A1C Under Nine: How to Get Diabetes and Hypertension Under Control, New ECHO Series in Spanish

Tue, 01/09/2018 | by Claire Hutkins Seda

diabetic test device

How many of your patients with diabetes are keeping their Hemoglobin A1C levels below nine? Migrant Clinicians Network has taken on HRSA’s call to proactively address diabetes and hypertension to bring A1C numbers down, through two newly launched ECHO series in Spanish. Launching this month, the two back-to-back series have been developed just for promotores, community outreach workers, and case managers who work directly with patients in detection, treatment, self-management, and prevention of diabetes and hypertension.

The first six-part series, “Retos y Prácticas exitosas en el manejo de Diabetes ECHO serie 2017-2018” will be dedicated to diabetes and presented twice a month, from January through March. It will be followed by a second series, also in Spanish, that will focus on hypertension.

“In the short term, these two series aim at taking participants to the next level of patient care by providing meaningful knowledge, best practices, and by creating a network among community health workers, expert faculty, and resources to expand their experience for the benefit of patients in their communities,” noted Alma Galván, MCN’s Senior Program Manager and coordinator and co-presenter of the series. “In the long term, the objective is to support health centers to reduce the percentage of patients with HbA1C above nine -- and we know this is possible through excellent training, networking, peer learning, and resources.”

The in-depth series will bring in experts from the field to explore diabetes and hypertension from many angles, bringing in the latest resources and research to best serve patients. Session topics include psychology among patients with diabetes, managing diabetes during a natural disaster, successful self-management techniques, hypertension in the workplace, and social determinants of obesity, pre-diabetes, diabetes, hypertension, and other non-transmittable health concerns.

Continuing education credits are available for nurses and Texas CHWs for the series. If your health center would like to join, please click here to submit your application. Being selected to participate means committing to join each session and sharing with the group challenges faced by the participant(s), as well as successful practices in an effort to create a learning community.

Applications are due January 15, 2018 and notifications will begin to go out on January 18, 2018. If would like to participate or you have any question about it please contact Martha Alvarado at malvarado@migrantclinician.org or Alma Galván at agalvan@migrantclinician.org.