The struggle is almost gone from them. They worked. They saved. They did the best they could. But now the days are tough days.
These are the ethnic elderly who are just getting by, who are alone, and who fear their tomorrows.
This too is a story that we need to tell about the immigrant and minority elderly: the story of those elderly who are alone and struggling.
Here, for example, is some recent research on Latino boomers and elderly from the Center for Policy Research on Aging at UCLA.
“Many aging Latinos have minimal
pension and health care benefits or
no benefits at all, a result of their
unmet needs in regard to education:
in 2006, for example, only 59 percent
of Latinos over age twenty-five had
obtained a high school diploma,
compared to 90 percent of non-
Latino whites (Gassoumis, Wilber,
and Torres-Gil 2008). In California,
Latino elders who lived alone or with
only a spouse had the highest rates
of economic insecurity among all
elders age sixty-five and older. About
three-fourths of Latino elders who
lived alone and almost half of those
who lived with only a spouse could
not cover their basic costs of living.”
These are some of the issues we will be dealing with at our news briefing for the ethnic news media from 10 am to noon Tuesday, Feb. 23, at Age Options in Oak Park. We will talk about sources, contacts, new ways of reporting. I hope you can join us there.
Out of the CDC’s recent briefing here came a nugget of news that needs to be followed up. Why are Latino and African-American patients suffering higher rates of the illness that lead to hospitalizations? The experts offered some explanations for the differences, but they said more investigating needed to be done to tell what’s happening
So that’s where you need to fill in the questions.
If someone comes up with a story that deals with this, please let me know – Steve
Here is a story from New America Media about that event that you are welcome to use. Simply credit the New America Media.
(www.newamericamedia.org) and them know if you do.CDC to Chicago Media: H1N1 Outbreaks May Be Ebbing But Stay Vigilant
New America Media, News report, Khalil Abdullah, Posted: Dec 12, 2009
CHICAGO – Since H1N1 was first reported in April, three times as many African Americans and Latinos have been hospitalized with “swine flu” in Illinois than non-Hispanic whites, according to data compiled by the Illinois Department of Public Health. “That’s a considerable difference,” acknowledged Dr. Craig Conover, medical director of the department’s Division of Infectious Diseases.
As of Dec. 4, Illinois has had 2,187 “lab-confirmed” H1N1 hospitalizations and 67 deaths. The state’s death rate tracks along similar lines — though at only twice that of non-Hispanic whites — for the same two ethnic groups. For all the concern about the immature immune systems of children or the deteriorating ones of the elderly, 26 individuals, or more than one-third of Illinois’s H1N1 deaths, were adults between the ages of 26 and 49, the largest cohort.
Dr. Felipe Lobelo, an epidemic intelligence service officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, noted, “Hispanics and African Americans have high rates of chronic diseases,” like asthma and diabetes. Those diseases can weaken the body’s immune system, leaving a person more susceptible to H1N1 and to the seasonal flu as well.
Lobelo joined Conover and other health professionals on a panel convened by the CDC in collaboration with New America Media. The Dec. 4 discussion was the last in a series of CDC-NAM H1N1 briefings this year held specifically for ethnic media in eight U.S. cities.
Dr. Tyra Bryant-Stephens, medical director of the Community Asthma Prevention Program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, explained that the flu is not the common cold. It is a “serious disease,” she said, and it is opportunistic. Individuals affected by asthma “already have inflammation of their airways,” a potentially dangerous pre-condition for diseases like the flu to attack the body’s respiratory system. She noted that asthma is especially prevalent in urban American communities where African Americans and Hispanics often reside.
“One out of four [urban children] have asthma,” Bryant-Stephens said.
Panel members also noted that lack of access to primary health care and lower vaccination rates among ethnic groups, as compared to the general population, may also be contributing factors to the striking differences in hospitalizations and deaths. Conover and other Illinois health officials said they are aggressively promoting a 311 call-in line where the public can get assistance in any language.
Each speaker emphasized the need for the public to pursue vaccinations for H1N1 and the seasonal flu.
