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Donations Keep Diabetes Prevention Alive

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Donations Keep Diabetes Prevention Alive

December 5, 2008 by Elizabeth Beachy  
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By Heidi Rowley of the Tucson Citizen
Funding for a diabetes reduction program at El Rio Community Health Center has been extended for two more years because of community donors.

The “promotora,” or community health adviser program, was initially funded by Pfizer pharmaceutical company in 2005 for two years, with a one year extension added for 2007.

Brenda Goldsmith, executive director of the El Rio Foundation, said the program has been so successful in helping Hispanic families reduce their diabetes and cardiovascular disease risks that El Rio has committed to keeping the program beyond the end of the grant. Through community donors, Goldsmith said, the foundation has received more than $200,000, which will fund the program for at least two years.

Susan Marks, program manager for the wellness programs at El Rio, said the program is a series of classes and workshops that teach healthy eating and lifestyle choices. For example, she said, cooking classes that teach participants how to cook traditional Mexican dishes with less fat and sodium have been very popular.

The purpose of the grants, said Erica Weinberg, director of corporate responsibility for Pfizer, was to help community health centers near the Mexico-U.S. border decrease diabetes risks in Hispanics, who traditionally have less access to preventive health care.

Cynthia Brown, vice provost at the University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg, Texas, headed up an evaluation of the 12 programs that Pfizer funded. She said they found that people who participated in El Rio’s program were able to maintain weight losses and lowered their glucose levels even after they stopped participating. “That they were able to maintain this six months after the program was really remarkable,” Brown said. “What that tells us is the method El Rio took to teach them was very effective.”

Marks estimates that about 1,000 people have been positively affected by the promotora program. In addition, the concept of using community health advisers has expanded to other programs, such as its breast cancer outreach. She said a new free class will begin in January and anyone may participate, although the program is targeted to low-income Hispanics with little to no health insurance options.

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Source: Tucson Citizen