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A New Life for Latinas Affected by Cancer

Donations Keep Diabetes Prevention Alive

AYUDA: Helping Victims of Human Trafficking

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A New Life for Latinas Affected by Cancer

While there are many organizations that offer cancer prevention services and participate in cancer prevention campaigns, organizations serving Latina women who have been diagnosed with cancer are few and far between.

When Nueva Vida (New Life) was founded in 1996, it was the only organization in the greater Washington DC metropolitan area to provide support services specifically to Latinas affected by cancer. Many Latinas were becoming lost in the health systems, and only could find limited information about cancer in Spanish. Service providers had difficulty understanding the unique cultural and linguistic challenges that Latina women faced, and rates of early detection of cancer among Latinas were dismally low.

Latina women were slower than other women to get screened for cancer due to lack of information, lack of health insurance, language barriers, and a generalized sense of intimidation by the complex health systems in the United States.

Nueva Vida was formed by a group of Hispanic professionals who were cancer survivors themselves. Intimately aware of the challenges faced by Latina women, they began providing services to increase access to diagnostic, treatment and counseling services. They built partnerships with hospitals, health clinics, and private doctors in the region, and aligned themselves with research and social service organizations that were able to provide discounted or free services to women without health insurance.

Today Nueva Vida offers a range of services including support groups for women affected by cancer, groups for caregivers, and cancer survivors. Their team of 6 certified counselors provides case management and one-on-one counseling services. They conduct community outreach campaigns and organize cancer screening tests for groups of Latina women who otherwise would not get screened. Nueva Vida’s team seeks out the appropriate treatment & payment options for women, and helps them navigate the complex health systems. When women need moral support, help with translation, or transportation to their doctor’s appointments, Nueva Vida personnel or volunteers are available to accompany them.

All services provided by Nueva Vida are completely free of charge, thanks to the organization’s many donors which include private foundations and some international organizations.

In 2008 Nueva Vida helped some 350 Latina women in the DC metropolitan area get screened for cancer, and provided support services to 100 Latina women diagnosed with cancer. As many as 70% of the women who seek help at Nueva Vida speak no English and many would be unable to receive the care they need were it not for the advocacy, support and referrals provided by the organization.

Larisa Caicedo, Nueva Vida’s Executive Director, cites the uniquely Latino environment offered by Nueva Vida as one of the organization’s greatest strengths. Women can receive the information and support they need in Spanish from other women just like them—who understand the unique cultural issues that they might be facing—in an environment of trust and mutual respect.

Ms. Caicedo shares this advice with other service providers: “Collaboration is the most important. Reinventing the wheel doesn’t work. We need to build partnerships to work with specialized organizations, and make sure that we address the community from a culturally-sensitive perspective.”

For more information about Nueva Vida, visit their website at www.nueva-vida.org or send an email to Show email address.

Donations Keep Diabetes Prevention Alive

By Heidi Rowley of the Tucson Citizen
Funding for a diabetes reduction program at El Rio Community Health Center has been extended for two more years because of community donors.

The “promotora,” or community health adviser program, was initially funded by Pfizer pharmaceutical company in 2005 for two years, with a one year extension added for 2007.

Brenda Goldsmith, executive director of the El Rio Foundation, said the program has been so successful in helping Hispanic families reduce their diabetes and cardiovascular disease risks that El Rio has committed to keeping the program beyond the end of the grant. Through community donors, Goldsmith said, the foundation has received more than $200,000, which will fund the program for at least two years.

Susan Marks, program manager for the wellness programs at El Rio, said the program is a series of classes and workshops that teach healthy eating and lifestyle choices. For example, she said, cooking classes that teach participants how to cook traditional Mexican dishes with less fat and sodium have been very popular.

The purpose of the grants, said Erica Weinberg, director of corporate responsibility for Pfizer, was to help community health centers near the Mexico-U.S. border decrease diabetes risks in Hispanics, who traditionally have less access to preventive health care.

