News (Noticias) Tagged ‘hospital’

K.B. Forbes, a leading national healthcare advocate and Executive Director of the Consejo de Latinos Unidos, a public charity that assists and educates Latinos and others, announced today the launch of a new, free nationwide assistance program in Spanish for Latinos with high hospital bills.
The key aspect of the program is to negotiate lower hospital bills for patients in debt and qualify them for any available discounts or charity care. The services are free. The program is fully funded and run by the Fairness Foundation, a public charity based in Indianapolis, Indiana.
“Many Latinos have no idea they are being price gouged by a hospital,” said Forbes. “Now there is a free program in Spanish to help negotiate reasonable balances and payment plans. The anxiety so many victims of hospital price gouging face is being replaced with real concern, real help, real discounts, and real solutions for these patients.”
According to the Fairness Foundation, patients who have utilized their free services have received significant discounts — in some cases 90 percent off the original balances. In one cited case, a hospital patient ended up paying $6,300 on a hospital bill that was originally over $66,000 due to the successful efforts of the Fairness Foundation.
Spanish speaking patients in debt with a hospital are encouraged to register on the Internet at www.ayudagratis.net or call 1-800-742-3441.
Last November, Forbes was named by Health Leaders magazine as one of the top 20 people making a difference in making healthcare better in the United States.
Forbes is the author of nine investigative reports, including six on hospital price gouging and aggressive collection practices. The investigative reports and efforts by Forbes and the Consejo provoked several U.S. congressional probes into hospital price gouging abuses by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee and the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. “

A weekend ski trip turned into a nightmare when former Miss Universe, Cecilia Bolocco, and her son, Máximo Saúl Menem, 4, ended up in the hospital on Saturday night after suffering from Carbon monoxide poisoning.”*

-The National Trauma Institute, a non-profit grant making organization that funds short-term trauma research, has hired marketing and public relations veteran Teresa Niño to head its Communications and Legislative Affairs efforts.

Niño most recently headed the Marketing Department for the San Antonio Express-News as well as its Community Relations department and the Express-News Charitable Foundation. Prior to that, she headed the Marketing and Business Development department for the commercial business park KellyUSA for eight years, now known as Port San Antonio and was responsible for their international outreach. Niño was a researcher for marketing Guru Lionel Sosa’s book, “The Americano Dream.” In the 90’s, she was an appointee in the Clinton Administration, serving in the Office of Public Affairs for the Health and Human Services department under Secretary Donna E. Shalala; and was Assistant Press Secretary for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley for the City of Chicago in the 80’s. Niño began her professional career as a television reporter in Chicago, Illinois.

“Teresa’s vast experience and expertise in the field of communications as well as her broad network on the political front will play a critical role as we move forward with our national agenda,” said Sharon Smith, Executive Director of the National Trauma Institute. “We are delighted to have Teresa join our team and are very excited about her vision for our growth.”

The National Trauma Institute’s mission is to fund short-term (3-5 years) trauma-related research that will change and improve current practices and procedures and thereby lower the number of deaths due to trauma. Trauma-related deaths are the number one cause of death for people ages 1-44; and trauma-related injuries occur everyday throughout America and cost our country billions of dollars in treatment and rehabilitation. Many Level 1 Trauma Centers throughout the country have closed due to lack of funds. Time consuming and repetitive surgeries, such as those necessary with traumatic injuries, become too expensive for health plans to cover or for hospitals to get reimbursed. The number of casualties and injuries has increased due to the war and the opportunity to learn and implement best practices in emergency situations needs to be researched and proven. As has been shown with diseases such as AIDS and Cancer, when funds are allocated to research, and practices are changed, the number of deaths is reduced.

Niño serves on various local boards and committees and has received numerous awards for her charitable work and leadership. She is a member of the American Marketing Association (AMA), Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) and the San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists (SAAHJ). She resides in San Antonio with her husband, Juan A. Sepúlveda, Jr., author of the book, “The Life and Times of Wilie Velasquez: Su Voto es Su Voz,” and their two children, Michael and Victoria.”*

Esperanza Gomez, 50, is a physician, trained in Colombia, who spent 17 years at a children’s hospital in the Colombian city of Cali before coming to the United States four years ago. She would like to obtain her license to practice medicine in the United States, but the path for foreign-trained doctors is not easy, involving three lengthy exams, considerable expense, and a three-year residency program.

