WHAT: Student training sessions for Muevete (Move) USA, a program to extend Hispanic nurses’ outreach to Hispanic consumers in five U.S. cities — Chicago, Phoenix, San Antonio, Edinburg, Texas, and Brownsville, Texas
WHY: The goal is to teach and work at the community, grassroots level with Hispanic youth and their families to develop skills and enhance their ability to make healthy choices that contribute to a reduction in child and adolescent obesity.
WHEN: Student and faculty interviews are available between 8:30 a.m. and noon Sunday, March 6.
WHERE: Holiday Inn El Tropicano Riverwalk Hotel, 110 Lexington Ave., San Antonio, Texas 78205
WHO: 34 student nurses from the target cities, including 11 from the UT Health Science Center San Antonio School of Nursing, mentored by five faculty and two staff members of the School of Nursing
Faculty interviewees: Norma Martinez Rogers, Ph.D., RN, professor of family and community health systems in the UT Health Science Center School of Nursing, is the Muevete (Move) USA project director. Adelita G. Cantu, Ph.D., RN, assistant professor of family and community health systems, will direct the community service-learning portion of the program.
HOW: The Muevete (Move) USA program is made possible by a $150,000 grant from the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) Fund and a $150,000 grant from The Coca-Cola Foundation.
NOTES: Nine million children in the U.S. are overweight or obese and at increased risk for chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes. Muevete (Move) USA will target Hispanic children in grades one to six, Hispanic adolescents ages 13-17, and Hispanic adults. Target areas will be ZIP codes of lower-income families. NAHN member nurses will become trainers in their communities, utilizing new knowledge about obesity and culture obtained through this program along with their professional nursing skills.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 3 percent of all institutions worldwide receiving U.S. federal funding. Research and other sponsored program activity totaled $228 million in fiscal year 2010. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced approximately 26,000 graduates. The $744 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.