No ‘farewell’ to language barriers in access to cancer care, study finds
Calling hospital information lines can be frustrating — many of us have experienced long wait times, being disconnected or hung up on. But for Mandarin and Spanish-speaking New Yorkers with limited English proficiency, the chances of getting cancer care information from hospital help lines are significantly lower than for English speakers. A new study published this month in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network shows the results of a "secret shopper" study where 93% of English speakers were offered next steps for accessing cancer care, while only approximately a third of Spanish-speaking callers and even fewer Mandarin-speaking callers (27.5%) had the same experience.
A student's take on the mental health crisis in Georgia schools
Between constant comparisons and a mindset that emphasizes grades over well-being, the youth in Georgia are not okay. In 2019, forty thousand students reported attempting suicide in the state, according to the Georgia Health Student Survey. By the following year, anxiety and depression had risen among youth ages three to 17. Recent high school graduate Mira Ugwuadu argues that Georgia needs to take a more proactive approach to addressing students’ mental health challenges. “Though I've seen some people's mindsets about mental health change, I have yet to see any structural change within our schooling to prevent these deaths or even reduce the stresses that school creates.”
Read their full essay in Scalawag's 'In Their Own Words' series focusing on the youth mental health crisis →
COVID, flu, RSV boosters: Which shots should you get this fall?
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved new COVID boosters, and last week, the Centers for Disease Control recommended that every American six months and older get them. Children and adults over 60 can also get a vaccine or antibody treatment for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which causes 60,000 to 160,000 hospitalizations every year. Sahan Journal has put together a handy FAQ about flu shots for people with and without insurance.
Meet the Game Changers
Highlighting the innovators transforming health outcomes in our communities
Dr. Debbie Chen is the lead author of the “secret shopper” study conducted by the University of Michigan between November 2021 and June 2022. She spoke with
Epicenter-NYC
about the study’s ‘shocking’ results, its implications and possible solutions for addressing the problems encountered by the Mandarin and Spanish-speaking callers