WHYY’s ‘The Pulse’ community event raises awareness and promotes care around diabetes in Latino communities

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WHYY invited community members to the Esperanza Arts Center to raise awareness and promote care around diabetes and related health conditions in Latino communities.

Those who attended were able to receive free health screenings to monitor blood pressure and sugar levels, as well as connect with local organizations providing health resources.

Tuesday’s event was moderated by WHYY’s Maiken Scott, who hosts “The Pulse“, to discuss preventative health measures with emergency room doctor José Torradas, diabetes specialist Maria del Pilar Aparicio and dietitian Dalina Soto.

Much of the discussion was centered around dispelling misinformation surrounding diabetes.

Del Pilar Aparicio said that patients regularly “feel overwhelmed because there are a lot of details you have to pay attention to and you never have a break.”

Soto acknowledged the impact stress can have on someone with diabetes, specifically their blood sugar levels. She said stress can also be impacted through the lack of access to healthy foods, which can further complicate the outcome of someone with diabetes.

“Sometimes you can do everything right and things can still happen,” Soto said. “Genetics plays a big role, and also, just your day-to-day … We’re working 12, 13, 14 hours a day, our stress is through the roof and then we have to eat at the fast-food places that are all over the place.”

Torradas said that, in addition to managing one’s diet, making sure their mental health is taken care of is key to living healthy with diabetes.

“That’s going to require a level of commitment that if you’re depressed because you don’t see a way out of your living situation, that becomes a big issue,” Torradas said. “It is so layered that tackling one issue of diabetes just opens up this huge Pandora’s box of all the social determinants of health that put us in where we are now.”

On Wednesday, WHYY will host the “Caregiving” screening and resource fair at its Old City headquarters at 150 N. 6th St. at 4 p.m. The documentary, created with executive producer Bradley Cooper, highlights the challenges and triumphs of caregiving in America. The screening will be followed by a discussion moderated by Marty Moss-Coane, the host of WHYY’s “The Connection.” The event is free to the public. Registration is required.