• Logging In
• Password Recovery

In an unprecedented door to door health survey of the Humboldt Park and West Town neighborhoods, the Sinai Urban Health Institute found that diabetes was ravaging through the communities at an alarming rate.

The study was published in the December 6th issue of the Journal of Community Health. “We found the highest rate of diabetes among Puerto Ricans in the Humboldt Park community than among any other group in any place,” says Steve Whitman Ph.D., director of the Sinai Urban Health Institute and lead author of the report. “Diabetes is a big problem nationally with a prevalence of six percent, which is higher than it has ever been before. But it is just sweeping through the Humboldt Park and West Town communities.” The study found that the prevalence of diabetes among Puerto Ricans in the area is 21 percent, or 3.5 times that of the national. Flowers figure.

Among blacks in the community the prevalence rate is 15 percent or 2.5 times the nation’s rate (see bar graph 1.1). In the North Lawndale community, Whitman says the prevalence of diabetes probably mirrors that of blacks in Humboldt Park and West Town. Such high rates for diabetes in a concentrated area have motivated researchers to find a cause for such a large disparity between the area’s residents and the rest of the nation. “I can’t think of anything specific in the community [that is causing the high diabetes rate]; it’s not in the air or anything,” explains Whitman. “But it is all tied into racism and poverty, that’s for sure. It has to do with obesity and exercise. What you can eat, in large part, has to do with what you can afford to eat. And much of the time exercise has to do with the safety of your neighborhood and if you have time to do so.” Dr. Maximo Bermudez works in the Humboldt Park community.

He says the study’s findings could, in part, be attributed to “the hereditary make up of the population because Latinos have a higher incidence of diabetes in general.” Still, he does find that poverty affects the treatment of patients in the community, including diabetics. “Finances are a problem,” says Dr. Bermudez of the Armitage Family Health Center which is part of the ACCESS Community Health Network. “We are looking forward to the day where almost everyone has insurance.

Right now I have a lot of patients who are uninsured. These people are working and have jobs, yet they do not have any insurance. Most of them are hard-working and just don’t have the help they need. And because of their meager incomes, they prioritize getting food on the table for their family as more important than taking care of themselves. It’s really a sad situation.”

Puerto Ricans in Humboldt Park are dying from diabetes at a rate of 76 per 100,000 compared to 31 and 25 per 100,000 for the rest of Chicago and the nation, respectively. Whitman called the mortality findings of the study “shockingly high; the highest that has ever been found.” The study’s stark findings led to the formation of a citywide task force consisting of 20 health professionals from organizations across the city, including Rush University Medical Center, the National Diabetes Foundation, National Kidney Foundation, ACCESS Community Health Network and the Puerto Rican Cultural Center. After meeting for three months, the experts devised 19 recommendations to address the prevalence of diabetes in the area.

The suggestions include a screening campaign to identify people with diabetes or those who are high-risk, providing free diabetes self-management education and assistance for those who have been diagnosed and the creation of the Humboldt Park Diabetes Project that would consist of an executive director and outreach workers.

The coalition is optimistic about their proposed community action, which also has been incorporated into the study’s report. “We are not only concerned with the problem in Humboldt Park,” says Whitman. “But we thought it would be sensible to start implementing the recommendations there since diabetes is so prevalent. We hope to then utilize these tactics throughout the city and even the country.”

For more information on any of ACCESS Community Health Network’s programs, visit www.accesscommunityhealth.net or call 866.88.ACCESS. Aricka Flowers is NLCN’s health reporter and is a graduate of the Northwestern University Medill Graduate School of Journalism.