But now there is an organization designed to assist people such as Gomez. The Rhode Island Welcome Back Center, at Dorcas Place, 220 Elmwood Ave., was created to help immigrants trained in the health professions find appropriate work in this country. It officially opens tomorrow and Manuela Raposo, director of the center, said she’s already been contacted by 32 people, including Gomez, who want to make appointments.”*

A Wichita hospital is in a quandary — trying to find long-term care for a charity case involving a patient who is an illegal immigrant.

One local health provider says problems such as this could become more common because of the growing number of illegal immigrants in Kansas.

Select Specialty Hospital typically serves chronically ill and seriously injured people who have a wide range of complex medical conditions. It is located within, but not affiliated with, Via Christi Regional Medical Center-St. Francis campus.”*

Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora hopes to use a new $150,000 grant from the Avon Foundation — a public charity aimed at improving the lives of women and their families — to launch its Breast Education and Awareness Training program.

The two-year grant will give the hospital about $75,000 each year to reach out to women like Cuellar in the city’s Latina community, teaching them about early detection of breast cancer and facilitating regular screening and treatment services they may need.

When the grant expires, the hospital hopes to identify other partners who will continue to help fund the program.”*

El Paso County Judge Anthony Cobos, right, addressed the media during a press conference in the judge’s meeting room Tuesday at the El Paso County Courthouse. El Paso County Sheriff Jimmy Apodaca center along with County Commissioner Luis Sarinana listened in. County officials met with various members of the El Paso community to discuss security at Thomason Hospital following an incident where two Mexican police officials apparently shot by drug traffickers were taken to the hospital. The hospital was locked down by sheriff’s deputies as a security measure to protect the injured officers and the hospital community at large. (Victor Calzada / El Paso Times)”*

When Martin Memorial Medical Center administrator Carol Plato testified in Tallahassee in April about the impact of illegal immigrants on her hospital, the meeting was attended by fewer than 50 people and got scant attention in the media.

But Plato’s two-minute testimony to the House Committee on State Affairs is making big waves on YouTube. A video of her testimony has received more than 360,000 hits on YouTube as well as hundreds of comments”*

A type of stroke that can strike at any age, and kills one-third of its victims, appears to be more common in women and Mexican-Americans than in non-Hispanic white men, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Stroke Program.

In a paper published online June 11 by the journal Neurology, the researchers report that women had a 74 percent greater chance of suffering a type of stroke related to a ruptured brain aneurysm. Mexican-Americans of both genders had a 67 percent greater chance.

The type of stroke measured in the study is called a subarachnoid hemorrhage, or SAH. The new research may help public health officials reach out to higher-risk groups with information on prevention and the importance of rapid treatment.

The new paper also gives a “real world” picture of the risk of dying from an SAH, which was nearly one in three in the geographic region in the study. That region, Nueces County, Texas, where the city of Corpus Christi is located, has a large Mexican-American population and does not have a major university health system.

Although African Americans and Asian Americans were included in the initial screening portion of the study, which reviewed the medical records of 6,550 stroke patients, their numbers were too small to assess any differences in risk of SAH.

“Physicians and public health officials should help Mexican Americans and women take steps that might prevent subarachnoid hemorrhage, and other types of stroke that have already been shown to be more common in these two groups,” says senior author Lewis Morgenstern, M.D. “Given that Mexican Americans are the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the United States, it’s important to understand how this condition might affect them differently, and tailor messages to them.”

Morgenstern, who directs the Stroke Program at the U-M Cardiovascular Center, is a professor of neurology and neurosurgery at the U-M Medical School, and of epidemiology at the U-M School of Public Health. The first author on the study, Sonia Eden, M.D., is a former chief resident in neurosurgery at U-M.

