Bilingual Glucose Meters And More May Help Growing Diabetic Latino Population

In May 2014, a report released jointly by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research reconfirmed what many have known for some time now, Latinos have a very high risk for developing diabetes. The reason for the prevalence has long been discussed. Just last year, researchers published findings indicating that genetics may play a serious role in it. But more research still needs to be done on the topic.

Other healthcare community members partially attribute the staggering statistics listed in those reports to diet, culture, and language barriers. As a result, there is an increasing number of diabetic resources now available to Latinos. Among the list of resources are bilingual glucose meters. The list of bilingual glucose meters includes, but is not constrained to Prodigy Autocode®, OneTouch Select®, and OneTouch Ultra2® devices. Many of them feature both instructions and reading results in Spanish, which can be very helpful for diabetics that are not proficient in the English language and numbering system.

Contemporary glucose meters are not the only diabetes testing supplies that come with bilingual diabetics in mind. Most diabetes testing supplies that have such features tend to indicate as much on their packaging. For instance, bilingual diabetes management supplies that Latinos may run across are control solutions, insulin delivery systems, lancets, lancing devices, testing strips and hypoglycemia sleep alarms.

To address the population’s diet and cultural differences, there are other resources as well. Bilingual booklets listing classic Latino dishes that have been modified with a diabetic’s health needs in mind are one of them. For example, there are recipes available for diabetic versions of arroz con pollo, picadillo, empanadas, bacalao and flan de queso.

There are also bilingual support groups for diabetic Latinos, seminars, educational materials, outreach programs, and more. To discover additional glucose meters and resources for Spanish-speaking diabetics, please contact us at Advanced Diabetes Supply.