UTEP guides men with diabetes to a better life

At age 50, Ricardo Ramos was caught off guard when his doctor diagnosed him with diabetes in 2019. Ramos knew that being Hispanic put him at higher risk for diabetes, but since the disease didn’t run in his family, he didn’t think it was something he did. had to worry.

After his diagnosis, Ramos assumed that he would have to take insulin and stop eating tortillas and other foods he enjoyed. Although you were concerned that your blood sugar levels would get too high, you did not know that diabetes could affect your heart, liver and kidneys.

“I used to put it down to getting older,” said Ramos, who lives in San Antonio, Texas. “I found that I was getting tired or feeling a little weak. He did not know the first signs that his blood sugar level was low or too high ”.

Instead of insulin, Ramos was prescribed medicine to treat his diabetes. He also followed his doctor’s advice and even took smaller portions of the foods he liked and switched to using an artificial sweetener in his coffee.

But Ramos, the father of two, felt he could do more to control his diabetes. His wife Sonia Ramos, who works at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio, introduced Ramos to ‘The Diabetes Garage,’ a diabetes management and self-care program for men at the University of Texas in El Paso.

Developed in 2018 by Dr. Jeannie Belinda Concha, Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at UTEP’s College of Health Sciences, The Diabetes Garage applies automotive repair and maintenance analogies to help men in the county from El Paso to learn how to manage their illness. In August 2020, the program began offering online workshops for men in San Antonio and Harlingen, Texas.

“(My wife) said it would be perfect for me to educate myself (about diabetes) because this news completely surprised me,” said Ramos, who will be retiring from law enforcement after 21 years of service in July 2021. ” I had no idea of ​​the consequences (of having diabetes) ”.

Hispanic men like Ramos are at increased risk for diabetes and for developing chronic health problems associated with the disease, such as heart disease and stroke.

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