Local Heritage, Culture Highlight Disparities Project Kickoff in El Paso

On February 24, a standing-room-only crowd in El Paso, Texas launched the “Salud por Vida” (“Health for Life”) health disparities initiative. The leader of the initiative – TMF Health Quality Institute, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for Texas – strives to improve health outcomes among Hispanics and Native Americans with diabetes. Diabetes now affects more than 2.2 million adults in Texas, and experts project this number to balloon to eight million (one in four adults) by 2040 as Texas’ at-risk populations continue to grow.

The “Salud por Vida” initiative will help thousands of Hispanics and Native Americans in Texas take control of their diabetes by spreading knowledge through free diabetes self-management education (DSME) classes.

Community-based Partnerships

“Salud por Vida” encompasses four areas in Texas with a large Hispanic population — El Paso, Laredo, the Lower Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio — as well as metro areas of Texas where significant numbers of Native Americans seek healthcare services.

In order to broaden the initiative’s reach, TMF is partnering with community organizations and current DSME providers to expand DSME opportunities in targeted areas. Additionally, TMF is working with healthcare professionals to increase the number of certified diabetes educators, as well as to boost utilization rates for diabetes-related care, such as A1c testing and dilated eye exams.

One community partner hosted the free inaugural event – Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe, a non-profit community-based organization that has over a 40-year history of advocacy and service delivery to disadvantaged and underserved communities of El Paso. Several local DSME partners and community groups, such as Project Vida, a local federally qualified health center, the Area Agency on Aging (currently promoting the Stanford Chronic Disease Self-Management Program), and the El Paso Diabetes Association, participated in the event.

Exemplary Role Models

To attract more attendees, the event featured well-known individuals that have a personal connection to diabetes. The guests not only entertained the audience during the event but also gave personal accounts of their own mission to manage their diabetes.

Dozens of fans lined up early to hear popular Tejano recording artist, Little Joe Hernandez. Hernandez, who won his fourth Grammy Award a week earlier, described how he successfully manages his own diabetes. He encouraged the audience to take charge of their life through DSME opportunities offered through the initiative’s many community partners. Hernandez also appears in Spanish-language television public service announcements, which started airing in March.

Other event participants included Silvestre Reyes, the U.S. Representative for Texas’ 16th Congressional district; SilverWolf Rios from the United Tribal Nations; a performance from a local Ballet Folklórico dance troupe, whose members all have diabetes; and multiple exhibitors from the community that provide diabetes-related services. 

Continuing the Momentum

The kickoff was a great success with over 200 attendees. The “Salud por Vida” initiative will continue with activities like train-the-trainer events to increase the numbers of DSME educators in local communities of need. The initiative will also promote diabetes education classes at health events and via media activities, and engage primary care physicians to refer patients to DSME classes.

The overall initiative aims to reach at least 6,000 Hispanics and Native Americans with diabetes in Texas, and to motivate them to complete a DSME program by March 2012.

For more information on this initiative, call 1-800-725-2633 or email HealthForLife@tmf.org.