welcome i'm damian true jill lo, we're honoring our veterans here on your "comunidad dell valle. >> we begin with braille family services, the director there is back on. welcome back to the show. >> thank you. >> first of all, i know there's a lot of talk to about in little time. tell us about grail family services. >> a non-profit organization that serves families of young children, residing in east san

jose. our focus is on early literacy and parent engagement and oral and kmunive development. >> this is your partnership with stanford university on cognitive reading, right, where you're teaching them how to see what the literacy rate will be like or might be like? >> yes, we've been operating for 15 years serving thousands of families. over the years we learned how important it is to get to families as early as possible. we know through research that early experiences for children are a predictor of academic outcomes. we're really interested in reaching out to families as early as we have some families that participate in our programs that have children 18 days old. we're very excited about that and providing the families a place so they can develop the skills and tools they need to support their child's learning. >> what are you telling a mom of an 18 day old child as far as what they can expect? >> what we discovered when we

have parents of newborns is that parents have a lot of fear. parents have a lot of concern. they want to do the best they can as a parent. but sometimes they don't know how. and they think that their experience is unique, that listening to a baby cry all night is just because they are doing something wrong. what we want to teach them is they are not doing anything wrong. they just need to learn some coping skills and some tools that will help them do the best job they can. >> how much in awe do you find your families, your clients with when you show them maybe this is a reason why they are doing this other thing? >> significant, the impact we're having is significant and what we're seeing is parents that come to us with their newborn, they wish they had come earlier. they tell us all the time, i wish i had gone there earlier so that i would have learned the skills and know what to do to support my child.

what we've discovered is parents really want to do their best. they just sometimes don't know how to do it and that's what we do at grail family services, provide them with the tools and skills and opportunities. we know that a trial that has strong attachment to that parent is going to thrive. we know that a child thrives in a nurturing and supportive relationship. so we just want to show parents how to do this. we also know that parents come in with a lot of strength. and we like to know that we just partner with them, where we don't see ourselves as being an expert in this field but we want to partner with parents. and that i think is the formula for success that we've had over the years. >> that's great. time is running out but what i learned in doing that story, you don't teach your children grauns or you have to speak in full words so they start learning that word.

maybe a word that comes to mind, you have to speak to them as leche -- >> full sentences and having conversations, not just one isolated word but really meaningful conversations with your child strengthens your relationship. >> baby even? >> your baby, very early. we teach parents hold their newborns and talk to the newborn and wait for the child to react. so you're practicing communication with an infant, which is very exciting and fun to watch. >> it's a great program. they are having a fundraiser grail family services, tell us about that? >> we're having a fun raising may 14th and so they can go to our website and he would love to have them. we'll be unveiling exciting family engagement messages doing our fundraiser. we would like to have the community come and join us that day. >> there is the web address for more information, logon and found out how you can help or receive help from grail family

services. thank you for helping. >> up next, fighting diabetes in the latino community. stay with us. looking for one of these? yoplait. smooth, creamy, and craved by the whole family.

we're back talking about the fight against diabetes. joseph harrison is a clin igs with care more, welcome to the show talking about this important topic. >> let me start with you, joseph, tell us about care more. >> we serve mostly older adults but all ages of adults who qualify for medicare we serve. we have a special needs programs for patients who are not controlled in their diabetes where we're very aggressive and pro active in managing their illness. >> you were mentioning off camera how it's important to look out for symptoms because it can lead to other -- >> the good news is when you exercise regularly and watch your diet and take your medicine, if you've been

diagnosed you're also preventing cardiovascular disease and mood disorders and bone disease. you're really feeding multiple birds with one hand. >> this is i guess crucial here, right, watching what you eat? joseph mentioned that a little bit. >> yes, you want to be really careful about eating what you eat is balanced. and fresh is always the best. it's the processed foods that contain all of that sugar and fat and salt that is affecting the health. and the prevention first for diabetes type ii is reducing all of that processed food that contains so much sugar. and what we're lacking is eating more of those good foods like the fruits and vegetables, beans, many of the traditional foods that our grandparents used to eat. >> what are we doing to our children, when they are 7 and 8 and 9 and taking them to a

drive-tlu. >> we're putting them at high risk for type ii diabetes. in my work i have seen young kids with prediabetes and type ii and a lot of it is related to what they eat, what they consume, which is a lot of the processed foods that contain a lot of sugar, especially the drinks like the sodas. and many of those sweetened beverages that connect with high blood sugars and risk for diabetes. >> joseph, do you find that if you don't take care of yourself, that you're prone to losing a limb or if you do take care of yourself, maybe you can prevent that from happening. >> the loss of limb amputations and wounds that are difficult to treat, those are with patients who have uncontrolled diabetes. a person who doesn't have diabetes is not at risk for that and person who has diabetes but is well controlled is at much

