Free diabetes screenings in Edinburg, McAllen through April

A single prick of the finger.

This is how Tom Castaneda, the system director of marketing and public relations for South Texas Health System, described how a simple procedure can confirm type 2 diabetes “even in the earliest stages” before symptoms ever develop.

Castaneda made that observation in a statement he shared this week about a month-long effort encouraging residents in the Rio Grande Valley, where diabetes is prevalent, to take that step.

In hopes of motivating residents to take such action, STHS is partnering with KRGV and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Nursing to offer free blood glucose screenings every Friday throughout the month of April.

The screenings, which are part of KRGV’s Heart of the Valley diabetes campaign, will be held at STHS McAllen, located at 301 W. Expressway 83 in McAllen, and at STHS Edinburg, which is located at 1102 W. Trenton Road in Edinburg.

Each Friday of this month the screening will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the main lobbies of STHS McAllen and STHS Edinburg.

In order to prevent the development of diabetes or delay its progression, studies have found that lifestyle plays a major role in treatment.

In fact, the National Library of Medicine says, “It is important for patients to have adequate and correct information about their medications, diet, and lifestyle management, and misconceptions can be a barrier to control diabetes.”

Understanding one’s glucose levels is essential to early prevention by helping identify prediabetes or diabetes before symptoms develop.

“That’s important in a community like the Rio Grande Valley with a high prevalence of the chronic condition, especially since a sizable portion of the population with diabetes remains undiagnosed, ” Castaneda said in a news release. “Knowing your numbers can quickly alert you that your blood sugar levels are outside of a target range and help prevent an emergency situation.”

According to data by RGV Health Connect in 2015, there were about 11.3% of adults with prediabetes and about 43.1% of the Medicaid population had diabetes in 2018.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2021 about 38.4 million people of all ages or 11.6% of the U.S. population had diabetes with about 38.1 million adults or 14.7% of adults in the U.S. having diabetes.

For more information about the blood glucose screenings call the STHS Marketing Department at (956) 388-2020 or email them at STHSMarketing@uhsinc.com.

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