MAKING A DIFFERENCE : One Agency’s Approach: Identifying Diabetes Among Latinos

One in seven Latinos has diabetes--a rate three times greater than in the general population. In Los Angeles County, more than half of the 469,000 Latinos who have diabetes don’t know it. Left untreated, diabetes leads to serious health complications, including heart and kidney disease, stroke, blindness or amputations. And diabetes takes a financial toll: Direct and indirect costs for the disease run to more than $20.4 billion--nearly 5% of annual U.S. health-care costs.

The American Diabetes Assn., Los Angeles chapter, is developing ways to deliver health information to Latinos who have diabetes and don’t know it. An annual health fair is the L.A. chapter’s largest community outreach activity. Fair-goers receive free diabetes screenings and health information away from a doctor’s office, hospital or clinic in a relaxed and family-oriented setting with music, entertainment and prizes. Volunteers developed the fair to create a culturally appealing event for diabetes sufferers, their families and anyone interested in learning about the disease, regardless of participants’ literacy or language skills, income or citizenship. The first fair six years ago attracted 500 people; 10,000 people are expected to attend Nov. 21.

BARRIERS TO HEALTH INFORMATION

“The Latino community may have less access to health services and information than the general population for many reasons--cultural and language barriers, lack of health benefits or poverty,” says Gina Caro, program coordinator, cultural diversity and outreach for the American Diabetes Assn. California Affiliate. “A health fair will be culturally effective for a particular group for particular reasons. For other communities, health fairs may or may not be the way for people to effectively seek and receive information.” Below Caro lists a few health-information barriers and how the fair attempts to address them:

HEALTH-CARE TRADITIONS AND HABITS

Disease prevention and behavior modification is really a European convention; it’s not well-known in Mexico, for instance. When people come to the United States--especially in the Latino community--people sometimes don’t have the experience of seeking out health information or receiving regular health care.

Because there’s a lot of respect for physicians and nurses, there’s often a lot of apprehension about questioning them about your health. A Latino person may be less likely to question and ask for a more comprehensive explanation of their condition. The health fair helps to strip all of these bureaucratic barriers away. It’s a non-threatening event. There’s more of a feeling of community, and it can be a celebration of health.

INFORMATION AVAILABILITY AND FORM

Until the last five or six years--through our organization anyway--there wasn’t a lot of emphasis on providing information to the Latino community. The information has always been available in English. Some of the lack of knowledge about diabetes within the Latino community has been because information hasn’t been available in Spanish. The pharmaceutical companies are supportive of the ADA, and obviously they have their own interests as a business, but they offer a lot of patient information. And they’re available in Spanish. We ask them to come (to the health fair). Their materials are culturally sensitive, and they also have low-literacy, easy-to-understand materials available. I hate to be critical of my own organization, but if you compare the quality of materials produced by the pharmaceutical and products companies to the American Diabetes Assn. literature there’s no doubt who’s offering the better product.

LITERACY

Anybody can be intimidated interacting with a bureaucracy, but it’s especially so for people unfamiliar with a language or unable to read. We try to take away that literacy barrier that may keep someone from going to a doctor or a clinic. Walking into a clinic and not being able to read signs or understand directions can be very intimidating. There are confidential forms at some health-screening booths at the fair we ask people to fill out, but we offer assistance: To take away the stigma for anyone who may not be able to read, who isn’t literate in Spanish or English for whatever reason, we have volunteers who talk with people to explain information or services available at each booth.

TO GET INVOLVED

The 6th Annual United Against Diabetes Health Fair/Unidos Contra La Diabetes will be held Sunday, Nov. 21, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Olvera St. Plaza, Los Angeles. The American Diabetes Assn., Los Angeles chapter welcomes volunteers, especially those who are bilingual. It can be reached at (213) 381-3639.

Source: American Diabetes Assn. Los Angeles Chapter

WHO HAS DIABETES?

Diabetic population in U.S.: 14 million / 6% of U.S. population

Diabetic population in Los Angeles County: 924,594 / 10.4% of county population

Diabetic population in Los Angeles County by race and ethnicity

Latino: 51%

Anglo: 24%

Asian: 14%

African-American: 10%

Other: 1%

Los Angeles County population by race and ethnicity:

Latino: 37%

Anglo: 41%

Asian: 10%

African-American: 11%

Other: 1%

Source: American Diabetes Association, U.S. Census