In San Benito County, 26.5 percent of hospitalized patients who were at least 35 years old had diabetes in 2011, according to a study released earlier this month.
“In our clinics, I would say half of our patients probably have diabetes,” said Dr. Kevin Herrick, clinical director of Hazel Hawkins Rural Health Clinic.
The county has all the common triggers of the disease: a shrinking number of places to exercise, a large tally of fast food options and a high proportion of overweight or obese citizens.
Being overweight or obese is the leading risk factor for type two diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Most of the county – or 76.3 percent of youth and adults – qualify as overweight or obese, according to findings from the Healthy San Benito County Initiative.
Findings from the initiative – including information about obesity and diabetes – were presented to the San Benito County Office of Education May 8 to encourage the school community to think about ways the county could increase the health of its citizens.
“The typical American diet has fast food. It’s high in starch. It’s high in fat,” Herrick said. “The typical American diet is not sustainable. By that, I mean most people who eat the typical American diet are going to run into health problems.”
About 50 percent of the restaurants in the county were fast food establishments in 2011, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture survey.
Almost half the population in the county – or 49 percent – commute to a work location outside of the county, according to findings from the local initiative.
“What I believe is the problem is people are strapped for time and they’re looking for the fastest way to get their family fed,” said Sam Perez, the public information officer for the San Benito County Health and Human Services Agency.
While county residents were faced with high numbers of tempting fast food options in the survey year, the number of fitness facilities was shrinking. The number of recreation and fitness facilities was at seven in 2009 and dwindled to three in 2011, according to a USDA survey.
The county’s diabetes levels fell just below the state average – where about one in every three patients who was at least 35 years old in California in 2011 was a patient with diabetes, according to a study produced by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the California Center for Public Health Advocacy.
For doctors and nurses at Hazel Hawkins, treating patients with diabetes, even if that is not the reason they are at the clinic, often takes a few extra steps.
Diabetic patients may have poor circulation to certain areas of their body such as their feet, which could cause wounds to these areas to take longer to heal.
In type one diabetes, the body stops producing insulin, which is needed to break down the sugars that flood the human body, after every meal so diabetics regulate their own insulin levels with pumps and shots. In type two diabetes, the body still produces insulin but is not able to use it very effectively.
“To be honest, type one diabetics are usually on top of it because if they’re not, they’re dead,” Herrick said.
The doctor often sees type two diabetics who are not regulating their insulin levels or taking the time to make lifestyle changes to their diet and exercise. Since the insulin in their bodies is not functioning effectively, sugar whizzes through their blood and wreaks havoc.
“That sugar in the blood is corroding their organs. It destroys their eyesight. It destroys their kidneys,” Herrick said.
In fact, diabetes is the number one cause of blindness, kidney failure and amputation in the nation, explained Herrick.
For public health officers such as Perez, the focus is on lifestyle changes that drastically improve people’s chances of escaping the clutches of disease.
“There’s three behaviors – poor nutrition, lack of exercise and tobacco use – that contribute to four diseases: heart disease and strokes, cancer, type two diabetes and respiratory conditions. And that leads to 50 percent of deaths in our country,” said Perez. “Those are preventable behaviors.”
For more information about the study that found nearly one in three patients who were 35 years old or older in California in 2011 had diabetes, go to: healthpolicy.ucla.edu/diabetes2014.
