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Liz Martinez (right side in black) with Congressman Cuellar and another member of the KWS Financial Group. Images from the “Women’s Health & Wellness Expo” held on evening Tuesday May 31, 2022 as part of the International Day for Women’s Health. Women shopped around as they look for what services and resources are offered in the community. 
Images from the “Women’s Health & Wellness Expo” held on evening Tuesday May 31, 2022 as part of the International Day for Women’s Health. Women shopped around as they look for what services and resources are offered in the community. 
Images from the “Women’s Health & Wellness Expo” held on evening Tuesday May 31, 2022 as part of the International Day for Women’s Health. Women shopped around as they look for what services and resources are offered in the community. 
Images from the “Women’s Health & Wellness Expo” held on evening Tuesday May 31, 2022 as part of the International Day for Women’s Health. Women shopped around as they look for what services and resources are offered in the community. 
Images from the “Women’s Health & Wellness Expo” held on evening Tuesday May 31, 2022 as part of the International Day for Women’s Health. Women shopped around as they look for what services and resources are offered in the community. 
Images from the “Women’s Health & Wellness Expo” held on evening Tuesday May 31, 2022 as part of the International Day for Women’s Health. Women shopped around as they look for what services and resources are offered in the community. 
Women who went shopping at the Outlet Shoppes of Laredo this week might have shopped more than what they bargained for as they encountered several vendors and booths of information that offered women resources to maintain a healthy and good quality lifestyle. 
The Women’s Health & Wellness Expo was spearheaded by Raul Reyes, Webb County Treasurer and president of League of United Latin American Citizens Council #22387, as well as Webb County Commissioner for Precinct 2 Rosaura “Wawi” Tijerina.
The expo was held on May 31 to help commemorate the Day of Action for Women’s Health, which is celebrated every year in late May. 
According to Reyes, over 100 women attended the health and wellness expo according to on-site registration data. Many were looking for information related to areas of concern and prevention. There was a great interest on ovarian cancer and breast cancer screening, as was the case with diabetes and food nutrition guidance.
“Webb County LULAC alongside Pct. 2 County Commissioner Wawi Tijerina hosted a free Women’s Health and Wellness Expo for the Laredo/Webb County community and welcomed women to explore health-related resources during this free community event in honor of International Day of Action for Women’s Health,” Reyes said. “Women represent the cornerstone of a family’s overall health, ensuring they have access to quality care, information and resources can lead to improved health for children and families. The health of families and communities are no doubt tied to the health of women.”
According to Reyes, one of the main goals and objectives in LULAC #22387 is to inform and empower women to take responsibility for their health, understand their health options and identify services, thereby increasing equal access to services, resources and products that best help them prevent and reduce poor health. He states that this can be accomplished by developing sustainable, collaborative community partnerships, discovering social economic health concerns in local communities, and increasing environmental and social-economic health awareness in underserved communities.
“We did it at the Outlet Shoppes because everybody is walking around … and we had approximately 20 vendors,” Tijerina said. “Women were there to explore the several community resources that are available to all these beautiful women. These vendors provided a lot of information, including the services that they offer.”
Also in attendance at the expo was Rep. Henry Cuellar, who spoke to several of the vendors and women who attended, as he remains in a standstill in his current election
The county commissioner alluded to the attendance of the congressman, as she states that he can help bring many resources for local women’s health from Washington as he sits on the appropriations committee. 
“Henry Cuellar was there going booth by booth getting information and stuff like that, which is great because as he is part of the appropriations committee, that is where all of the money can come to help out on this,” Tijerina said. “He can be able to find out what grants are available for us and all of these organizations. It is certainly something that is beneficial for all of us here in Laredo.”
One of the vendors that took a picture with the congressman was Liz Martinez, who was at the event on behalf of KWS Financial group, and she stated that they really enjoyed the opportunity of being a part of the event. 
“The event included an expo of partners and businesses focused on balanced living and wellness,” Martinez said. “The opportunity to participate at this event allowed us to connect with women of all ages who are passionate about enhancing their lives. We were able to provide information on health insurance and life insurance plans, along with other information regarding financial planning.”
The feedback provided by the women to the organizers was all positive, according to the county commissioner. 
“The women who attended said that it was very wonderful and very informative, and the feedback that I got was that we need to do this more often, as a lot of them are not aware of the different agencies that provide services for them,” Tijerina said. “They were very excited about the different information they got from the different organizations that were there.”
Tijerina states that the City of Laredo Health Department is more than just a provider of vaccines, as they also provide many resources to the women of the community to keep a check on their health.
Both Tijerina and Reyes said that despite the abundance of resources that exists in the community, there continue to be various challenges that impact the health of local women. 
“The biggest challenge that we have is that a lot of girls do take for granted that these services are available to them, as most of these services are for free,” Tijerina said. 
“They need to take care of themselves and really find out and what we need as women, and take advantage of the services because they are there. A lot of times we make excuses and say that we cannot do it today and things like that, and women need to start taking care and loving themselves as many of them never provide time for themselves, as they are too busy working, dealing with the children, thinking of keeping the house clean or thinking about having the dinner ready for the husband. No, women should start thinking about themselves.”
For Reyes, he states that the challenge is that actually more resources are needed for the health issues that women are facing locally.
“The greatest health care challenge for women in our community has to be the need of opportunities to improve access to care and effective treatment, and strategies to prevent conditions and health problems before they become problematic and expensive,” Reyes said. “Prevention and early detection are key in any chronic illness-related matter, so it is important for our young women to get the preventative information and initiate a healthy lifestyle.”
Tijerina hopes that this is not the last time that they host such an event, as she believes it is important for the women of the community to know what programs and services exist for them. And she is open to cooperating and working with the same organizers to host it next year or another time. 
Both community leaders thanked the various organizations that assisted them during the event, such as Black Widows LTX, CaptionCall, C.A.S.A.-Voz de Niños, Driscoll Health Plan, Early Childhood Intervention, Gateway Community Health Center Inc., Imagine Dental & Orthodontics, KWS Financial Group, Laredo Cancer Society and the Laredo Health Department WIC Program.
Jorge A. Vela is a native Laredoan who studied at Laredo College and Texas State earning a bachelor’s degree in mass communication. After a stint of working for several publications, other local media outlets and managing his own tutoring business for years, Vela decided to get back into journalism by working as a general assignments reporter for the Laredo Morning Times. He loves spending time with la familia, soccer, cooking and jamming out

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