Rebuilding Mendocino National Forest
At a recent Clear Lake Trowel and Trellis Garden Club meeting, Kitty Loberg and Suzanne Russell were awarded a Penny Pine Certificate for their special contributions to the garden club by Nora Gerrard, Penny Pines Chair. Anyone may donate to Penny Pines in memory, or in honor, of a person. So far, the club has contributed 80 acres to the Penny Pines reforestation program. If you wish to donate, please contact Penny Pines Chair Nora at 707 272-6885.
Under a conservation agreement, an individual or organization can contribute $68 toward the cost of planting seedlings on about one acre of National Forest land in California and receive a Penny Pines certificate. Using the donation, together with federal funds, the Forest Service will do the planting on the National Forest of your choice. The Penny Pines plantings are made as part of the regular National Forest reforestation program on burned-over and brush-covered areas which are potentially productive timberland. Using these donations, combined with regular forest planting funds, millions of pine, fir, redwood, and giant sequoia seedlings have been planted on acres of National Forest land in California.
The CLT&TGC is a member of the Mendo Lake District of the California Garden Club, Inc. Pacific Region and National Garden Clubs, Inc. The club welcomes new members and information can be found by visiting www.clttgc.org or call Ginny at 707-489-3511.
—Submitted
CALIFORNIA
Recognizing health disparities in racial and ethnic minority groups
April is recognized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as Minority Health Month, an observance that brings awareness to health disparities and encourages action through education, early detection, and disease control. Part of this work includes raising awareness about the disproportionate health outcomes among people who belong to racial or ethnic minority groups.
The conditions in which we are born, live, learn, work, play, and worship and our age – known as social determinants of health (SDOH) – have important impacts on health. Differences in SDOH contribute to the stark and persistent chronic disease disparities in the U.S. among racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups, systematically limiting opportunities for members of some groups to be healthy.
Cancer
Black/African Americans have the highest mortality rate of any racial or ethnic group for all cancers combined and for most major cancers.
From 2015-2019, African American men were 1.2 times and 1.7 times more likely to be diagnosed with new cases of colon and prostate cancer than non-Hispanic white men.
Although Hispanic men and women generally have lower cancer rates than the non-Hispanic White population, disparities do exist in certain types of cancer. Both Hispanic men and women are almost twice as likely to have and die from liver cancer than non-Hispanic Whites.
Hispanic women are 40% more likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer, and 30 percent more likely to die from cervical cancer, as compared to non-Hispanic White women.
Mental health
Black females, grades 9-12, were 60% more likely to attempt suicide in 2019, as compared to non-Hispanic white females of the same age.
Suicide attempts for Hispanic girls, grades 9-12, were 30% higher than for non-Hispanic white girls in the same age group, in 2019.
In 2018, Hispanics were 50% less likely to have received mental health treatment as compared to non-Hispanic Whites.
Prenatal care
Although overall infant mortality rates have fallen over time, the 2018 infant mortality rate for infants of non-Hispanic Black women was more than twice as high as that for infants of non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic Asian and Hispanic women.
In 2019, Hispanic mothers were 80% more likely to receive late or no prenatal care as compared to non-Hispanic White mothers.
This awareness month brings light to differences in the health outcomes of various racial and ethnic minority groups. This awareness can also inform individuals about how groups who have poor social determinants of health and lack of access to high-quality medical care are more likely to be diagnosed with and die from diseases.
