Round-up a teammate and test your cornhole prowess against fellow Latino health advocates for a chance to win FREE BEER FOR A YEAR!!!
Join Familias en Acción for an afternoon of cornhole, food, drinks, music, and prizes. All proceeds from this event will go towards health education and research for Latino families across the Portland metro area.
$50 TEAM ENTRY: Guarantees each team of two (2) a minimum of three (3) games and a chance to win prizes along the way.
WINNING TEAM RECEIVES:
-Beer for a year (12 cases!) courtesy of Ex Novo Brewing
-$100 gift card to Revolution Hall
-$100 gift card to Mississippi Studios
This was a 4-hour workshop to inform and educate Latino patients about the process of getting a kidney transplant was held on Saturday, September 8th, 2018. In Oregon, 87% of all Latinos waiting for an organ transplant are waiting for a kidney. Latinos are three times more likely than White Americans to suffer from conditions leading to organ, and especially kidney failure, due to higher rates of obesity, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.
Our event consisted of a presentations about the different stages of kidney disease and the options available for treatment. The presentation was led by Familias en Acción and Donate Life NW Staff. Additionally, we had a panel of health professionals from OHSU and Legacy answering questions related to a kidney transplant. A second panel of insurance experts answered questions related to insurance. Our last panel included a patient going through the transplant process, a donor and a current recipient of a kidney.
The event goal was to educate current Latino dialysis patients and community members that a kidney transplant is an option. The workshop was held for free; food and childcare were available.
“Hay que buscar ayuda, hay que buscar apoyo y no rendirse”
“We need to look for help, look for support and not give up”
El Señor Eliseo believes that you should never give up when facing a chronic disease. After being diagnosed with diabetes, he enrolled in our Tomando Control de su Salud (Chronic Disease Self-Management) health class. Our 6-week course provided him with skills that allowed him to make better decisions about his eating habits. Eliseo then decided to take what he learned even further, and started growing his own vegetables knowing that it would be beneficial to his health.
When Eliseo was trying to navigate the health system on his own, he was frustrated and stressed. His medical bills kept piling on without any ability to pay them. Familias en Acción was also help him apply for medical assistance, attend his appointments, and apply for health insurance. He now spends his time taking care of his vegetables that he shares with friends and families and with his fellow support group members. Eliseo tells his friends and co-workers to seek guidance and advice from agencies like Familias en Acción.
El Señor Eliseo recently had surgery to remove a tumor. He did not hesitate to get the surgery since he knew his insurance would be covering it. He did not have to worry about medical bills and only focused on getting better. Eliseo continues to work in his garden and sharing not only the vegetables but the knowledge he’s been able to learn by navigating the health systems. “Hay que buscar ayuda, hay que buscar apoyo y no rendirse”
Maria Segura received a Diabetes diagnosis in 2007. She remembers being told to exercise and eat healthy but not shown how to do it or where to go for additional help and assistance. Maria remembers eating very little and she would occasionally walk as a part of her physical activity, but didn’t notice any change . In 2013 she attended a training hosted by Familias en Acción for community members to lead Chronic Disease Management Classes. Maria was hesitant about participating, but decided to give it a try.
Through this training, Maria learned about healthy eating, making meal plans and exercise. The training prepared Maria to lead these classes in her community and in her language. The following year, Maria decided to get trained to become a leader on a number of other health education classes through Familias en Acción. She now also leads classes like Empoderate, Diabetes Self Management, Seed to Supper and Un Abrazo.Maria has been able to use all the tools she’s learned and implement them in her own life. Additionally, she is able to share the information with her family member and friends.
In recent months Maria attended a Diabetes Prevention Program offered by Familias en Acción, and was able to convince her husband to also attend the class since he’d been diagnosed as prediabetic. They were both able to complete the 12-month class as couple. In her husband’s last check, he was told that he was no longer considered prediabetic.
Maria’s reason and inspiration for continuing to volunteer are the lives of community members being changed after every class. Maria remembers a community member that traveled from Vancouver to Portland to take the diabetes self management class or the mother who was able to finish the diabetes class and in the process implemented changes in her life and lost weight but at the same time her son who was considered pre-diabetic is no longer in that situation. Maria’s former student Eliseo went from growing a garden for his friends and family to expand it for to the whole community. Maria’s journey continues as she seeks to start her own business by making healthy desserts for community members. Maria believes in the power of education and the difference one can make in our community. Maria’s journey from a patient to community educator is an example of the impact a patient can have when the right tools are provided. The many steps she took along her journey and the many lives she continues to touch also inspires others to do the same.