“Seasonal flu may show up this year or next year,” said Capt. Raymond Strikas, a medical officer of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Vaccine Program. He said that though data show that the H1N1 outbreak may be ebbing, “flu activity remains high in the United States.” However, Strikas assured attendant media that the volume of H1N1 vaccine available is increasing by six to eight million doses weekly.
One reason for the initial shortage of H1N1 doses was the decision to use the traditional method of growing a safe vaccine by using chicken eggs, Strikas explained. H1N1 grew more slowly than anticipated, thus accounting for some of the production delays.
On a related note, Strikas said that health officials are closely monitoring reports of a few patients in the United States who have contracted a mutated flu strain resistant to Tamiflu. He said that other drugs are available to treat those patients and that the public needs to focus on preventative steps, including basic hygiene like hand-washing, to ward off flu infections.
As in the other seven cities where CDC-NAM briefings were held, Chicago’s ethnic media asked the panel to explain the policy on vaccinations for the undocumented immigrant population. A spokesperson for Cook County’s health department, which covers the “windy city” and its nearby environs, said that upon administering vaccinations, “we do ask where you reside, but [we] don’t ask for proof of residency.”
Another journalist asked if someone with a comprised immune system or someone from an at-risk population had to bring proof of their medical condition in order to receive a shot when the vaccine was being rationed. “Nobody needs to bring a doctor’s note,” answered Dr. Julie Morita, medical director for the Chicago Department of Public Health’s Immunization Program.
May Ju, a producer at New Tang Dynasty Television, asked whether U.S. health officials had given any consideration to instituting a temporary quarantine period for travelers arriving in the United States from countries like China. Countries sometimes underreport infectious disease rates for reasons related to preserving a positive international image or maintaining their tourism industry, she noted.
The panel members said there is no such plan. Strikas did point out, however, that “China has taken a lot of heat” because of its slowness to respond and inform the world community about infectious disease outbreaks, like SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in 2003. But he expects China to be more forthcoming in reporting to international health agencies. Strikas said it is incumbent on the United States to maintain “vigorous surveillance.”
With November data still pending, the CDC mid-level range estimates that there have been 3,900 H1N1-related deaths in the United States as of Oct. 17. The World Health Organization has reported more than 7,800 H1N1-related deaths worldwide from April through November. Though it may appear that the United States is ground zero for H1N1 deaths due to its high percentage of the total number of deaths worldwide, one epidemiologist cautioned that many countries simply do not have the capacity to monitor or report the disease’s impact.
Have you noticed the growing number Latino oriented ads on television and in the newspapers and magazine? Well there’s a good reason and its great news for the Latino news media. This story from adweek explains:
The Hispanic Market Is Set to Soar
The 2010 Census will radically alter the demographic map and the rules of engagement between Hispanic and general-market shops
Hispanic Americans continue to grow in number at a rate four times that of the general population, with the 2010 Census expected to show their total rising to nearly 50 million, from 38 million in 2000. And second-generation Hispanics are fast becoming the driver of the group’s growth, with 88 percent of Hispanic children born in America, versus 61 percent of adults.
This WBEZ on banking in Chicago’s Latino community opened a door to more stories. Listen and let’s figure out what comes next. http://wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=37833
As a result, agencies that market to this segment are finding themselves in a strong position, armed with the skills and techniques to take on general assignments from big-name clients. Meanwhile, in a tight business environment, general agencies are starting to compete for work previously reserved for specialist shops.
Is an already competitive agency landscape set to become even more so?
“In the 2010 Census, we’ll see confirmation of a shift from Hispanic consumers who are first generation, where Spanish is the dominant language, to second-generation, bilingual, bicultural consumers. It totally transforms how we market,” says Cynthia McFarlane, chair of Publicis Groupe’s Conill, a Latino agency. “These are consumers who are as influenced by American culture as the country of origin of their families. There is a new American culture forming, and these consumers are having a tremendous impact on mainstream America.”
McDonald’s, which sees higher brand loyalty among its Hispanic consumers, has added offerings like breakfast burritos to its national menu. In further evidence of the growing bilingual voice of Hispanic consumers, McDonald’s runs ads with Spanish taglines in general-market media, and earlier this year used “Spanglish” in general-market advertising for the Quarter Pounder.
