COLUMBIA, S.C. — If you have a full time job with benefits, access to healthcare might not be something you think about.
A study shows Hispanic adults in our country are 70% more likely than non-Hispanics to get diabetes, but finding resources and care can be difficult for some.
“Some of the more predominant health disparities and issues that we have in the Hispanic population, specifically in South Carolina, are obesity, diabetes and heart disease,” Amanda Clark said. Clark is a nurse practitioner with the Medical University of South Carolina.
“Some of the Hispanic population can have a lack of health insurance. Just in general, we have our modifiable factors and then our non-modifiable factors. We have things like diet, exercise, access to healthy foods, and then our non modifiable factors, some of our genetic factors. Some of those things that come along with ethnicity can make things a little bit harder to kind of steer yourself in the right direction,” Clark said.
According to the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, Hispanic adults are 70% more likely than non Hispanic white adults to be diagnosed with diabetes.
“In Columbia, and in general, in this state, one of the main issues is access to care,” Myriam Torres said. Torres is the assistant dean for public health practice at the University of South Carolina.
Torres says the lack of access to health care can lead to complications
“The impact is, of course, health issues and late detection of conditions that, if being detected earlier, can have easier solutions,” Torres said.
And while exercise is something that would help, Torres says getting out to exercise might be difficult depending on where you live.
“Many of the neighborhoods don't have sidewalks for you to walk. You have to take your child to school by car or use the bus, and that makes people less active.” Torres said.
To combat some of these statistics, Clark recommends the following
“For trying to work on combating obesity and diabetes, we really want to live in a low carbohydrate, low sugar diet. Now. you don't want to be zero carbohydrates or zero sugar. That doesn't have a long term sustainable likability for a lot of people so you just want to start making better choices. Start using cauliflower rice instead of rice, start focusing on your proteins or your meats and your vegetables, and when you fix your plate, try to avoid those carbohydrates, or some of those saturated fats," Clark said.
If you’re looking for medical resources, there will be a health fair Saturday September 28th at the Brookland Lakeview Empowerment Center in West Columbia from 10 am - 1 pm. MUSC will have free health screenings on November 2 at St. Andrews Park in Columbia from 10 am - 2 pm.
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