Diabetes
Diabetes is a serious medical condition that causes blindness, heart and kidney failure and limb amputations. The direct and indirect costs of care related to diabetes were $132 billion in 2002 in the US. With medical treatment, the complications of diabetes can be minimized.

However, diabetes can go undiagnosed. It is estimated that one in three people with diabetes in the US have not been diagnosed. Thus, screening for diabetes is important.

Health Care in Los Angeles (LA)
“Alarming disparities pervade all major areas of public health, including access to medical care and the quality of care that is available, primary and preventative care, prenatal care, violence, substance abuse and chronic illnesses.”

The County of Los Angeles has the highest concentration of people without health insurance in the nation. According to the LA Department of Public Health, 75% of the County is uninsured. Because of the State’s financial deficit, the LA County Department of Health Services has had to close 11 County Health Centers.

Results from the 2002-3 LA County Health Survey indicated that half a million people have been diagnosed with diabetes. In LA, “the prevalence of diabetes is approximately two times higher among Hispanics than among non-Hispanic whites and is strongly associated with living below poverty level.”

The County of Los Angeles is divided into eight Service Planning Areas (SPAs). Within each of these SPAs are health districts. This proposal is targeting the following health districts: District 72 – Southeast, District 75 – Southwest, District 12 – Compton and District 34 – Hollywood Wilshire. The first three districts are in SPA – 6 and the last is in SPA 4.

Access to Diabetes Services
There were 7,821 individuals from the Southeast health district who accessed diabetes-specific care in LA County. Fifty-three percent visited Department of Health Services facilities and 47% went through Public-Private Partnerships.

Church and Diabetes
The synergistic relationship between health and spirituality is well documented and has been incorporated into 73 of 126 medical schools in the United States. “At least six studies in the past two years have found a relationship between involvement in a religious community and longer survival. Religious beliefs and activities are associated with better mental and physical health in the vast majority of the studies,” reported Harold G. Koenig, M.D., M.H.Sc., founding director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Spirituality and Health at Duke University Medical Center. Maria Castallanos, the Director of the Diabetes Department at Hubert Humphrey Medical Center, stated that one of the most serious issues that she sees in her diabetic patients is their sense of despair and hopelessness.
Through partnering these health fairs with local churches it is our desire that we bring holistic care and hope to these individuals and communities that are in such serious need.

Social Characteristics of the targeted Communities
Specific communities within these districts are going to be targeted. The following is key census data for the zip codes of the targeted communities. These demonstrate some of the barriers to access diabetic care.