How One NYC Hospital Is Taking a Stand Against Diabetes in the Latino Community, and Empowering Others to Join the Effort
// By Lisa D. Ellis //
A new educational campaign led by Lenox Hill Hospital has rallied together an impressive array of big and small public and private groups in New York City to fight against a common problem: the incidence of diabetes in the Latino community.
Rallying Around a Common Problem
“Hispanics are almost twice as likely as non-Hispanics to be diagnosed with diabetes and 40 percent more likely to die from it,” explains Josie Guzman, senior director of physician relations management at Lenox Hill Hospital, a 650-bed facility on the Upper East Side of Manhattan that serves a diverse group of residents who come from NYC, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Long Island, and the tri-state area. The hospital is part of the Northwell Health network. The service area includes neighborhoods with a high concentration of Hispanic patients.
“Comorbidities such as NAFLD (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease), cardiovascular, kidney disease, and obesity are tearing at the fabric of this community, as well as being a key driver of America’s rising health care burden,” Guzman says.
Taking Control of the Situation
With so much at stake for the Latino community, as well as for the nation’s overall economy, Guzman and her colleagues decided to do something to try to better the odds for the people at such high risk. The answer was to launch a long-term, bilingual campaign called “¡Vida SI, Diabetes NO!” (“Life YES, Diabetes NO!”) and to call on other partners to lend their support for this campaign over the long term.