The study is the latest to arise from the BASIC project, whose name comes from Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus Christi. The project involves surveillance for all strokes and mini-strokes in Nueces County, and detailed analysis of anonymous patient records.

Previously, using data from BASIC, Morgenstern and his colleagues have shown differences between ethnic groups and genders in other types of stroke – including the most common type, ischemic.

The new paper is based on data from 107 subarachoid hemorrhage patients over the age of 44 who experienced their stroke between 2000 and 2006. All of their diagnoses were validated by neurologists who reviewed their records in detail.

The reasons for the ethnic and gender differences seen in the new study are unclear, because the researchers were able to account and adjust for blood pressure, age, excessive alcohol use, smoking and health insurance status.

In all, 40 percent of the 107 SAH cases were in non-Hispanic whites, although 52 percent of the over-45 population in the study area is non-Hispanic white. Meanwhile, 60 percent of the SAH cases occurred in Mexican Americans, who make up 48 percent of the population over age 45 in the study area.

At the same time, 67.3 percent of SAH patients were women, though 53.5 percent of the population in the area is female. The researchers found that Mexican American women had the highest risk.

Subarachoid hemorrhages account for 3 percent of the 780,000 strokes that occur in the United States each year. Because these strokes arise from ruptured aneurysms, which are weak bulging spots in the brain’s blood vessels that arise for unknown reasons at any stage of life, subarachnoid hemorrhages can occur at any time of life.

An SAH is different from the other type of “bleeding stroke,” intracerebral hemorrhage or ICH, which can also result from a ruptured aneurysm or a misformed blood vessel called an arteriovenous malformation.

Both types of bleeding stroke are somewhat more dangerous than ischemic or “blockage” strokes, which result from a clot or other blockage inside a brain blood vessel. Ischemic strokes account for more than 85 percent of U.S. strokes.

The signs of an SAH usually include a sudden, extremely severe headache, often compared to a “thunderclap” inside the head. Patients may also experience neck pain, nausea and vomiting, or may lose consciousness.

No matter what the signs, a stroke or suspected stroke of any kind is a life-threatening emergency and needs immediate medical attention, says Morgenstern. Although SAH carries daunting odds, it can be treated if a patient reaches a hospital where a neurosurgeon or interventional radiologist can close off the ruptured aneurysm and stop the bleeding.

The BASIC study, including the analysis performed for the new study, is funded by the National Institute of Neurologic Disorders and Stroke.

In addition to Morgenstern and Eden, the authors include William Meurer, M.D., Melinda A. Smith, DrPH, MPH, and Devin Brown, M.D., M.S., of the U-M Medical School, and Brisa Sanchez, Ph.D., and Lynda Lisabeth, Ph.D., MPH, of the U-M School of Public Health.”*

El rockero argentino Charly García “tiene fiebre” y permanecerá al menos un día más en la clínica a la que fue llevado tras provocar destrozos en el hotel del oeste del país en el que estaba alojado, según el parte médico difundido ayer.”*

El Paso County officials want the federal government to take over transporting and caring for wounded Mexican police officers seeking treatment in a local public hospital.

County Judge Anthony Cobos pleaded for help Tuesday, four days after two police officers wounded in an ongoing turf war among powerful Mexican drug cartels were brought to the county hospital in El Paso.

The officers’ arrival prompted the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office to provide tight security to prevent Mexico’s violence from spilling into the United States. It is the second time this year deputies have guarded the county hospital, the only Level 1 trauma center for 280 miles.”*

Children in U.S. households where English is not the primary language experience multiple disparities in health care, a UT Southwestern Medical Center researcher has found.

In a study available in June’s online issue of Pediatrics, Dr. Glenn Flores, professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern and lead author, used statistics from the National Survey of Children’s Health to examine whether disparities exist for non-English primary language (NEPL) children in medical and dental health compared to households where English is the primary language.

“Although 55 million Americans speak a language other than English at home, there has been little research on health disparities and NEPL children,” said Dr. Flores, who holds the Judith and Charles Ginsburg Chair in Pediatrics at UT Southwestern. “To my knowledge this is the first analysis to examine the impact of NEPL on medical and dental health, access to care and use of services in a nationally representative sample of U.S. children.”

