News

Parish offers Hispanic education on diabetes

By Brian Kohls
Compass Correspondent

	LEARNING LESSONS: Participants in the Si Se Puede (Yes You Can) diabetes education program at St. Willebrord Parish, Green Bay. The program has graduated its first group. (Submitted photo)

The piñata sways back and forth. One more blow should shower down its treasures. Whack! Here they come!

Dental floss, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hand lotion, lip balm, foot powder and containers to organize prescriptions?

Where's the candy? It wasn't at St. Willebrord Parish this Sunday afternoon at a celebration for 19 Hispanics who completed the first Si Se Puede (Yes You Can) diabetes program for Hispanic adults at the Green Bay parish.

The graduates had attended two-hour classes for six weeks where they learned about diabetes, its effects on the body, diabetes testing, nutrition, stress management and exercise.

Katie Dykes, parish nurse, organized and ran the parish-sponsored classes with the help of Idorine Hernandez, lead community health worker, and Fernando Bacelis and Blanca Ramos, community health workers, with the assistance of several school and community organizations.

"Classes were in Spanish because all of the other (diabetes related) classes (in the area) were in English," said Dykes, Si Se Puede project coordinator. Thus Hispanics could learn how to manage diabetes in their native language rather than struggle with both a language barrier and the curriculum.

Dykes said the community health workers were the key to success. Hernandez, Bacelis and Ramos were involved in teaching the classes, which included hands-on activities, answered questions of students and family members who attended the class, and assisted with follow-up home visits.

Hernandez, who worked for 27 years as a nurse in Mexico before coming to the United States, said she is concerned about the health of her fellow Hispanics in Green Bay. Hernandez has taught, worked in pediatrics and administration, and worked with nurses who teach classes.

Si Se Puede classes use a holistic approach and family involvement, Hernandez said. "They are persons ... they have the power to take care of their physical, mental, and spiritual health," she said. "Family supports the patient. They share their love. They take their place in class, by pricking their finger and testing their blood too."

The diabetes class was funded and supported by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School's Wisconsin Partnership Fund for a Healthy Future, Dykes said.

St. Willebrord Parish received the grant, along with in-kind donations from several organizations, totaling $463,560, in March 2006. Marty Schaller, executive director of the Northeastern Wisconsin Area Health Educational Center Inc., helped the parish with the grant application process. The grant money is to be used for the next three years.

"One of the goals of the partnership is a healthier Wisconsin," Dykes said, and teaching diabetes management to Hispanic adults is an important aspect of making and keeping Wisconsin citizens healthy.

The celebration at St. Willebrord included a Pasada (a traditional Mexican reenactment of Mary and Joseph's quest for shelter in Bethlehem), a graduation ceremony and the breaking of piñatas.

Any adult Hispanic with diabetes, or a member of that person's family, may contact St. Willebrord Parish about Si Se Puede. Anyone who knows an adult Hispanic with diabetes may refer that person to the program, Dykes said. Both the classes and childcare during classes are free.

For more information, phone the parish at (920)435-2016.