“We know the general market has become increasingly multicultural, with Hispanic music, Hispanic tastes, the Hispanic palate influencing a lot of general-market initiatives,” says Cristina Vilella, director of marketing at McDonald’s USA. “We lead with Hispanic insights but make sure they appeal to the general market.”
That blurring of distinctions within the Hispanic marketplace hints at the changes ahead for agencies and media firms. Hispanics now have about $863 billion in discretionary annual income, more than any other minority group in the country. (As of the third quarter, Americans overall had disposable income of $10.8 trillion.) Agencies argue that spending power is still underestimated and that upcoming Census findings — expected to be released beginning in early 2011 — will deliver a wake-up call to marketers.
“It will be a huge eye-opener when we see the growing affluence of the Hispanic marketplace, not just in buying power but also in household wealth,” says Conill’s McFarlane.
“We have 15 percent of the market but only 5 percent of the marketing dollars,” says Ingrid Otero-Smart, CEO of Interpublic Group’s Casanova Pendrill. “You’re going to see more general-market agencies pursue Hispanic accounts. They didn’t care when our budgets were $10 million or less, but now that we are dealing with more robust budgets and theirs are being cut, it’s a different story.”
Here’s a blog from a Cleveland reporter that gets me thinking about some figures he points to dealing with infant mortality. As he notes, there are federal figures for most counties and so I wonder how we are doing here in the Chicago area. His reporting approach might also be a guide. So, too, his frustration about what hasn’t happened yet.
Sustaining the Outrage: Revisiting America’s Most At-Risk Residents – Our Children
They shouldn’t have to play at contaminated abandoned industrial sites because their neighborhoods have no green space. They shouldn’t be at risk of dying before their first birthday because the color or their skin makes getting health care difficult. They shouldn’t go to schools where there is no learning and where their parents’ greatest hope is that they don’t join a gang or get attacked.
They shouldn’t be well on their way to becoming hardened criminals by age 11, or be forced to drop out of high school because they got pregnant.
Our Children shouldn’t live this way. But they do, especially in big cities like Cleveland. And it seems we have grown accustomed to it.
A few years back, Joan Mazzolini and I and a group of Plain Dealer reporters took an exhaustive look at our nation’s most at-risk citizens – the half million children who call greater Cleveland home.
We set out to precisely assess the problems children in Cleveland face.
For example, we found that half a million Ohio children live next door to a toxic waste site. We visited the neighborhoods with the most dangerous sites and found youngsters playing in abandoned factories.
We found that nearly 1 million children in Ohio live in what we defined as poor housing, putting them at greater risk for fires, accidents and environmental health hazards such as lead poisoning and asthma.
We found that babies born to teenage mothers are much more likely to be premature, and that those babies had cost Ohio roughly $161 million in five years. We found that in some inner-city neighborhoods infants are dying at rates that rival Third World countries like Guatemala.
And we found that children of color were most in danger.
Jessica Rosenberg was one of four interns from Columbia College who worked this summer at ethnic news media in a program set up by the Community Media Workshop.
Here is a brief essay she wrote at the end of her assignment:
It’s not easy being a gringa writing for a Spanish-speaking newspaper. Cultural sensitivity and language skills cannot come close to knowing the Latino immigrant experience. And as Latinos come to be the largest minority group in Chicago – and the United States – this knowing is the very reason ethnic media is so important.
As an outsider, I didn’t know that Latino immigrants tend to be distrusting of banks and as a result, stash their money in their houses. I didn’t know that it was common for Latino immigrants to work 2, and sometimes 3 jobs to make ends meet – recession or not. I didn’t know that out of deep respect for their parents, young Latino gangbangers will go to great lengths to conceal their belonging to a gang.
These facts may have been obvious to Latinos, but to me, it was a newsflash. Confronting these cultural nuances made it difficult for me to differentiate between what was really news and what wasn’t. It was news to me foreclosures were hitting Latino communities harder than white neighborhoods. But to residents of Pilsen and La Villita who already know it’s a problem because they live it everyday, how do you give them information they can use? I figured it out, but it required several instances of not being afraid to look, or sound, stupid.