lower risk for that. that's another example of one of the secondary illnesses that comes from diabetes which makes it more important to do things that norma is talking about j your re. >> your reactions when you see the numbers? >> i work with older adults so i see how many young people are already developing diabetes and see how uncontrolled diabetes shortens people's lives and decreases the quality of their lives. it does make me very concerned but to focus on the positive, when older adults treat their diabetes and they prevent it, they are actually being an example for younger people and there is a major knock effect that we will see when people who are adults, older adults taking care of themselves, those children will learn those habits instead of the wrong ones. >> very good point. you have an alert day coming up. >> it is actually today. that's the american diabetes association has included a test

or questionnaire that you can do on your own that has seven questions and it will actually tell you if you are at risk or if you possibly have diabetes type ii. and if you score high, which is five or more to each question, will give you the points that you have. and if you do have five or more, you're at very high risk or possibly already have it. but you don't know that until you actually see your doctor and have the test done. so that's when it's time to go have a screening test to see whether you are at diagnosis for type ii diabetes. >> once you have it, can you live a normal life or are you kind of at the mercy of diabetes? >> so when the condition is diagnosed matters a lot. some people will go undiagnosed for a long period of time and that's why having medical

insurance and going to regular checkups is really important. but yes, absolutely, individuals can live very normal healthy lives. in fact, what i would say, when a person who's developed diabetes or at risk for it starts to implement the life decisions that make the difference, they actually will have a better quality of life because of the way that exercise and healthy food makes you feel. you're not giving up things but gaining things. >> very important point. the chicken nugget down and pick up a carrot stick. >> that is a great start. but i wanted to along the lines of 29 statistics from 2014, 29 million people with possible diabetes type ii out of those 8 million are undiagnosed. and 21 million are diagnosed. so this is a huge problem that we really need to start doing something about now.

>> when that health bus comes to the community center in your neighborhood, make sure you knock on the door and get checked. there's a couple of web addresses for more information, logon and find out more about diabetes and fight against this disease. thank you so much for coming and educating our community. >> up next, the new president director of the mexican museum of san francisco. stay with us.

the new president and ceo of the mexican museum of san francisco, my guest here on "comunidad del valle." [ speaking spanish ] >> tell us about your latest exhibition, we have a couple of clips, tell us what we're dealing with. >> we're dealing with 20th century masters. it's beautiful selection of the most wonderful pieces of our

collection. and it's diego rivera and 13 other artists. >> you picked the cream of the crop. if you want to see the best of the best, this is what you should do. >> exactly. it's a beautiful exhibit and it still -- it's until june 28th. >> you're the new president and ceo, executive director of the mexican museum of san francisco. what do you have to say to your clients or constituents or friends here in the bay area? >> i feel so happy and honored to be here and i was born in mexico city. the beginning of the story is that my mother worked for 30 years in the mexican an throw poll gi museum, i grew up there. and it's a fantastic museum. it comes from there, my passion of mexico of mexican art. and mexico is a country that needs a museum. it's an amazing culture and

amazing culture now happening now. >> what -- your thoughts when you first came to the mexican museum of san francisco and saw what their program was like and kind of exhibitions they bring over, it's kind of takes you back to the motherland, back to mexico. >> yes and the museum turns 40 this year. it's an important birthday and been 20 years in this process of having their own house, permanent collection house. >> what does it tell you it's been able to stay afloat for 40 years in the bay area. the demand must be there. >> yes and it was a dream of the mexican artist born here of mexican origin, when he traveled to mexico he was mesmerized by the beauty there and had this idea of making a museum here. >> when people go see it, what can they expect? this has to be a really jaw

dropping and amazing. >> it is a beautiful amazing at 2 marina drive in san francisco and it's open for wednesday to sunday from 12:00 to 4:00 and it's a free entrance. >> what is your vision tore the mexican museum going forward here as new director? >> the mission is it to get to our permanent house, which is in the district at mission and third. it's a four story building by the mexican architect norton. and it's going to compete creatively with the san francisco jewish contemporary museum. it's going to the add to the offer of the beautiful san francisco. >> for those who haven't visited your museum, what are they missing? >> a piece of great culture that mexico recommendatipresents.

