 I was thankful today to participate in Texas Tribune focus and chat on the future of Latino health along with great experts Dr. Amelie Ramirez and Dr. Esteban Lopez. The focus today was really on the future of Latino health but you can't talk about the future unless you have a good understanding of where we are right now. And we have tremendous opportunities with the Affordable Care Act with so much that is going on. We also have great hindrances and barriers because of the decision making of Governor Perry to not expand Medicaid. That's a million work and adults in this state and who we would primarily benefit would be working Latinos who don't have health care coverage through their employer but are making less than $32,000 a year. That's a really tough decision. But we also talked today about health care professionals and the need for cultural competency and understanding language barriers and how best to get information and education to our Latino communities. The importance of decision making not just at the state level or federal level but at school boards, at the planning commission, at our local city councils and our neighborhood associations because health plays an important part. It's not just health care. The real focus should be how do you keep well and to keep well you need healthy communities. So the focus I think was on the future, understanding that we've got some genetic at play with high incidence of diabetes, alarming rates of cervical cancer for Latinas, twice the rate of non-Hispanic whites. Those are the types of things that the statistics tell us are a growing trend and we need to address. But I think today's discussion and hopefully will be an eye-opener to folks who don't think they're in the health care framework but they are. If housing has a great deal to play with this. Community planning, the walkable communities, those what we call food deserts where you cannot buy fresh fruits and vegetables because it's all about staying well and then having the access to health insurance so that you get the preventive services and when you do get sick that you can get appropriate quality treatment at an affordable cost. Addison High School in San Antonio now the district has made the decision to put the lights on in their practice field there at night. I was driving by at nine o'clock at night and couldn't even get into the parking lot. I didn't know what was happening but then when I looked it was the car parking lot was packed with cars of people who at nine o'clock at night were walking the tracks. That goes to show you there wasn't anything in that community at night that people could go walk and who's going to walk in the middle of the day with a hundred degree weather. Those are the types of decisions. They may mean a small thing but for those communities and for those people taking advantage of that that's going to benefit their health.