The rapid rise of obesity and diabetes has been especially evident among Oregon Latinx communities. Latin American immigrants who arrived a generation or two ago were raised on traditional diets of beans, vegetables and grains. As their children and grandchildren transitioned to a “westernized” diet high in salt, sugar and fat and lacking in nutrients, rates of chronic disease began to rise.
Numbers of Oregon Latinx have doubled since 2000, now accounting for about 12 percent of the population. They have the highest rates of obesity among Oregon racial and ethnic groups with 40 percent of Latinx children either overweight or obese. Diabetes rates among Oregon Latinx have doubled since 1988, and they represent the highest rates of gestational diabetes among Oregon racial and ethnic groups.
From its inception, the Moore Institute found a receptive audience within the Latinx community for its message about the role of early life nutrition in establishing risk of lifelong chronic disease. Along the way we developed a working relationship with Familias en Acción that has blossomed over the years.
Now, Familias en Acción (Familias) is creating a culturally-specific nutrition curriculum grounded in the science of the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) in conjunction with the Moore Institute. DOHaD research has demonstrated the lifelong impact of good nutrition during the first 1,000 days, from conception to about age two, in preventing chronic disease risk. Poor prenatal nutrition increases risk of developing chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes and heart disease in offspring as they become adults;and yet, Latinas in Oregon receive less prenatal care than non-Hispanic white women.
The plan is to develop a research-based, culturally and linguistically specific curriculum to build Latinx community knowledge and advocacy skills about food justice and family health. The project focuses on nutrition as a foundation for strengthening the health of Latino families and communities.
The Abuela Mama y Yo (AMY) curriculum differs from traditional nutritional programs because it addresses the root causes of health inequities. The curriculum will enhance knowledge of the role of the community environment in the availability of appropriate nutrition and level of social stress experienced prior to and during pregnancy. Participants will build their knowledge about the health impacts of poverty, racial discrimination, social disadvantages, and overall toxic stress on themselves and their children. Self-advocacy skills in food justice will build self-sufficiency for participants.
Once the curriculum is finalized, the second phase of the program will train 50 community leaders to conduct classes in the curriculum with a goal of reaching 350 Latinx individuals during the second year.
The Moore Institute understands that creating a healthier Oregon for all requires more work and commitment than any one group could do on its own. Working together with other similarly-missioned organizations like Familias en Acción, we can all reach our goals faster.
Yesenia Castro – CHW and Public Health Practitioner
Yesenia grew up living in a small cabin in Oregon’s Hood River Valley. Growing up Yesenia did not know much about outdoor recreation, despite being surrounded by Mount Hood and hundreds of miles of trails. “I always saw people that didn’t look like me. I literally felt like it was not for me,” Yesenia remembers.
Recently, REI published this video/blog documenting Yesenia’s journey to climb Mount St. Helens and pursue her American dream. Watch her video and read our interview with Yesenia below.
How was it that your parents moved to Oregon/United States?
Both crossed the border multiples times, my mom twice and my dad 3. A combination of walking and with the coyotes in cars. My dad talks about the last time he crossed in u-haul jam packed like a sardine and how fast the driver drove; he didn’t think he would make it out alive that time. My dad moved to Oregon via a friend that told him there was a job for him and housing provided if he could get himself up here. My dad has since been working for that same farm/family. My mom was actually the sister of that friend my dad had and that is how my parents met. They have been living in Mount Hood Parkdale ever since.
In the video, you mention how Latinos continue to not have access to these places. Why do you think that is?
I used to take out Latinos on hikes, through a pilot program with OPHI and Willamette Partnership. Through casual talks and surveys, I found that there is an array of reasons but there are constant common denominators: lack of knowledge about how to access hikes, no driver’s license, afraid to get lost, afraid of seeing a wild animal, inadequate “gear”, reliable car, and not having someone to go with. Of course, there is more to that, but most people just need someone to help them get out there! I found that, after I took people on hikes, they were telling their friends and going on their own afterwards.
“I always saw people that didn’t look like me. I literally felt like it was not for me.” The lack of representation of people of color in the outdoor magazines you collected shaped how you viewed yourself.
How were you able to surpass this type of oppression and summit mountains? And, are there spaces where you still feel this way today?
Oh man this is such a great question. I think I have been very blessed in my life to have people around me that introduced me to many of these activities and I encouraged me to do what I loved (I have so many great cheerleaders and mentors). Because of these wonderful people, I was able to have a lot of confidence and seek out information and venture on my own. To this day, it is something I struggle with, feeling like I fit in, in the USA, in some restaurants and other day to day encounters or spaces I frequent. I have found myself in many circles and conversations as the only young-Latina woman, it is hard. I have to constantly remind myself, que si se puede, and that I also belong and have a voice.