	Dr. Glenn Flores

Conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, the survey used nationwide random sampling of households with children ages 18 and under. One child from each household was selected as the survey subject with 102,353 interviews of household caregivers completed in 2003 and 2004 in both English and Spanish. The survey is the largest and most diverse containing data on the primary languages spoken at home.

The researchers found that children in households where English is not the primary language are significantly more likely than children in English-speaking households to be poor and Latino or Asian/Pacific Islander. The NEPL children are also more likely to be overweight, have only fair or poor dental health, and be uninsured or sporadically insured. These children also made no medical or preventive dental visits during the previous year and had problems attaining specialty care.

“These children are more likely to live in low-income households,” said Dr. Flores, who also serves as director of the division of general pediatrics at Children’s Medical Center Dallas. “Clinicians providing care for them should make sure caregivers are aware of programs documented to benefit poor children. Providing all children with health and dental insurance could significantly reduce barriers to health and dental care for NEPL children.”

Nonfinancial-related barriers appeared also to hamper NEPL children’s access to care. The survey showed that caregivers in NEPL households were often dissatisfied with physicians and health care providers who did not spend enough time with a child or explain things in an understandable way.

To identify, monitor and eliminate health care disparities, Dr. Flores recommends health care institutions and systems routinely collect data on the primary language spoken at home for all patients. He says improved access to medical interpreters, better cultural competency training and more family-centered health care systems could eliminate barriers to care.

In a previous study, Dr. Flores surveyed hospitals in New Jersey to assess current language services and identify policy recommendations on meeting the needs of patients with limited English proficiency.

He found that most New Jersey hospitals had no full-time interpreters, multilingual hospital signage or translation services. A substantial majority of the hospitals’ representatives surveyed stated that third-party reimbursements for interpreter services would benefit their hospitals.

“In Texas alone, 7.3 million families speak languages other than English at home,” Dr. Flores said. “It’s imperative that our health care system recognizes on a nationwide scale how language is affecting health care for NEPL children.”

Sandra Tomany-Korman of Signature Science, LLC, also contributed to the Pediatrics study.”*

Escorted by police, the Argentinean rocker was treated for multiple wounds as a result of getting into a brawl with a band mate”*

El popular músico argentino Charly García se encontraba el lunes en una sala de cuidados intensivos, luego de discutir con sus músicos y protagonizar un escándalo mayúsculo en un hotel en Mendoza, dijeron diversos voceros.”*

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital(R), the premier pediatric cancer research center, celebrated its sixth annual FedEx/St. Jude Angels & Stars Gala by honoring Emilio and Gloria Estefan for their commitment to international healthcare, the local community, and the music and entertainment industry. The star-studded event took place on May 17, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County

On the red carpet, St. Jude patients rubbed elbows with some of the brightest stars from the Latin music and entertainment industry who came to support Daisy Fuentes, celebrity chair, and her fight against childhood cancer. More than 550 guests were treated to live performances by Luis Fonsi, Jeremías and Valeria Gastaldi. During the night’s entertainment, Emilio Estefan took to the stage alongside Victor Manuelle for an unforgettable impromptu performance. Among the other celebrity guests who came to support St. Jude were Candela Ferro, Khotan Fernandez, Fanny Lu, Ana María Canseco, Lili Estefan, Génesis Rodríguez, María Celeste Arrarás and philanthropist Adrienne Arsht.

“It was truly wonderful to see the Hispanic community of South Florida come together to support St. Jude,” said John P. Moses, Chief Executive Officer for ALSAC, the fundraising organization of St. Jude. “Thanks to the supporters and sponsors of this gala, St. Jude is able to provide hope for sick children and their families from all over the world.”

The money raised from this event will help St. Jude continue its groundbreaking research and lifesaving care for children from across the country and around the world who are battling cancer and other deadly diseases. Two other special guests for the evening were St. Jude patients Lucas Solberg and Stephan Boehme Gutierrez, who shared their story of survival with guests. The gala also included a cocktail reception and silent auction, which included a shopping spree at Saks Fifth Avenue and dinner for 10 with artist Romero Britto.