Cynthia Brown, vice provost at the University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg, Texas, headed up an evaluation of the 12 programs that Pfizer funded. She said they found that people who participated in El Rio’s program were able to maintain weight losses and lowered their glucose levels even after they stopped participating. “That they were able to maintain this six months after the program was really remarkable,” Brown said. “What that tells us is the method El Rio took to teach them was very effective.”

Marks estimates that about 1,000 people have been positively affected by the promotora program. In addition, the concept of using community health advisers has expanded to other programs, such as its breast cancer outreach. She said a new free class will begin in January and anyone may participate, although the program is targeted to low-income Hispanics with little to no health insurance options.

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Source: Tucson Citizen

AYUDA: Helping Victims of Human Trafficking

AYUDA is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the rights of low-income foreign-born persons through accessible and affordable legal and social services. Based in Washington D.C., AYUDA serves the greater Washington metropolitan area and provides assistance to an estimated 300 clients per month in the areas of immigration, human trafficking, domestic violence, and family law.

Staffed with lawyers, social workers, case managers and paralegals, AYUDA advances social justice and client empowerment through legal and social services, public policy advocacy, collaboration and referrals to other nonprofits, community education, and training institutions that serve immigrants. The organization’s overarching goal is to improve the ability of their clients to live safe, violence-free lives and become fully participating members of our community.

In partnership with the Ricky Martin Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank and the D.C. Mayor’s Office on Latino Affairs, AYUDA recently launched the Llama y Vive (Call & Live) campaign to combat human trafficking in the D.C. region. Llama y Vive is a free, confidential 24-hour spanish-language Trafficking Hotline that connects trafficked persons directly to AYUDA’s services. The campaign includes print media and TV PSAs featuring Ricky Martin. Acceso Hispano’s team is currently managing the trafficking hotline, connecting potential cases of trafficking to AYUDA for assistance. The Llama y Vive campaign exists throughout Latin America and the Caribbean and AYUDA is proud to implement the first Llama y Vive campaign in the United States. Visit www.llamayvive.org for more information on the campaign.

What is Human Trafficking?
AYUDA defines human trafficking as:
1) Anyone under 18 involved in commercial sex;
2) Anyone 18 or over involved in commercial sex through force, fraud, or coercion;
3) Anyone forced to perform labor through force, fraud, or coercion.

According to Renee Huffman, Social Services Director of AYUDA, about 85 % of their current cases are labor trafficking and around 15% are sex trafficking. AYUDA provides services to both adults and minors from all over the world. AYUDA works with clients who have been trafficked into different industries, including cases of domestic servitude. A recent example of an AYUDA case involves a domestic worker who was brought to the United States and upon arrival her traffickers confiscated her passport, forced her to work long hours with little pay and she was unable to leave. She was connected to AYUDA by contacting the Llama y Vive hotline. Resources like Llama y Vive exist to inform trafficked persons that help is available.

What Help is Available to Victims?
In the United States human trafficking is a crime and trafficked persons have rights. Under U.S. law, trafficked persons may be eligible for immigration relief, a work permit and federal refugee benefits. Trafficked persons are also eligible for social services, including food, clothing, housing and access to medical care, counseling and English classes.

How You Can Help
Trafficking cases are not always easy to spot at first glance, and many victims are too afraid to seek help. They may fear retribution by their captors, deportation, or mistreatment by U.S. law-enforcement agents. As a service provider there are “red flags” to look for that can help you to identify trafficked persons.

Do you know someone who:

• Can’t leave his/her job?
• Can’t come and go as he/she pleases?
• Has been hurt or threatened by his/her employer?
• Is in debt to his/her employer?
• Is not allowed to talk to people outside of work?
• Has had his or her passport or other documents taken away?
• Is under 18 and in prostitution?
• Is under 18 and not in school?
• Is not paid or paid very little?

If you know someone who is experiencing these circumstances and thus may have been trafficked, please call Acceso Hispano’s hotline at 1-800-473-3003. If the person is in the greater Washington metropolitan area, please call the Llama y Vive Hotline at 1-888-NO-TRATA or call AYUDA directly at 202-387-4848.