What can be some of those most challenging and most awesome parts of being bicultural and this ability to jump between worlds?
I feel so lucky that I am able to appreciate all that my ancestors left for me, the tamales, the mariachi, the Mexican-embroidery, the smell of wet dirt…all those little things that spark in me a love so big my heart feels like it will burst every time I am around those things. I am so blessed to be able to speak and understand two languages and the cultural nuances in both. I think about that a lot, how my dad will never truly understand my love for hip-hop and other things that I’ve grown up with in the United States. All of us that are bi-cultural have been given such a beautiful gift, something no- one can take away from us. I love that I can go to Mexico and feel comfortable in a pair of boots walking down to the river to fetch water for el Chivo, but also be in Oregon and in the same comfort eating hot dogs and wearing American flag themed clothing as we celebrate the 4th of July.
The most challenging, for me personally, is how far my two country hometowns are from each other. Sometimes, I wish I could just be with my abuelita. It is so sad to have all my family all over the place, unos acá y otros allá. Also being at a loss of words in either language, the “BYE-lingual effect”, but, I try to remember that it is a blessing I know two languages. Sometimes I can’t fully express myself with the right words in English or Spanish. Also sometimes, I am in Mexico and I am referred to as Norteña or Güera, the classic quote of “ni de aquí ni de allá”. And in the USA, I am sometimes not articulate enough or ” Too Mexican”. There is a constant fight I have to deal with when people try to fit me into a neat box of who I am. I have learned to embrace the best of both worlds.
What is your favorite day hike? Asking for a friend.
Oh man my absolute favorites are syncline on the WA side just before sunset, Oneonta on a super-hot day and Wahclella for a waterfall.
– “Para mi ustedes son unos angelitos que dio puso en mi camino”
– “To me you are like angels that God put in my path”
Martha Corona came to Familias en Acción when she was diagnosed with breast cancer 3 years ago. As a patient navigator, Olga Gerberg was able to work with Martha and be her guide from the very beginning. As Martha began cancer treatment, Olga made sure Martha understood every process, the time commitment needed for office and doctor visits, the side effects.
Martha’s diagnosis also brought her other stressors. She began worrying about becoming sick and not being able to continue working to take care of her family. “I let her know that she did not ask for this disease,” said Olga. “For a while she felt like a failure and felt responsible for it, and did not want to miss work. We would role play how to communicate with her employer. And how to ask the doctor for the documents her employer would require to confirm her appointment.” She now confidently communicates with her employer when she needs time to manage her health without fear of losing her job. Being able to keep her job while managing her chronic illness allowed Martha to continue focusing on her family. Her oldest is a first-generation college student and a sophomore at Oregon State University. “I don’t want my son to drop out, and with my job he would be able to go to college,” Olga remembers Martha saying.
With the work of Familias, Olga has helped Martha become a stronger person. She feels empowered, strong and goes to appointments on her own, takes an interpreter and asks questions when things are unclear, and she is a happy person as you can see in the video.
It’s my great pleasure to address you for the first time in my new position as the Executive Director of Familias en Acción. I want to thank everyone for your warm welcome, Gail Brownmiller, Familias’ staff and Board for their support and help transitioning into this position. With their support and your participation, Familias has a bright future.
I am lucky to be joining a fantastic team and an inspiring community. I’m looking forward to building upon all of the incredible work that has helped create a powerful organization and movement. I recognize I have a lot to learn and I intend to invest time and attention to get to know and understand the Familias’ culture, and the issues and environment impacting our community.
I am delighted in the potential of Familias en Acción, and invite you to become an active member of Familias and our endeavors. Be our inspiration and help us change and shape new systems that help advance our community’s overall health. Together, we will get to explore new areas of focus, meet new people, and explore new challenges that can make a difference in the lives of all Latino families.
I stand with Familias and its commitment to developing resources designed to engage, educate, and help our community navigate a pathway toward equitable healthcare and access to live healthier lives in a prosperous community.
Maria Segura received a Diabetes diagnosis in 2007. She remembers being told to exercise and eat healthy but not shown how to do it or where to go for additional help and assistance. Maria remembers eating very little and she would occasionally walk as a part of her physical activity, but didn’t notice any change . In 2013 she attended a training hosted by Familias en Acción for community members to lead Chronic Disease Management Classes. Maria was hesitant about participating, but decided to give it a try. 
It’s my great pleasure to address you for the first time in my new position as the Executive Director of Familias en Acción. I want to thank everyone for your warm welcome, Gail Brownmiller, Familias’ staff and Board for their support and help transitioning into this position. With their support and your participation, Familias has a bright future.