The Estefans join other top Latin artists and entertainers who have supported the lifesaving mission of St. Jude over the past few years, including Antonio Banderas, Jimmy Smits, Daisy Fuentes, Cristian Castro, Luis Enrique, José Feliciano, Luis Fonsi, Jeremías, Fanny Lu, Carlos Ponce, Gilberto Santa Rosa and the late Soraya.

Gala sponsors included FedEx Express, Stanford Financial Group, Universal Music Latino, VISA International, Univision Radio, Anthony R. Abraham Foundation, Maya, Southern Wine and Spirits of South Florida, Sea Latino, The “M” Point, KPMG, Yahoo! Telemundo, Telefonica, DDB, Car Factory Outlet, Lopez-Cantera Foundation, CB Richard Ellis, Coors Brewing Company, Inktel Direct, Jefferson Lee Ford III Memorial Foundation, Zubi Advertising, The Paper Fetish, The Miami Herald, Ocean Drive en Español, Merrill Lynch, Leon Medical Centers and Grey Goose Vodka.

For more information on this event, or for information on next year’s gala, please call 1-800-278-3383 or visit www.stjude.org/miamigala.

ABOUT ST. JUDE CHLDREN’S RESEARCH HOSPITAL
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering work in finding cures and saving children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas and based in Memphis, Tennessee. St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the world. No family ever pays for treatments not covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay. St. Jude is financially supported by ALSAC, its fundraising organization. For more information, please visit www.stjude.org.”*

“It’s with great sadness that we announce the passing of our mother, Isabel Rodriguez, 94, who died early Tuesday morning May 20 of natural causes at Alhambra Community Hospital,” said Jaime Rodriguez, an aid to state Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello.

Isabel Rodriguez was born July 8, 1913 in Basis, a silver mining town in the Mexican state of Durango. She crossed the border of El Paso, Texas and came to Los Angeles residing in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles. For a time, according to Jaime, she worked in the laundry department of the Los Angeles County General Hospital. A single parent, she was a strong willed and caring mother who along with her sons and daughter became an active and passionate supporter of the Latino Civil Rights Movement of the late sixties and early seventies.

“*

The University of Texas Health Sciences Center partnered with Thomason Hospital in El Paso to implement the new Madrina-Padrino traffic safety program for Hispanics.

“A lot of people miss the traffic rules, especially in the rural areas. This may be because they don’t understand the law,” said Anna Red, injury-prevention technician at Thomason Hospital.

The project is aimed at educating Hispanics, particularly new immigrants, about traffic safety norms and laws, including matters related to drinking and impaired driving, safety belt use and child passenger safety, she said.”*

Elizalde’s murder is not an isolated incident. In the past two years, assassins have shot, burnt or suffocated at least 15 Mexican musicians. The latest victim was sprayed with 20 bullets as he sang alongside his band, Brisas del Mar, at a dance near the Acapulco resort in March. In December, three entertainers were killed in a week: one singer was kidnapped, throttled and dumped on a road, a trumpeter was found with a bag on his head and a diva was shot dead in her hospital bed.

The attacks on musicians come amid a wave of bloodshed in Mexico, which has usurped Colombia as the drug trafficking capital of the Americas, unleashing violent turf wars and fighting with police. For their part, Mexican musicians have been increasingly singing about cocaine, corpses and Kalashnikovs alongside their traditional tales of poverty and lost love.”*

The day her daughter was born, Stephanie Hernandez of Nashville hit all the customary emotional highs and lows ? and then found herself in the middle of the nation’s immigration debate.

In a flurry of pain, excitement and tears, her 7-pound, 1-ounce daughter, Christina, entered the world by emergency Caesarean section. Hours later, Baptist Hospital staff told Hernandez and her then-fiance that his name would not appear on Christina’s birth certificate.

It wasn’t the hospital’s choice. State policy requires unmarried fathers to present government-issued identification or proof they’re in the country legally to be listed on birth certificates. And in 2006, Tennessee stopped issuing driving certificates to illegal immigrants.”*