Ali S. Khan, M.D., M.P.H., dean of the College of Public Health, noted that Nebraska’s Latino population continues to increase. “And that’s a good thing,” Dr. Khan said. No, on second thought, “That’s a great thing.”
He continued: “We have had Mexican and Hispanic heritage enriching our culture before we were a United States, and it continues to do so today.”
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From left, Binational Health Week inauguration speakers, Dr. Armando De Alba Rosales of the College of Public Health, Consul Guadalupe Sánchez Salazar, UNMC public health dean Dr. Ali S. Khan, Emiliano Lerda of Justice for Our Neighbors, Nebraska, and Andrea Skolkin of OneWorld Community Health Centers. |
People are working to change that. Dr. Khan’s remarks came at the inauguration of Omaha Binational Health Week, Semana Binacional de Salud. These local efforts are part of what has become an annual multinational mobilization effort to improve the health and well-being of underserved Latino populations living in the U.S. and Canada.
Binational Health Week began 15 years ago, said Consul Guadalupe Sánchez Salazar, head of Omaha’s Mexican consulate, as a partnership between Mexico and seven counties in California. It’s now grown to include 43 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces, Salazar said, in partnership with Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.
It’s been an Omaha event since 2006. This year’s “week” started early, with health screenings. It runs through this week (see sidebar box) with special events for teens, seniors, women and families.
Omaha’s Binational Health Week is an effort of dozens of community partners, including the Mexican consulate and the UNMC College of Public Health, which hosted the inauguration.
Dr. Khan said Binational Health Week is great example of working not just in the college but out in the community, with the community.
Armando De Alba Rosales, M.D., instructor in the College of Public Health, emceed the inauguration and presented a tribute to his mentor, Alicia Cervantes Vanden Bosch, Pharm.D., a founding member of Omaha’s Binational Health Week. Dr. Vanden Bosch, an immigrant from Mexico and a UNMC alum, died in August at the age of 66. The audience gave a standing ovation to her husband, Don Vanden Bosch.
The Mexican consulate also honored several “who have worked tirelessly all these years for the most vulnerable of our community,” Sanchez said.
Andrea Skolkin of OneWorld Community Health Centers and Emiliano Lerda of Justice for Our Neighbors, Nebraska, also were featured speakers.