it is open to the latin american culture as well. we have a beautiful collection of more than 16,000 pieces and it goes from precolombian, popular arts and modern and contemporary art and chicano art. >> how are you able to lure this great art work and artifacts to the bay area? it can't be easy but it has to show the demand is there in the bay area. >> yes, there's excitement now that having a mexican museum in the district because it's such an impressive culture open to all latin american great artists all over latin america. >> that's wonderful. mexican museum of san francisco and they do have a collection that is under way until june. you have some time to go check it out. it is called los maestros. anything else you want to add as president and ceo of the mexican museum? >> come and visit us and check

out our web page. all of our events are there. it's mexican museum.org and we're also affiliated with the smithsonian institution. >> there's the web address and make a visit because this is a great exhibition they have going on until june. thank you and good luck on your venture. >> thank you, damian. >> up next, honoring our veterans. stay with us.

the annual receiveterans ree fair is upon us. you wear a lot of hats but today you're wearing the san jose vet center hat. >> i am. >> tell us about your service. >> i served in the united states army for 27 years. i retired in 1995 as command sergeant major. and it was a great chapter of my life. when i look back at my service

to my country, i'm proud to have served my country and my family is proud of me as well. >> we have a lot of brave men and women who return to this country from overseas and they don't return the same way. you are there, the san jose vet center is there to make sure that whatever service a veteran has earned is provided to them to the fullest. tell us about that mission of yours. >> of course, many service members that return back to society are not aware of all of the benefits that they have earned by serving their country. and what we do as the san jose vet center and with the american legion, we advise, educate and assist veterans in attaining their benefits through the veterans administration.

and one way -- big way of doing this is putting on what's called veterans and their family resource and benefits fair, which will be held next month april 11th from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. >> we'll have the information on the screen because that's very important. make sure that you grab a pen and paper too jot that down. there's some veterans maybe who return and say you know what, i've had enough, don't want anything to do with it. but this is a way to talk to fellow veterans and find out that no, this country is indebted to you for your service. this is what you learned. >> absolutely, many veterans do not understand and they are not educated before they are released from military service of the benefits they've earned and resources out there in society waiting for them. so and a lot of them don't think it and don't really care because

when you return from a combat situation, it changes your heart, changes your mind and changes your brain. changes your spirit inside you. it just changes you as a person overall. and it's very hard to understand what's going on in society when you return and to put yourself back in there and continue your life. it's very difficult for a combat veteran that has experiences that many people do not see in normal life. it's not a normal thing. war is not a normal thing. it's something that -- that can be very horrific. you see many of your fellow soldiers die. you see many civilians and

innocent people die. and many people that are wounded that come back home without limbs. so it's a hard thing to live with inside yourself and it's a hard thing to explain to anyone else what you've done or seen. >> maybe if you are a veteran and maybe you don't want to knock on the door of san jose vet center, you can stop by this resource fair because there will be tons of veterans after the same thing. nobody is there to sell you anything, but there to provide you services that you've earned. >> that is correct. at the resource fair, we don't allow anyone to sell anything. everything is free. from parking, we have child services, children care services. we have a free lunch. we have everything that that is there is free for them. they don't have to pay one red cent. >> and again, this is information on how to apply for

medical benefits because you can -- in all reality go to the doctor for free for the rest of your life because you've earned that benefit? >> yes, through the va, as a veteran, you're entitled to free medical benefits for the rest of your life. if you are considered 100% disabled then you'll get everything from annual checkups, dental service, vision service, and surgeries. everything is free for the veteran. the spouse can also be treated by va as well. that's going to be changing a little bit but it's still basically going to be the same. and that's called the -- it's going to be under tricare, i believe. >> your reaction when you see the change in a veteran when

maybe they have seen the dark side and they come to the services of the vet center and their lives change for the better. >> when a veteran comes in, when they've been if combat and come in for services, it's very hard for them to explain what they feel. they are hesitant to put information out there about themselves. trust is a big issue. it's a biggest issue there is with combat veterans to trust anyone with any information about yourself. and rightfully so because when one goes through combat, it's something personal. and it's something that you cannot explain to anyone else what you feel. and -- >> it's not going to happen overnight either. this is a process. >> absolutely. it takes -- it's a long journey for a veteran to be able to you

know, be able to deal and accept the fact that he is no longer in combat or she is no longer in combat. >> maybe the journey starts here at the veterans and their families resource and benefit fair. there's a number to the san jose vet center if you're a combat veteran or veteran in general or know of someone who is s, make sure they attend, april 11th from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. thank you for your service and what you're doing for our veterans. >> thank you. >> here's what's happening in your comunidad. ♪

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