Increasing access to a medical home: Effectiveness of a patient navigation model for at risk diabetics

Diabetes is an epidemic in the Latino Community due to high rates obesity, lack of education, and access to care issues. Funded by the Office of Minority Health, San Ysidro Health Centers Salsa en la Comunidad Program is a community education and screening program aimed at reducing risk factors associated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The program uses multiple strategies to improve education and increase access to care for underserved and uninsured Latinos. Free community screenings, health education and patient navigation are all components included in the intervention. Screening services are conducted in the community via finger stick and other anthropometric measures to determine risk factors, and a two part education curriculum is included to improve knowledge. As of January 2009, over 1,000 underserved Latinos have received screening through the Salsa en la Comunidad Program. Of these participants, over 20% were categorized as high risk (per protocol). Preliminary results of the program and the effectiveness of the Patient Navigation component will be discussed.