Action plan to change Hispanic residents’ lifestyles

In three months, a leadership team headed by La Familia Medical Center is going to have to come up with an action plan intended to lead to more active lifestyles and healthier diets among Santa Fe County’s Hispanic residents.

The ultimate goal is to reduce health disparities among area residents.

“It’s not something you can turn around in a matter of a year or so,” said Nancy Phillips, La Familia’s director of development and communications. “You’ve got to be in it for the long haul.”

La Familia is a sub-contractor, getting $148,000 a year over the next five years under a federal grant given to the Hidalgo Medical Services Center for Health Innovation. The grant comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s REACH – Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health – program, designed to lessen chronic disease disparities among various minority groups.

Hispanics, for example, tend to suffer from higher rates of diabetes (12 percent) than the Anglo population (5 percent), according to statewide 2007-09 data from the New Mexico Department of Health. That disease can lead to a host of complications, including circulatory problems, amputations, kidney failure and more.

The development of diabetes is often tied to obesity, a poor diet and lack of physical activity. Getting people to change their lifestyles, though, isn’t easy, and they often have good reasons for why they do what they do. For example, Phillips noted, a tired mother can find it easier to pick up fast food after leaving a full-time job rather than contemplate cooking a balanced meal with lots of fresh veggies when she gets home.

“We have to figure out what is keeping people from doing things that are better for them and for their kids,” she said. And then, of course, figure out how to make it easier for them to make healthier choices.

Some parts of town, for example, are considered food deserts, without handy outlets for good fresh produce and other healthy choices, Phillips said. Others may lack safe places for kids to play.

“You have to look at the whole environment and how people feel about diet and exercise,” she said.

Promotoras, or community health workers, are often key in sparking better habits, in a way that community members “don’t feel they are being dictated to,” Phillips said.

“If we don’t do something about wellness, Medicaid is not going to keep up” with the medical costs of managing chronic diseases, she added.