Elon receives grant to promote Hispanic health

The $539,333 grant is from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust of Winston-Salem, N.C.., to address significant health issues in the local Hispanic community. The grant will support a five-year program directed by Stephen Bailey, assistant professor of physical therapy.

The grant is part of a $10 million statewide initiative called the SELF (Smoking, Education, Lifestyle, Fitness) Improvement Program, that is designed to lower chronic disease rates in low-income areas. Sixteen projects in 21 counties are being administered by Duke University Medical Center.

The Alamance County program will provide education, screening and intervention for prevention of chronic disease in the growing Hispanic population, improving nutrition and encouraging greater physical activity. In addition to Elon University, the participating organizations include:

• Alamance Regional Medical Center (ARMC), which conducts numerous services focused on treatment and prevention of chronic disease
  
• Alamance Community College (ACC), which teaches English as a Second Language Instruction (ESL) to more than 2,000 Hispanic adults annually
  
• Centro la Communidad (CLC), a non-profit program housed at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, which provides a variety of support services for Hispanics
  
• International Family Clinic, a single-physician clinic predominately serving the Hispanic population
  
• Piedmont Health Services, which offers primary health care services to Hispanics through the Drew Clinic and Prospect Hill Clinic.

Studies conducted by representatives of these organizations have documented the need for the project by noting a growing, nutritionally challenged and financially disadvantaged Hispanic population.

According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the number of Hispanics in Alamance County, has increased dramatically in the past decade reaching a total of about 8,800 people, nearly seven percent of the population. Local estimates put the number at about 10,000. More than half of Hispanics are under age 25, and it is estimated that by 2010 nearly a quarter of all births in Alamance County will be Hispanic in origin.

Hispanic residents account for a disproportionately high number of visits to health care facilities that support the economically disadvantaged in the area. In 1999, nearly 1 out of 5 clients seen by the Alamance County Health Department were Hispanic, and they comprise nearly half of the patients of the Drew and Prospect Hill clinics. Since 1996, the rate of Hispanics admitted to ARMC for the treatment of heart disease has increased more than ten-fold and more than doubled for diabetes. More than half of the Hispanic patients admitted to ARMC were on Medicaid, and ESL instructors estimate that almost half of their students are economically disadvantaged, with one-tenth having severe economic need.

“Research shows that Hispanics typically have twice the incidence of diabetes, higher body mass indexes and rates of obesity, and are more likely to smoke, be inactive, and have slightly higher rates of hypertension and levels of cholesterol,” Bailey says. “This project will provide a partnership designed to counteract those health threats.”

The program’s goal is to increase the awareness in the Hispanic population through education. ARMC”s Lifestyle Center, the staff of CLC, ACC, and Elon University’s Health Education, Exercise Science and Physical Therapy Education programs will work together to develop educational resources, adapting existing English-language materials for Hispanic use.

The program will also involve regular health screenings at locations frequently used by the Hispanic community, enabling personnel to identify individuals “at risk” for disease. Those “at risk” people will be referred to the intervention program for nutritional counseling and opportunities for exercise training. Exercise equipment will be available at Blessed Sacrament Church and the Mebane Street campus of ACC . People who display symptoms of a disease will be referred to a physician at Piedmont Health Services or the International Family Clinic.

Elon University students will conduct educational sessions, screenings and interventions under appropriate supervision. Stephen Folger and Cynthia Lewis, assistant professors in physical therapy, along with Mike Calhoun, professor in health promotion, leisure and human performance, will also be key faculty members involved in the program. ARMC Lifestyle Center Educators Cyra Kussman and Lily Mead will be among the ARMC staff involved in the program.

The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust was created in 1947 by the will of Mrs. William N. Reynolds of Winston-Salem. Three-fourths of the income of the trust is designated for use for health-related programs and services in North Carolina. The remainder is designated for the poor and needy of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. The trust, which has assets of more than $600 million, distributed more than $18 million for health care projects across the state in 2000.