KUMC we represented by the Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little and its CEO Dr. Douglas Girod. CMH was represented by its Vice-president Dr. Karen Cox. Truman Medical Centers was represented by its CEO John Bluford.
These agreements will strengthen the cooperation in health between Mexico and United States and will benefit Mexican and American communities on both sides of the border, through the exchange of knowledge and best practices in the medical field. After the ceremony we also had the opportunity to attend the art exhibit “Imagenes de mi Mexico”, which was absolutely amazing.

Thanks to Head Consul Alicia Kerber, without whom this would have never been possible.

Congratulations!

Johana Bravo de los Rios and Mariana Ramirez, both graduate research assistants at Juntos Center for Advancing Latino Health, were selected to participate in the Exito! Summer internship at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio next June, 2013.

This is a very competitive program which primary goal is to increase ethnic diversity in the field of Latino cancer health disparities research.  Thus, Latino students in master’s-level health programs are encouraged to pursue a doctoral degree and a career in research.  According to the IHPR, the program aims to increase participants’ “understanding of the power of research to affect change; awareness of the strengths and limitations of research methods, theory and interventions in eliminating health disparities; interest in cancer control research, from surveillance to epidemiology, individual behavior change, health services and policy research; and research, networking, information seeking skills, and motivation and ability to successfully apply to a doctoral program”.

Ms. Bravo De los Rios and Ms. Ramirez will be utilizing the knowledge and experience gained at Exito! on the current community based participatory research projects they are working on in the Kansas City community.

Congratulations!

It is a pleasure to inform the successful graduation of the first group of Promotores de Salud, obtaining the state Certified Nurse Aid (CNA) certification at the Seward County Community College (SCCC). Juntos organized a graduation ceremony at Ruffino’s restaurant this past March 4^th at Liberal, KS.

The AOK continuing education program in nursing, is a collaborative effort between KUMC-Juntos, the Mexican Consulate in Kansas City, MO, and SCCC in Liberal, KS. In fact, in the early hours of the morning of March 4^th there was an executive board meeting to strengthen the communication, collaboration, and contribution between these entities.

For the graduation event, representing SCCC we had Professor Sonia Hernández CNA program coordinator and Lucina C. Henness, for Juntos director Dr. Paula Cupertino, Yazmin Reyna, Alejandro Gutierrez and Ventanilla de Salud Coordinator in Liberal, KS Arturo Ponce were present, and for the Mexican Consulate, Dora Ponce, Advisory Council of the Institute of Foreign Affairs.

The following Promotores de Salud received their CNA diplomas:

• Lucina Perez
• Erika Rosales
• Raquel Susana Hernandez
• Hortencia Villezcas
• Victoria Varela

We also took the opportunity to give certificates of recognition for their work on the successful completion of the second phase of the “Cancer Clinical Trials” by interviewing community members in the city of Liberal, KS to:

• Dora Ponce
• Rudy Alfaro
• Lucina Perez
• Carme Castillo

The event came to a successful conclusion with a reception and delicious food from Ruffino’s Italian Restaurant. Congratulations to all of you and SI SE PUEDE!!

On Friday April 12^th, we organized a tour at the University of Kansas Medical Center. We began our visit at the Ovarian Cancer Research Laboratory, were we met Dr. Kathy Roby. She explained her current research approach regarding ovarian cancer, emphasizing in multidisciplinary groups.

Next, we visited the Nursing Clinical Learning Lab and Neis Clinical Lab, were we met with Dr. Mary Meyer. Our guests had the opportunity to see these labs that are equipped with the latest computer technology in the form of both tablets and computers on wheels, allowing students to document care in a simulated electronic record at the point of care. It includes home-health areas, a birthing bay and a critical care room with a human patient simulator. They currently have an adult, a birthing, and a baby simulator.

After that we had a chance to tour the Clendening History Museum of Medicine which houses an extensive collection of artifacts illustrating healing and medicine across historical time and through the variety of human cultures. Among the strengths of the collection are instruments from nineteenth and twentieth-century American medicine, with special emphasis on medical practice in Kansas. In fact, they hold an original copy of “De Humani Corporis Fabrica” by Andreas Vesalius.

After a quick coffee break, we continued our tour at the OB/GYN unit. We met Dr. Carl Weiner, who personally walked us through the whole unit. This unit is equipped with labor suites that combine comfort and state-of-the-art technology, to provide the highest level of patient service.  Our Mexican guests were really impressed and exited with all the research and infrastructure found at KUMC.

Continuing our activities on Monday April 15^th, we took our guests to visit the Children’s Mercy Hospital. They have more than 40 pediatric specialty services, a neonatal intensive care unit, and a trauma center. Our Mexican guests were impressed, because from the beginning the building does not look like a hospital. They really have the children’s comfort as their main priority.

After the tour, we had a meeting with the executive board, including Dr. Randall O’Donnell CEO and Dr. Karen Cox Vice President. We had a chance to discuss the goals of the agreement, and what measures need to be implemented in order to achieve them.
Our guests also had the chance to meet and interact with the Head Consul Alicia Kerber.

We are very glad to have hosted our Mexicans guests visit. Hope we see you soon!

The Scholarship Fest is a day-long extended program that introduces students from the Kansas City metro area to the elements for planning and preparing for college. Some of the topics covered in the program include scholarships and financial aid, resume and academic vitas, college and scholarship timelines and deadlines, financial literacy, personal statement writing and dual credit courses in high school.

Through the Breast Cancer Initiative that she coordinates, over 250 women in the Kansas City community have received education on breast cancer and breast cancer screening. In addition, those meeting the eligibility criteria have been connected to local resources for free or low-cost mammograms.  This work has been done in a strong partnership with the Ventanilla de Salud at the Mexican Consulate, Viva Saludable en Kansas, and the Promotora program from El Centro. Sandra Flores, the project-based promotora in this initiative, has been instrumental reaching out to the community

The Breast Cancer Awareness Initiative funded by the ACS and NFL is one of the several projects that Juntos has in place to fight disparities and advance the health of the Latino community in Kansas City.

If you would like information on breast cancer or resources for breast cancer screening, you can contact Mariana at 913 945 7872. She will be happy to help you!

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The health fair included five education stations (cancer prevention, smoking cessation, healthy lifestyles, skin damage, and dental hygiene), and three screening stations (BMI, blood pressure, and blood glucose). With the help of Medical Students Yazmin Reyna and Alejandro Gutierrez from the Universidad Autónoma de Morelos (Morelos, MX), we had an Ask-A-Doctor station where they provided individual consultations to participants at the event. Around 200 people participated in the screenings, and received information from the education tables.
We are very thankful for all help from our volunteers. Special thanks to Arturo Ponce’s family and all the volunteers from Southeast Kansas.

Our next Ventanilla de Salud will take place on April 13^th and April 14^th at Garden City, KS. To volunteer, provide health education or health screenings, please contact Arturo Ponce at aponce@kumc.edu. We are always in need of volunteers to continue educating and screening the Latino families in the state of Kansas.

Cheers for a successful first Ventanilla de Salud Móvil!

To read the full documents click in the links below:

Economic and Fiscal Contributions of International Immigrants in the State of Missouri

Economic and Fiscal Contributions of International Immigrants in the State of Kansas

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Thank you!