Last week, I had the pleasure of attending two outstanding events sponsored by one of our founding ethnic partners, the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California (LCHC). On Thursday, LCHC held its Campeones de Salud Awards Banquet, where we were treated to a fun evening recognizing heroes in the Latino health advocacy arena, including our friends Amparo Cid of California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, Dr. George Flores of The California Endowment, and Gil Ojeda of the California Program on Access to Care at UC Berkeley.
The next day, LCHC held its Salud por Vida statewide conference, where we heard from Dr. Sandra Hernandez from the California HealthCare Foundation, Cástulo de la Rocha, President and CEO of AltaMed Health Services Corporation, and dozens of speakers. Our own Sarah de Guia spoke on a panel on the importance of Latinos in the health care workforce. I also learned from two workshops, one on improving Latino health through educational initiatives, and the other on how California’s justice system can partner to improve Latino health. During the latter workshop, we heard some amazing stories from Tiffany Johnson of A New Way of Life Re-Entry Project and Fabian Debora of Homeboy Industries about how to prevent recidivism by offering support and employment opportunities for people with criminal records. The conference closed with a panel of advocates that worked on the recent San Francisco and Berkeley soda tax ballot initiatives. All the speakers shared inspiring lessons about how to move forward on key public health issues.
Here are some other highlights from Twitter:
De la Rocha: Impact of disparities in Latinos will hold back our state and country. Something must be done. #saludporvida
— CPEHN (@CPEHN) January 16, 2015
De la Rocha: no one stands to benefit more from the ACA than Latinos; need more Latino reps on covered California board #saludporvida
— CPEHN (@CPEHN) January 16, 2015
Ronald Coleman: Healthcare is a human right. HC system works better when everyone participates. #Saludporvida #healthforall @AP_UrbanPeace
— Virginia Lee (@virginia_lee8) January 16, 2015
Latinos are 34%of adult pop but 17% of likely to vote – CEO of @AltaMedHealthS #saludporvida
— HealthyCity (@HealthyCityCA) January 16, 2015
CJ system became the health system for "unwanted" people. But jail worst place for treatment medically/fiscally. @safeandjust #saludporvida
— HealthyCity (@HealthyCityCA) January 16, 2015
Xavier Morales asks over 250 people if someone in family has diabetes. 99.9% of the room raises hand! "Epidemic" @LCHC_CA #SaludporVida
— Ronald Coleman (@rcoleman413) January 16, 2015
"We need to make a creative ruckus to bring about change for our communities" – Xavier Morales, @LCHC_CA Executive Director #SaludPorVida
— Anthony Galace (@AnthonyGalace) January 16, 2015
Congratulations to LCHC on two amazing events!