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Acting to control unnecessary health problems
BY TOM HESTER SR.
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Medical professionals, public officials, educators and activists with an interest in health issues involving New Jersey’s Latino community will gather in New Brunswick Saturday to announce the formation of the Latino Health Institute of New Jersey.
The over six-hour-long event at Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy is seen as a starting point for a coordinated statewide effort to eliminate health disparities in the Latino community.
The World Health Organization defines disparities as "differences in health which are not only unnecessary and avoidable but, in addition, are considered unfair and unjust."
Martin Perez, Latino Leadership Alliance president, said Friday the Latino Health Institute project “marks an important first step in New Jersey towards eliminating the unfair and unjust circumstances surrounding health care that are imposed on our community.”
Latinos comprise 17.7 percent of New Jersey’s population of 8.8 million people.
The Latino Health Institute will be funded through a grant from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The premise behind institute’s creation is that the best way to develop strategies to eliminate health disparities is to engage medical professionals, academics, policymakers and healthcare advocates in a coordinated effort to develop effective interventions.
Dr. Elena Rios, president of the National Hispanic Medical Association, will be the keynote speaker. U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) also will speak. Also participating in the meeting are Sen. Joe Vitale (D-Middlesex), Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex), Sen. Brian P. Stack (D-Hudson) and Assemblyman Angel Fuentes (D-Camden). They will be joined by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Robert Montemayor from Rutgers University’s Latino Information Network, Sandra Echeverria of the UMDNJ School of Public Health, Ana Nogueira, president of the New Jersey Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses, and Dr. Raul Valcarcel, president of the Hispanic Medical Association of Central Jersey.
The Bloustein School is located at 33 Livingston Ave. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
