Pfizer Health Solutions And Gateway Community Health Center Launch Diabetes Health Education Program

Laredo, Webb County, TX –– In an effort to improve health outcomes among Hispanic patients with diabetes, Pfizer Health Solutions and the Pfizer Foundation, in partnership with Gateway Community Health Center, today launched Amigos en Salud, a comprehensive health education program designed to reach out to Hispanics with diabetes and other commonly occurring medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease and depression. The launch event took place from 10 a.m. at the South Clinic located at 2007 South Zapata Hwy.

Amigos en Salud, translated as "Friends in Health', focuses on Hispanic cultural perceptions central to successful diabetes management. As part of this initiative, bilingual health promoters also called promotores work with healthcare practitioners at the South Clinic to provide individual and group health education and support to diabetic patients. In addition, the promotores work with patients to develop and implement culturally relevant behavior change strategies, using educational materials at the appropriate literacy level.

Briselda del los Cobos, a Gateway clinic patient, has had diabetes for 17 years. "I was diagnosed after my brother died. The disease is in my family. My mother lived with diabetes for many years and died of diabetes complications.' For Briselda, effectively managing her diabetes requires constant vigilance.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the national age-adjusted prevalence of diabetes in Hispanic Americans is 13.1%, more than twice the prevalence of non-Hispanic whites. People with diabetes are at risk for developing premature complications and death because of general misunderstandings of the disease and the difficulty in embracing the long-term behavior changes needed to manage the disease. The CDC noted that in 1996, 27% of Hispanic deaths were related to diabetes complications. According to a 1999 community survey administered by the Texas Department of Health and the Texas Diabetes Council, one in every six adults in Webb County has type 2 diabetes.

Angela Camilleri, Pfizer Health Solutions' Amigos en Salud program coordinator, explains "health promoters are an essential step in the healthcare process, to support and educate patients about managing their disease. The sheer complexity of diabetes and the barriers to care that patients and their families must overcome require that we help them build a toolkit they can use to gain a deeper understanding of their health and behavior within the context of their own lives.'

"For many Hispanic patients, a diagnosis of diabetes can often cause feelings of anxiety, helplessness, and loss of interest in normal activities that impact not only patients but their families as well. Together, healthcare providers and the health promoters can provide strategies for patients to feel empowered by playing an active role in their own care and help patients understand that many times their emotional feelings may be depressive symptoms, a complicating factor with chronic diseases such as diabetes,' explained Eluid Faz, M.D., a Laredo community psychiatrist who also sees patients at the Gateway clinic. "This is why we recommend screening all patients, especially those with diabetes, for depression. It is very common and often not recognized in the Hispanic community. Since today is National Depression Screening Awareness Day, it is most appropriate that this important issue be raised.'

State Representative Ryan Guillen added, "The Amigos en Salud program will provide members of the community with the opportunity to receive important and relevant information on diabetes and mental healthcare in a culturally sensitive manner, as well as in the language they can best understand. This program is a model not only for the Hispanic community, but also for all communities that are faced with barriers in accessing much needed healthcare services. Pfizer Health Solutions and Gateway are to be commended and congratulated for their leadership in developing such an innovative approach to care.'

Mr. Mike Treviño Jr., Chief Executive Officer of the Gateway Community Health Center stated, "We have provided quality services for over 40 years to the Laredo community. The Amigos en Salud program through our relationship with Pfizer Health Solutions will help patients improve their health status through prevention, early detection and management of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and
depression. We feel this program will also help reduce the number of emergency room visits and hospital admissions that will improve healthcare delivery in Laredo. We hope to show individuals and
their families that by participating in a self-management program like Amigos en Salud, they can have healthier lives.'

Created in 1995, Pfizer Health Solutions, Inc. (PHS) is the clinical informatics subsidiary of Pfizer Inc, which merges technology applications with clinical care. PHS develops and implements solutions that help achieve improvements in the quality of healthcare delivery and in the operating efficiencies of large physician groups, health plans, hospitals, integrated delivery systems and community organizations.

The Pfizer Foundation is an independent charitable foundation established by Pfizer Inc in 1953. The Foundation's mission is to promote access to quality healthcare and education, to nurture innovation and to support the community involvement of Pfizer people.

Gateway Community Health Center, Inc. is a 501(c)(3), private not-for-profit organization accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and funded by the Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration. The Center's mission is to improve the health status of the people in Webb County and surrounding areas by providing high quality medical and dental care, health promotion and disease prevention in a professional, personal and cost effective manner. For more information, please contact Dora Tovar at Tel: 817 467 5759 or Email: dora@tovarpr.com


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