Story by Barbara Ferry The New Mexican February 13, 2006 Nine-year-old Jocelyn Rodriguez eats both Mexican and American candy. But given a choice, she’ll pick spicy Mexican sweets over their bland American counterparts. “It’s the chile,” she said outside Agua Fría Elementary School, where she is enrolled in the third grade. “Mexican candy is more delicious.” Inside the school, a small photocopy of a poster displayed on a bulletin board presents a very different view of the imported sweets. Labeled…

David Royse the Associated Press February 7, 2006 TALLAHASSEE — Florida should spend $20 million to create affordable housing for farmworkers, increase inspections of field safety conditions and pass a law requiring seat belts in vans that carry workers to the fields, a special migrant-worker committee recommended Monday. But broader recommendations on providing access to government benefits for illegal immigrants may not be included in the final proposal from the Joint Legislative Commission on Migrant and Seasonal Labor. A panel…

State Health Department Releases Influenza Pandemic Readiness Plan FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Feb. 6, 2006 Contact: Michael Murphy, ADHS Public Information: (602) 542-1094Mary Ehlert, ADHS Public Information: (602) 364-1201 Emphasizing that preparedness is key to protecting Arizona residents and saving lives, Department of Health Services Director Susan Gerard today released an updated Influenza Pandemic Readiness Plan. “An influenza pandemic would cause major disruptions to our health care system, schools, businesses, virtually every segment of society,” Gerard said. “This is the…

By Peggy Peck, Managing Editor, MedPage Today Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco February 06, 2006 GOLDEN, Colo., Feb 6 – A health-care rating company here said today that patients treated at hospitals that receive its top ranking have a 27% lower risk of dying during their hospital stay. Moreover, according to HealthGrades, which compiles quality report cards on hospitals and doctors and sells those reports to consumers, patients treated at its…

ELLIOTT SPAGAT Associated Press SAN DIEGO – Like thousands of other desperately ill Americans, Coretta Scott King was apparently hoping for a medical miracle when she crossed into Mexico. For a half-century, patients have flocked to clinics south of the border for treatments that are shunned, prohibited or regarded as outright quackery in the United States. Among the treatments offered: blood transfusions from guinea pigs, colon cleansings, and the zapping of cancer cells with electrical current. Supporters say the clinics…

02-02-2006 – For working poor, it’s pay the rent or pay for medical care: N.M. must remove this dilemma By Bruce Trigg February 2, 2006 If the state Legislature decides to raise the minimum wage for tens of thousands of New Mexicans, this may well turn out to be the most important public health improvement measure ever attempted in this state. The reason is quite simple: Poverty is a health issue as much as it is an issue of economics…

TUESDAY, Jan. 31 (HealthDay News) — The good news is that women are becoming more aware of their heart-disease risk, experts report. The bad news is that many still aren’t getting the treatment they need. “Heart disease is the number one cause of death in women. Cardiovascular disease causes more than 480,000 [female] deaths each year,” said Dr. Alice Jacobs, past president of the American Heart Association (AHA). Yet, Jacobs said, “Women’s chest pain is not taken as seriously as…

(BW) Houston Lawyer Named to Board of Directors by President Bush; Jacob M. Monty Named to the Border Environment Cooperation Commission — North American Development Bank Board of Directors By Business Editors (c) 2006 Business Wire HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jan. 30, 2006–Jacob M. Monty, managing partner of Houston-based Monty Partners LLP, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) and North American Development Bank (NADB) by President Bush. Jacob M. Monty will be part of…

By MATT MOORE, Associated Press Writer Bill Gates said Friday his charitable foundation will boost its funding for tuberculosis eradication from its current level of $300 million to $900 million during the next decade. The effort is part of a larger campaign against tuberculosis announced at the World Economic Forum. The disease killed 1.6 million people last year. The announcement came as Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, British treasury chief Gordon Brown and Gates called for help to treat 50 million…

St. Helena immigration specialist Rosa Segura has been elected by a Mexican government agency to a key advisory body looking at Mexican-U.S. relations and issues important to the two nations. Among the topics on the agenda are politics, economics, health and border issues. Segura was elected to a four-year term on the advisory council of the Institute of Mexicans Abroad. It is overseen by the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her name was put into nomination by the Mexican Consulate,…