contributing factors such as smoking and eating food with trans-fat oils.”
During her time on the City Council, Representative Alvarado created a City First Public Health Committee and passed a smoking ordinance within Houston, Texas. She was a joint author of a statewide smoking ban in Texas, and although it was not passed in the most recent session, she has pledged to reintroduce the bill next session. She introduced a similar statewide ban on trans-fat oils that passed in the Senate, but did not make it through the House prior to the end of the session.
The trans-fat bill enjoyed strong support from the Texas Restaurant Association and would have made Texas only the second state in the country to pass a statewide ban on trans-fats.
Currently, Representative Alvarado is planning on hosting a symposium to “declare war” on obesity, similar to the war on poverty or the war on drugs. “Obesity is hurting our children, with the number of youth being diagnosed with diabetes and other chronic conditions increasing,” she states. Representative Alvarado believes many of the challenges that face the health care system could be alleviated if we continue to build on initiatives that increase public awareness about health concerns.
Blanca Brown, Board Member, Lemon Grove School District, Lemon Grove, CA Two years ago, Board Member Brown first developed her passion for improving the healthcare in her school district and community at the NALEO Educational Fund Institute on Healthy Communities. She learned how good health was critical for children’s success in school. First, Board Member Brown compiled the health statistics available for the children and adults in her community to assist her in making the case for policy change. She found that Lemon Grove had the highest incidence of childhood obesity in San Diego County. Next, she toured Lemon Grove looking for places for physical fitness activities. What she found was two large parks with play structures for younger children, but little to entice the older kids besides two basketball courts. The district schools had infrastructure, but the playgrounds were locked at the close of the school day.
Board Member Brown saw the missed opportunity and joined the district’s Health Leadership Team and worked with the Director of Instruction to keep the schools open for an additional three hours after the end of classes. The Board revised its mission to include the importance of all aspects of the district’s students’ well-being, including their social, physical and emotional health.
Blanca Brown
Currently, over one-third of all students participate in the after-school program and participate in some type of physical activity five days a week, varying from ballet folklore lessons to more traditional team sport activities.
The School Board’s efforts encouraged the City Council to address health issues, and the City recently passed a citywide ban on smoking in parks. “Physical activity and healthy lifestyles are becoming part of the culture here in Lemon Grove,” says Board Member Brown. “Self-confidence and self-image is just as important for a child’s growth as their education, and it is part of our responsibility to ensure that children have opportunities to allow for that growth.”
The NALEO Educational Fund’s Healthy Community Initiative The NALEO Healthy Communities Initiative helps Latino policymakers become effective health advocates to create healthy communities, eliminate childhood obesity among Latino youth, and promote the health and vitality of the communities they serve. Our second health program, the NALEO California Health Leadership Program, fosters a cadre of Latino policymakers who are poised to assume positions of leadership to directly affect the health and well-being of Latinos throughout the state of California. For more information about the NALEO Educational Fund’s work on healthy communities, please visit the NALEO Educational Fund Web site at www.naleo.org, or contact Deputy Director of Constituency Services, Stephanie Ramirez at sramirez@naleo.org.
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