Last December, KVEA-Telemundo visited SFCHC to learn how Care Circle offers patients resources and support to avoid the serious health complications associated with uncontrolled diabetes, self-manage their care using telehealth technology, and make smart lifestyle changes. In this news report, Care Circle Program Manager Rita Jauregui and Health Educator Christian Solis offered advice and a healthy cooking demonstration to an audience of approximately 137,500 viewers!
Preventing and controlling diabetes is the challenge faced by millions of people, but there are aid programs for you or your family, in your native language and from the comfort of your home. Balbino Avilés explains what it’s about.
From how to prepare your food and with the help of technology, diabetes can now be prevented and even controlled by the patients themselves. It consists of providing patients with equipment: a tablet, a glucometer, a sphygmomanometer to check blood pressure, a scale to check the weight and body fat, and also a Fitbit, with which patients monitor their physical activity and increase their steps day by day.
Rita Jauregui is an educator at the San Fernando Community Health Center, where she helps people with diabetes through the Care Circle Program. She explains, “the program consists of six months of monitoring in which patients are provided with equipment to check and self-manage their health.”
Patient Teresa Ventura says, “For me, it’s wonderful because my diabetes went down. It used to be 10, and it went down to 6.3” Mrs. Ventura felt anxious and often depressed about her diabetes, as she knows it is a chronic disease and can affect other organs in her body. That is why she sought help, she says, obeying the nutritionist that the program includes.
Ventura confirms, “Yes, [the nutritionist] calls twice a month. She says, ‘Are you eating the way I told you to?’ ‘Yes, I’m eating the way you instructed.'”
Educator Cristián Solís explains, “Basically, in our workshops, we teach them what lipids, cholesterol, and hypertension are and how to eat and incorporate different fruits and minerals that can help them.”
Rita adds, “We are open to the general public, and our classes are free of charge, especially to raise awareness of the programs that the San Fernando Center has.”
Exercising and eating well are the best way to prevent diabetes, but remember that if you need any help, you can ask your family doctor or community health center you attend. In Los Angeles, Balbino Avilés, Telemundo 52 Newscast.
