Hispanics Experiences & Awareness Of Paralysis.

A recent survey of Hispanics living in the United States revealed that a sizeable proportion of them know or have known someone who is paralyzed, yet more than half of them are not aware of any resources in their community to help people with paralysis.

“There are very few statistics available on paralysis as it relates to minority communities,” said Joe Canose, Vice President, Quality of Life, for the Christopher Reeve Foundation, who also directs organizational and outreach efforts at the Christopher & Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center (PRC).

“Since the PRC has been making a concerted effort to reach out to minorities over the past year, it is important for us to know what their attitudes and awareness levels are, so that we can administer our outreach accordingly.”

The survey revealed that more than 37 percent of Hispanics know or have known someone who is paralyzed, but almost 56 percent of them are not aware of resources for those with paralysis within their community, and less than 10 percent of them access the Internet as a resource.

“The Hispanic community is one of the largest in the United States today,” continues Canose, “making it imperative for us to spread our message to them. We encourage those living with and/or affected by paralysis to call our toll-free number at 1-800-539-7309, where their questions can be answered by Spanish-speaking Information Specialists. We also urge them to ask for a free copy of our Paralysis Resource Guide, which is available in Spanish, and contains a wealth of information for those trying to navigate the world of paralysis.”

Other key findings of the survey include:

* For support with a health problem, Hispanics overwhelmingly (85.4 percent) turn to close family members. Hispanics interviewed were most likely to mention their spouse (33.4 percent), a parent (23.7 percent) or a sibling (18.4 percent) for support.

* Outside of family and friends, medical professionals are the key source of information (74.5 per cent) if a person has a health problem. Only 9.5 per cent of those surveyed turned to the Internet as a resource.

* One in three Hispanics (37.2 percent) know or have known someone who is paralyzed, and almost all those interviewed were aware of the source of the paralysis. The most frequent source of the paralysis was the result of an injury (40.6 percent), followed by an illness or health problem (33.3 percent), and a birth defect (20.5 percent).

* One out of four Hispanics (23 percent) say they are not at all comfortable with people who are living with paralysis, but a large number feel their community is supportive to people living with paralysis (extremely supportive: 10 percent; very supportive: 24.5 percent; and somewhat supportive: 34.6 percent).

* Despite an overall feeling that their community is supportive to people living with paralysis, more than half of Hispanics surveyed (55.5 percent) are not aware of any resources in their community that specifically help people living with paralysis.

For more information at http://www.paralysis.org