Martin Nava, associate director with the American Diabetes Association in Chicago, has spent recent weeks organizing diabetes-awareness efforts to target the area’s large Latino population, who are more apt than others to develop the disease.

Nava has helped plan the Diabetes From Head to Toe event to spread knowledge about the condition and its prevention.

Q What is diabetes?

A It’s where your body either stops producing insulin or doesn’t produce it in a sufficient amount, or the insulin you do produce doesn’t work well with your body. A diabetes diagnosis means a huge change in lifestyle. You have to be very careful of what you eat and how much you eat, so meal planning is incredibly important for people with diabetes. It makes one much more attentive to what they are eating and to taking diabetes pills or medications or insulin the doctor may prescribe.

Q What is the Por Tu Familia program?

A The program is the nationwide Latino initiative of the American Diabetes Association. Latinos are almost two times as likely to suffer from diabetes as compared to the general population for a number of reasons. Latinos have a higher genetic predisposition of diabetes, and socioeconomic factors are there also. Spanish-speaking Latinos tend to have much lower rates of insurance and medical coverage, so they have less access to the preventative information.

Q Why focus on prevention?

A Obviously we want to help Latinos who already have diabetes, but one of our main concerns is prevention because Type 2 diabetes can be prevented through a healthy diet, physically active lifestyle and going to a doctor or health-care professional regularly.

Q What are some common symptoms of diabetes?

A One of the first things that’s good to point out is that even though there are symptoms associated, people with diabetes will often exhibit no symptoms at all. For many people, they may live with diabetes for five to 10 years and never exhibit a symptom at all. Some of the most commons symptoms associated with diabetes are excessive thirst, frequent urination, extreme hunger, sudden and unexplained weight loss, changes in vision or blurred vision, constant fatigue, sores or cuts that don’t heal, increased number of infections or a sense of tingling or numbness in hands or feet. People should go to a doctor, and the doctor will take a blood sample and do an analysis of the blood. However, many symptoms are often connected with something else, so many doctors have trouble diagnosing it, and there can be misdiagnosis.

If you go
WHAT The American Diabetes Association’s Educational Conference: Diabetes From Head to Toe event
WHEN 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15
WHERE University of Illinois-Chicago Physical Education Building, 901 W. Roosevelt Road, Chicago
WHY Free health information, screenings and resources made available in both English and Spanish and to everyone in attendance, including the uninsured and under-insured
FOR MORE INFO Call the association at (312) 346-1805 or (888) DIABETES