Latinos and Blacks will gain from new diabetes center

South Dallas diabetes education goes into the neighborhood
By ROY APPLETON and DIANNE SOLÍS / The Dallas Morning News, September 23, 2009

The diagnosis of diabetes is accelerating across the nation, most commonly afflicting blacks and Latinos.

With those realities in mind, Baylor Health Care System is confronting the disease in a core spot – South Dallas.

Hospital and city officials joined neighborhood leaders Tuesday morning at Juanita Craft Recreation Center for a ceremonial groundbreaking of what they hope will be a model for diabetes care.

The center at 4500 Spring Ave. will become home next year to Baylor's Diabetes Health and Wellness Institute – an initiative involving both treatment and prevention with a goal of improving lives and reducing health care costs.

"Instead of treating the disease in our hospitals, we want to deal with it in the neighborhoods," said Dr. Paul Convery, chief medical officer of the Baylor system.

The Rev. Henry Green Jr. attended the event. He presides over the Community Outreach Baptist Church, across the street from the recreation center. He knows diabetes well. The lanky 62-year-old was diagnosed seven years ago and plans to work closely with the initiative.

Even with health insurance, the preacher found it difficult to find a good diabetes education program near his home, he said.

"With this place here, I can see a lot of us not losing our legs, not losing our eyesight, not losing our lives because of diabetes," he said. "I applaud Baylor for making a bold statement."

The institute will offer a clinic staffed by doctors and other medical specialists, affordable medications, plus diabetes education ranging from nutrition and cooking classes to exercise programs.

The Juanita Craft center will still offer its regular services and will be expanded for the institute. The city is contributing $2 million toward that work with Baylor paying $15 million for construction, equipping and staffing the institute for four years, Convery said.

The institute will be open to all regardless of residency, insurance or income. "We won't turn anyone away," he said.

South Dallas was selected because of its predominantly black population that is relatively poor, medically underserved with limited access to healthy food, he said.

"It was considered the least healthy area of Dallas County," he said.

Nationwide, 6 percent of the population was diagnosed with diabetes in 2006, up from about 3 percent in 1997, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. And in Texas, diabetes rates are highest among African-Americans (12.9 percent) and Latinos (12.3 percent) compared with Anglos (8.5 percent), according to the Texas Diabetes Council.

rappleton@dallasnews.com;
dsolis@dallasnews.com