FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Christine Mulvin
513-458-6621

Cincinnati— September 8, 2005—This weekend, The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati will take the first step in closing Cincinnati ’s Hispanic health gap by conducting a survey at the Su Casa Festival.  This comes as a result of requests from grantees and local public health departments for local Hispanic health data.

“The Health Foundation has always been a data-driven organization” said Don Hoffman, president and CEO.   “We know from census reports that the Hispanic and Latino population is growing at a more rapid pace than the general population both in Greater Cincinnati and across much of the Midwest .  Yet, we have very little local data about the population’s health needs.”

“We’ve already invested more than $600,000 toward programs addressing immigrant access health needs,” Hoffman continued.  “Collecting this information will enable us to better identify needs in our community and fund projects to address those needs.”

To establish the best way to gather the information, The Health Foundation convened a broad-based workgroup* of Hispanic and Latino health providers and researchers to discuss opportunities, develop methodology and the instrument and implement the project.

Once the survey instrument was developed, 50 field researchers, including regional promatoras (lay health workers), bilingual university students and other qualified individuals in the Hispanic and Latino community were trained to administer the survey to 500 Hispanic and Latino adults at the Su Casa Festival on September 10 and 11, 2005. The surveys will be conducted from 12:00 noon—6:00 p.m. both days. Results from the survey will be available in early 2006.

On site contact:  Holly Riffe and Liliana Rojas-Guyler

The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati is an independent foundation dedicated to improving community health and access to health care for vulnerable populations. The Foundation awards grants to non-profit and governmental organizations for selected health programs and activities in Cincinnati and 20 surrounding counties in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. In 2004, the Health Foundation invested $10.5 million to support local health care programs that address the objectives of the Foundation's four focus areas and general community health.

*BMF Pediatrics, Butler County Community Health Consortium, CDC NIOSH, Center for Closing the Health Gap, Centro De Amistad, Cincinnati Children’s, Lincoln Heights Healthcare Connection, Northern Kentucky Area Health Education Center, Northern Kentucky University’s Latino and Multicultural Center for Regional Development, Santa Maria Community Services & Bienestar, Su Casa, University of Cincinnati Institute for Policy Research, Department of Health Promotion, and Department of Anthropology