In the eight weeks I was an ethnic media intern, I learned that the strength of ethnic newspapers lie in their ability to voice the cultural nuance of their community. Latino readers can’t pick up a major newspaper and have their culture and opinions validated like most white people can. And on a larger scale, I truly understood how valuable newspapers – all newspapers, that is – are in reflecting the values and voices of a community, culture and generation.
A last minute handful of cash has kept the Bay State Banner – the major black paper in Boston – alive and here’s some local thought about why that is important.
Here’s a compelling PBS video that brings home the power and brilliance of reporting across borders and the indelible links that exist between immigrant communities in the U.S. and the places where they have come from.
What more, I wonder, can be written about this from Chicago? What similar stories are waiting to be told?
It’s virtually the other story about the American news media. While mainstream news media is shedding its audience, the ethnic news media is gathering up its followers.
What’s the proof. Here are the results of a survey done for New America Media. The poll looked only at Hispanics, African-Americans and Asian Americans so the support for the ethnic media is clearly much larger.
The poll found that:
1. The number of adults reached by the ethnic news media has grown by 16 percent since 2005.
2. Spanish language radio and print now reaches 85 percent of all Latinos in the U.S.
3. Chinese language television stations and newspapers now reach 70 percent of all Chinese adults in the nation, up from 55 percent in 2005.
4. Korean-language newspapers are read by 64 percent of all Korean adults in the U.S., up from 46 percent four years ago.
5. English language publications aimed at Filipino and Indian readers are followed by 60 percent of the folks in these communities today.
6. Two-thirds of the nation’s African-American community listen to radio stations oriented toward them.
What’s going on here? Here’s my idea. People are turning to the news media that reflects them and their values, the news media that gives them stories they can’t find elsewhere. Like a good friend of mine explains why she reads only certain Polish newspapers in Chicago. “They have news I won’t find elsewhere.”
So, when you are out talking to advertisers, remember to hold up these facts. What they say is that there’s an appetite that is growing, and maybe advertisers and local officials need to realize this.
They walk up and down in front of the hotel. There are speeches and cheers. And the next day’s story in the Sun-Times didn’t talk about the strikers but the latest legal wrangling by the union.
What about the strikers six years later? What about the maids and bartenders and others who took second jobs or floated from one low-paying job to another to get by?
What about the people who couldn’t speak good enough English to find another decent paying job though they had worked for years at the Congress Hotel?
There is a human story here that maybe only the ethnic news media can see. A story about resilence, about standing up for what you think is right. Standing up when your suffering only grows because of it.
Or a story about the painful search for a decent job when you are on the low-wage ladder and your language limitations and middle age makes it difficult for you to get your footing again? So you keep tumbling downward.
Or a story about what unions mean for immigrants and minorities. Or just a video about why someone who earns $8.83 an hour making up beds would put up such a fight?
If all else fails it, the ethnic news media can always count on one thing to survive. It is a connection. It is a legacy. It is a memory. It is another way of listening, hearing, seeing. It carries the sound that lasts for generations.
As yet another wonderful NPR program reminded us today, the success of some ethnic media amid the stunning collapse of American journalism is their ability to link one generation after another with a common root, and to keep their eye on what matters.
It is the ability of some Latino radio stations to capture the imagination of second and third generation Latinos with a delicious presentation of Spanglish.
Its the powerful appeal of Korean or Chinese television stations that tell the story of our daily lives in the rhythm of the place where we now live but in the language of where we came from.
And it is the ability to satisfy the hunger of immigrant parents and their children and their children’s children who want to be able to feel as if they are living within the same story though generations and countries separate them.
What works for the Ethnic New Media
The ethnic media can continue to thrive by speaking out and speaking for their communities. By staying focused on this mission and doing its job in the most creative way possible. By staying update in technology and business strategy so it can get by on less in these hard times. By learning to share with others in order to survive. And by not giving up.
at Age Options in Oak Park. We will talk about sources, contacts, new ways of reporting. I hope you can join us there.
, steve@newstips.org
