Engage Her: Activating Women and MultiCultural Communities

A newly released report has documented the rise in the loss of teens hearing to 20% or 1 out of 5 teens now suffer from hearing loss. It’s increased in the past years since the last survey. The survey also documented the number of kids who suffer from a mild hearing loss equivalent to not hearing someone whisper in your ear. Also kids from poor families were significantly more likely to show hearing loss than those living above the poverty income levels. That equates roughly to 1 teen out of every classroom who has some listening impairment. Kids might not even notice they are having this problem.

What does that mean? Can these teens hear the teachers in their lectures? Are they responding to questions and instructions? What are the impacts on these students’ achievement scores, knowledge absorption and participation in a classroom? Does hearing loss affect their self esteem, participation in activities, prevent them from participating in more activities? Studies are beginning to document that hearing loss in teens ultimately impacts their performance to the point it could partially contribute to kids dropping out of high school. What are the long term lasting outcomes of hearing loss for these teens as they become adults?

Researchers don’t know the actual causes of hearing loss. It could be a combination of environmental factors, medication side effects, exposure to toxins, diet, nutrition and genetics. There’s also the possibility that the increased use of music and mobile devices they stick in their ears for hours a day may have significant impact. We know that many teens love to turn up the volume, so what are the outcome and solutions? What are some suggestions? If you think or as a parent you suspect your teen may have a hearing loss, get them tested. They may need to sit up at the front of the class, ask people to speak louder. As a parent asking your teens to do something for the tenth time, maybe there’s a reason they’re not “hearing” you. Check back for more.

Today the U.S. Government announced that our country has more than 70 million or 26.7% of population’s adults are obese. It is considered to be a major public health threat by the U. S. Centers for Disease Control. Over 400,000 people were surveyed and the results and numbers are huge. In 9 states, over 30% of their population is considered obese. There is increasing concern and effort to address this situation as obesity is directly related to increased heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancers.

The survey also reported that multicultural communities were especially hard hit. African Americans were most likely to be obese with 36.8% of African American men and 41% of African American women were considered to be obese. Hispanics were reporting 30% obesity in their populations. With women providing most of the health care support, food preparation and education to our families, it is important that we begin to educate and change the way we eat and exercise within our families. Many multicultural families continue to prepare traditional cultural foods that use high fats, sodium, carbohydrates that can lead to increased obesity and related diseases. We need to explore utilizing substitute ingredients that are healthier and begin to address this obesity situation.

This further supports the work that First Lady Michelle Obama is undertaking with her national “Let’s Move” campaign aimed at seriously reducing Childhood Obesity in a generation. Let’s take a look at what our children, parents and families are eating and determine how we can begin to modify our eating and exercise habits in order to increase our families’ longevity and health.

With millions of people uninsured in the U.S. and millions more who are being denied coverage for a variety of reasons including pre-existing conditions, President Obama and the Democrats are pushing to pass a reform bill. President Obama is determined to “pass healthcare reform that lowers cost, promotes choice and provides coverage that every American can count on.” There has been so many special interests, large corporations, pharmaceuticals and insurance industry lobbyists that are influencing our Senators and Congressional Reps to not pass healthcare reform because they stand to lose all their profits and stranglehold on the lucrative healthcare industry. People need to call their Senators and Congressional Reps and tell them what they think. For or against health care reform, we need to make our voices heard now.

Last week First Lady Michelle Obama was in Philadelphia to talk about the Let’s Move campaign which is focused on ending the epidemic of childhood obesity in our country in a generation. She was in Philadelphia because that is the city and communities that came together six years ago to take a collaborative stand to fight obesity and provide the roadmap for the rest of our nation. They decided that they needed to bring fresh, health affordable foods to all their communities. To take a collected approach to solve the deep problems and issues that lead to obesity in our communities.

In addition, the government just announced the Healthy Food Financing Initiative. It is a multi-million dollar public and private investment to eliminate food deserts in America within seven years. Food deserts are those areas in our communities throughout the country that lack access to fresh, affordable food and distribution points. It is so powerful to see our government not only talk about the need to fight obesity, but put funding and investment dollars to ensure that we bring real solutions that our citizens across the country in the communities that need it the most. We’ll bringing you more details about this program as it unfolds across the country and into our communities. Kudos to the President and the First Lady for this amazing and profound work.

First Lady Michelle Obama recently announced a national initiative on Fighting Childhood Obesity. The statistics are startling: one out of 3 kids in the U.S. are either overweight or obese. The national trends indicates that our children are on track to becoming the first generation of children to be less healthy and live a shorter life span than their parents. It is a huge problem with significant implications and outcomes in the years ahead. The First Lady has taken on this initiative and has convened a number of cabinet level members, departments and resources to begin to put together a long term plan on how to solve this issue. As she says “this is eminently a solvable problem”. Their long term goal is to change the health status of this country’s children.

We will be tracking this health intitiative, participating and communicating on this critical issue that affects all of us. We will be reaching out to you for your ideas, suggestions and comments. Stay tuned.

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International is in the process of funding the development of an oral vaccination to prevent type-one diabetes for children. A vaccination for diabetes? This not only sugar coats the issue, but permits parents to continue to use their kids as human garbage disposals. Why not revert back to your five food groups chart?

The number of children diagnosed with diabetes is astounding.

Approximately 15,000 children a year are affected by this epidemic, which controls the auto immune system by preventing the body from functioning properly. This is a serious issue when forty children are diagnosed each day. Fighting obesity has become one of America’s biggest struggles for survival. So, how do we prevent our kids from becoming victims, when a majority of our food intake is unhealthy?

It almost seems as if our country has been impacted not only by the economical disparities, but by the population of obesity. More than sixty percent of Americans are obese, which is the key factor causing diabetes.

Some parents fail to realize that the decisions we make for our children can be very detrimental to their health. We consistently eat for the purpose of pleasure and, not for healthy reasons. It’s very difficult for parents to differentiate between their kids being obese and just having “baby fat.”

Parents must understand the concept of nurturing. The harsh reality is that we are killing our children. We must consider changing our lifestyles for the better, and not just for convenience.