There is a pervasive, almost predictable, health reality that Colorado Latino families are facing and have faced for years. The reality? That they will lose a loved one well before, well in advance of their normal life expectancy. Also, they will also lose that family member—in far too many cases— as a result of poor choices.
According to a report issued by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, a disproportionate number of Latinos in Colorado will die prematurely from diabetes, liver disease and drug overdoses. Of course, there are also other factors that also contribute to earlier than expected Latino mortality.
Diabetes has long been a significant Latino health issue and, according to the Centers for Disease Control, one that dwarfs the general populations. In a 2023 report, the CDC said that more than half of Latino adults is predicted to develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime.
Type 1 diabetes is thought to be an autoimmune condition. A person’s immune system disables or greatly impairs a body’s ability to produce insulin. Without this ability, the body cannot regulate blood sugar levels. This condition is genetic.
Type 2 diabetes, also called adult-onset diabetes, happens when a body cannot use insulin efficiently leading to high blood sugar levels. Over time it causes serious nerve and blood vessel damage.
But, said Colorado Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo, while diabetes is surely a major Latino health care issue and requires serious attention, it is only one part of the Latino health care challenge.
“As the first Latina doctor in the history of the U.S. Congress,” Caraveo said, “I have taken legislative action” on those health care issues that often haunt Latino communities. Caraveo’s name is often found on bills that directly serve underserved populations including those that benefit women. “I am a co-sponsor of the Find it Early Act that will expand breast cancer detection among underrepresented communities.”
Breast cancer health, as one example and one in Caraveo’s quiver, is the second most common type of cancer in women after skin cancer. A common element impacting Latina diagnosed with breast cancer is not enough access to screenings and treatment. Too often, diagnosis of this disease is too late.
The first-term Congresswoman is also part of a bipartisan effort, under the Access to Quality Cardiac Rehabilitation Care Act of 2023 to expand cardiac and intensive cardiac under Medicare.
Caraveo, also a pediatrician, represents Colorado’s 8th Congressional District. It is district with a nearly 40 percent Latino population, many of whom are first generation immigrants. The district is where Caraveo practiced medicine before going to Washington and continues to be one of the most ardent supporters of infant health.
According to the CDC infant mortality and lower birth weights among Hispanic newborns continues to trend at disproportionately higher national levels. Caraveo has focused on making sure that Colorado’s and the countries’ youngest are given the highest priority healthcare. “We must continue to pave the way to receive new technologies and implement them in a way that is safe and beneficial for patients, especially our youngest patients,” Caraveo said. Tied closely to this issue, said Caraveo, is the ongoing battle in Congress over women’s health care. The Adams County Democrat is adamant about protecting women’s right to bodily autonomy. “I will always stand up for a woman’s right to choose,” she told La Voz Colorado.
On the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling that killed Roe v Wade, a woman’s right to have an abortion, the pediatrician-legislator also introduced a bill “to provide more resources to reproductive care clinics” in Colorado and other states. Since the SCOTUS ruling on Roe, Caraveo says Colorado and other states where women can still seek abortion care, out-of-state women needing this care have placed a growing demand on these places.
Women’s health is also a high priority for Dr. Darci Martinez, Director of Adams County Health’s Nursing Division. Teen pregnancy among younger Latinas continues to outrace that of non-Hispanics, said Martinez. One of her priorities, she said, is getting the word about this issue out in public view through “culturally appropriate” messaging.
But Martinez health portfolio also includes one health issue that often gets for too little time or attention among Latinos. Mental health, she said, including depression, is often spoken about only in whispers and other times, not at all among Latinos. And when it is, Martinez said, visits to mental health specialists are not easily accomplished.
Growing up in Amalia, New Mexico, just south of the New Mexico-Colorado state line, Martinez said patients seeking regular health or mental health care often had hour-long drives to Taos or Alamosa to see someone.
Depression, said Martinez, is a condition that receives far less attention than is healthy in Latino communities. “Our community is less likely to connect to mental health services,” she said. She calls it part of the “landscape of health equity.” Community outreach, which she champions, is something that is one of her high priorities, she said.
COVID, which is long from gone and, say public health officials, may stage a return—though not nearly with the impact experienced during the pandemic—also took an unequal toll on Latinos. According to the National Library of Medicine, an arm of the National Institute of Health, the Latino populations and particularly monolingual Spanish speakers died at “elevated” levels compared to the general U.S. population.
Factors in these deaths include misinformation about the virus and its vaccine as well as a disconnect, often cultural, with health care specialists.
Information about a new COVID vaccine is just beginning to circulate from state and national health agencies. Also, similar information on the new strain of influenza that usually begins to appear in the fall is now being unveiled.
