The Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (GAHCC) Health and Wellness Committee is composed of volunteer Chamber members who are passionate about health initiatives.

 The GAHCC Health and Wellness Committee is excited to share key resources in our community and information to support our members by ensuring that all Hispanic businesses in the Greater Austin Area are informed, empowered and equipped to have a healthy work force!

Mission Statement

The Health & Wellness Initiative provides advocacy, leadership and education on health and wellness issues to ensure optimal workforce productivity. Our focus is bringing awareness to the chronic diseases that disproportionately affect the Latino community and providing resources for prevention, early detection, and access to care. 

History/About Us

The Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce created the Health & Wellness Initiative in 2008 as a way to reach out to the business community and promote the philosophy that healthy employees mean a healthy and robust business. Through the initiative, we provide advocacy, leadership and education on wellness issues to ensure optimal worforce productivity and a healthier community for all. 

Our activities include:

• Free monthly learning lunch series titled, "Health & Hot Sauce" held at the MACC on a variety of health topics every 3rd Thursday of the month. Register at: http://www.gahcc.org/saludysalsa
• Affecting system-wide change via education of business owners and community leaders. For example, we coordinated the Tobacco-Free Worksite Makes Sense Summit for business owners in 2011. We are coordinating the upcoming Health Literacy Summit on May 31, 2012 for local business and community leaders to implement health literacy policies in their worksites. 
• Supporting organizations such as the American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association and others through direct donations and fundraising efforts. 
• The Chamber went tobacco free in 2011

Committee

Annie Crawford 
Director, Ventanilla de Salud
Committee Chair
acrawford@capitalahec.org

Jim Rodriguez
President and CEO, Tex Health Central Texas
Committee Vice Chair
jrodriguez@texhealthct.org

Sandy Martinez Nava
Committee Secretary
znava(at)centene.com

Dusty Young
Director of Health Equity Central Texas Region, American Heart Association
dusty.young@heart.org

Marcie Wilson
Stroke Outreach Coordinator, RN, BSN, Brain and Spine Center-Neurosciences
MWilson@seton.org

Wilmia Perez
City of Austin Health and Human Services
wilmia.perez@ci.austin.tx.us

Bryce Kyburz M.A.
CommUnityCare
bryce.kyburz@communitycaretx.org

Dick Lepanen
Higginbotham & Associates
dlepanen@higginbotham.net

Sandy Rodriguez
Superior Health Plan
zrodriguez@centene.com

Natasha Rosofsky
United Way Capital Area
natasha.rosofsky@unitedwaycapitalarea.org

Catalina Berry
Univision Radio Austin
cberry(at)univisionradio.com

Johanna Viteri
Walgreens
johanna.viteri(at)walgreens.com

Elizabeth Hansbury
North Park YMCA
elizabeth.hansbury@austinymca.org

Angela Hooben
Active Life
anna(at)activelifehq.org
 
Ed Gomez 
egomez1492(at)yahoo.com