The Soap Opera of Diabetes

I heard about this idea on NPR this morning. Here's a link to the article out of KUOW in Seattle.

Apparently, Group Health, the folks through whom my (paternal) grandparents got their healthcare for many years, has partnered with Seamar, a local community health service that serves the Latino community and produced a spanish-language soap opera, delivered over the radio. And the soap opera has diabetes woven into it. It's a health education message, delivered in a culturally relevant medium.

I applaud this effort. Since many Latinos will be affected by diabetes, any effort to give them tools to know about it, recognize the symptoms, and, after diagnosis, control the disease is a good one.

I wish the article said more about how they used the diabetes information in the plot and what results they're hoping for.

Let's hope they're working on the other part of the problem, providing the healthcare to folks who have their diagnosis. It all has to work together.