Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #100488

Steve Maynard, DPM, Open Door Health Center, Barry University School of Graduate Medical Sciences, 11300 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami, FL 33161 and Chih Yen, DPM, Barry University School of Graduate Medical Sciences, 11300 NE 2nd Ave., Miami Shores, FL 33161, 305-859-7777, chih_j_yen@yahoo.com.

Diabetes Mellitus severely impacts the minority populations of the United States, including the Hispanic population, which is twice as likely to suffer from diabetes as the general U.S. population. The Barry University School of Graduate Medical Science's Podiatric Medicine and Surgery program has embarked on the development of a new institute for community health and minority medicine that has the goals of: 1) training minority health professional students in primary care, 2) conducting research on disparities in health for ethnic and racial groups, and 3) providing free primary health care services to disadvantaged and medically underserved individuals living in Miami-Dade County, Florida. At the Open Door Health Center, Barry University provides diabetes screening, education, and prevention programs to reach the 23,000 migrant and seasonal farm workers of Hispanic descent that lack access to primary care services. This presentation summarizes the five year history of the Podiatric program's endeavors to improve healthcare access, encouraging community collaboration, and offer public health education pertaining to reducing the disparities in diabetes care for the migrant population. These public health initiatives are part of the foci of the new Institute for Community health and Minority Medicine.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe attempts to improve heath care access, community collaboration, and public health education to underserved populations at risk for diabetic complications

Keywords: Diabetes, Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.