Get FREE Health Services for your family

By Shaola Marie Abagat

    Type 2 Diabetes cases, which typically develops in adults over 45 is becoming more common in younger people. People with diabetes are unable to use the glucose in their food for energy. The glucose accumulates in the blood, where it can damage the heart, kidneys, eyes and nerves.

    If untreated, diabetes can cause serious complications such as kidney disease, blindness, and amputations. It is one of the leading causes of death if the United States. According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), 1 out of every 8 Mexican-Americans has diabetes, a rate that is almost twice as high as Whites. Diabetes is an urgent health problem among Latinos and early diagnosis, prevention, and management are important.

    In response to the diabetes epidemic in the Latino community, health fairs and outreach programs have been established to inform and educate Latinos about the disease. On March 6, 2010, ADA organized its 5th annual “Feria de Salud” or “Health Fair” reaching thousands of local Latinos in National City and San Diego County. At this national event, mothers, fathers, and children enjoyed the atmosphere filled with music, dancing nutritional information, cooking demonstrations, educational workshops for adults, children’s activities on topics related to diabetes, and a variety of health services booths.

    Feria de Salud provided 100 health screenings for glucose, cholesterol levels, Body Mass Index (BMI), foot screening by a podiatrist, and eye screenings to check for retinopathy, which is a serious diabetes complication and the leading cause of blindness among adults. Nutrition workshops were also available in Spanish.  All these services were offered free of cost to participants.

    “This event is not only about knowing if you have diabetes or not, but also seeing what is healthy blood sugar levels and whether you are at a good or bad level” said National City vice-mayor Alejandra Sotelo-Solis. “The goal of this event is to educate and empower the Latino family to learn about diabetes awareness. We want to make sure that people are educated on what it means to have diabetes, and how they can prevent diabetes.”

    Early detection of diabetes through health screenings is extremely important. Additionally, small changes in lifestyle can make a big impact. Previous studies have shown that eating a healthy diet and regular exercise can reduce the risk of diabetes or delay the development of complications. Maintaining these behaviors can be hard for some people.

    For individuals at risk of diabetes and those who have the disease, food choice is a big part of diabetes management. But, this does not necessarily mean abandoning one’s favorite dishes. For example, eating large quantities of beans, rice, and tortillas is not helpful for maintaining good blood sugars because simple carbohydrates are converted into sugar. One way to incorporate healthier alternatives is by substituting white rice to brown rice, flour tortilla to wheat tortilla, and pinto beans to black beans.

    Another strategy for managing diabetes is through regular exercise. Exercise does not necessarily mean running to lose weight. The goal is to get active and stay active for at least 30 minutes each day. It is important to do fun activities such as gardening, playing soccer, riding bikes with your kids, walking, or dancing to your favorite salsa, cumbia, zumba or any type of music with friends or even while watching TV. Certainly, there are enjoyable ways to manage diabetes, and the ADA website (www.diabetes.org) offers a collection of cookbooks, free recipes, fitness management ideas and other outreach programs that involve all members of the family and are specific to diabetes management and prevention in the Latino community.

    If you are concerned about your health or the health of a loved one, learn about diabetes at the San Diego Dia de la Mujer Latina Health Festival and receive free screenings, health information, and resources. It will take place next Saturday, May 1st, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center (140 E. 12th Street) in National City. This event is open to everyone. It will provide FREE cholesterol exams, glucose exams for the detection of diabetes, bone density, vision, dental, blood pressure, and breast cancer exams for women. It will also offer preventive medical services including vaccines for children and HPV Vaccine for women.  All screenings are performed on a first come, first served basis.

For more information visit http://manasd.org/health_fair or contact Sofia Salgado at manasd@manasd.org or call (619)297-0115.

Shaola Marie Abagat is an intern with the Comprehensive Research Center in Health Disparities (CRCHD) and is majoring in Human Development with a minor in Health Care-Social Issues at UC San Diego.  The CRCHD is a partnership of organizations focusing on community health and health disparities research.  This publication was supported by the UC San Diego Comprehensive Research Center in Health Disparities Grant # 5 P60 MD000220 from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health.