Holiday Newsletter 2006

Volunteers help fight diabetes and hypertension in clinic communities

Two summers ago, clinic volunteers and American medical students Lisa Jager and Sara Medendorp were out of bed before sunrise and tracking blood sugars and blood pressures before 7:00 am. Lisa and Sara, who had just finished their first year of medical school, visited the rural villages of Arboleda, Buena Vista and Yapacani every other week to combat diabetes and hypertension, two extremely common health challenges in Bolivia.

Their mission: Teach patients how to better manage their diabetes and hypertension on a daily basis and implement a sustainable system that would allow patients to track their own blood sugar and pressure.

In each village, Lisa and Sara identified a location where villagers could check their blood pressure and sugar level twice a week. They also trained community leaders to use the glucometers and sphygmometers, instruments used for checking blood sugar and blood pressure respectively, and to counsel patients. Today, over a year later, the program has proven effective as blood sugar and blood pressure levels continue to decline and patients now bring their blood sugar and blood pressure tracking sheets to Centro Medico Humberto Parra for monthly check ups.

Myth debunking was also part of their work. Many patients believed that their medications caused kidney damage and that diabetes and hypertension were gone for good once symptoms ceased. Not true! Lisa and Sara worked diligently to emphasize that these medications did no harm to the kidneys and to make sure that patients understood that diabetes and hypertension were chronic illnesses that needed lifelong management.

One success story is a man from Buena Vista whose blood sugar dropped significantly from 216 mg/dL to 119 mg/dL over the period of a week. Healthy blood sugar levels are considered to be below 126 mg/dL. Remarkable! Lisa and Sara were curious. How did his blood sugar drop so precipitously? The man explained, “I just listened to what you said, Doctoritas. I stopped eating those foods and starting exercising.” A simple statement but a difficult lifestyle change. Lisa and Sara reported, “Soon, this story became commonplace. And we weren’t the only excited ones – fellow patients would enthusiastically compliment each other after positive results and counsel each other when they weren’t [positive.] It became a bonafide support group.”

Lisa and Sara, reflected on their experience, asserting, “We worked hard but laughed even more – living at the clinic was fantastic, helping out at CMHP every Saturday provided invaluable lessons in clinical skills and crowd control, playing volleyball at the school (our dual 5’11’’ heights still couldn’t win,) connected us with new friends, and cooking with [former clinic caretaker] Antuco were daily joys. It was difficult to leave all of our new relationships, but we manage to keep updated on our friends and patients through e-mails and the newsletter!”

Since then, Lisa has returned to Bolivia and is now completing a Masters in Public Health in Santa Cruz and intermittently acts as Clinic Coordinator. Sara and Lisa’s diabetes and hypertension program continues to keep blood sugar and blood pressures down and village spirits up. The programs have been so successful that the clinic is looking to expand to other villages in the upcoming year.

Copyright © 2007 Daniels Hamant Foundation