By Broderick Rhyant, M.D.,
chief physician executive, Eskenazi Health Center Forest Manor
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines diabetes as a chronic (long-lasting) health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy, and if you have diabetes, your body either doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use the insulin it makes as well as it should. When there isn’t enough insulin, or cells stop responding to insulin, too much blood sugar stays in your bloodstream. Over time, that can cause serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss and kidney disease.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, African American adults are 60 percent more likely than non-Hispanic white adults to be diagnosed with diabetes by a physician.
In support of a combined effort to combat this potentially deadly disease, Indiana University’s Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at IUPUI recently received a five-year grant from Eli Lilly and Company to expand the Diabetes Impact Project (DIP-IN).
This $5 million grant will expand the existing collaboration with three Indianapolis communities by extending the commitment and by expanding work on sustainable diabetes prevention.
DIP-IN is a partnership with Indianapolis neighborhoods in the Northeast, Near Northwest and Near West that includes resident focused steering committees in each of three areas.
Launched in 2018, DIP-IN has focused efforts on providing support to people who are living with diabetes and those at risk for developing diabetes.
Through a collaboration with Eskenazi Health, over 380 patients are working closely with six community health workers with more patients being recruited. These workers assist patients in overcoming challenges influencing their health by providing social support and connecting them with primary care providers, social services, educational support related to healthy eating and diabetes control, and many other resources.
In a partnership with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), DIP-IN has placed three community health workers in three neighborhood organizations. These workers link residents to local services and neighborhood activities, raising awareness of diabetes risk factors, encouraging screening and working with steering committees support healthy living.
This expansion of DIP-IN coincides with National Diabetes Month, which is recognized each November. The expansion will build on the work of the resident steering committees to tackle underlying causes of diabetes such as healthy food access, stress, and creating the infrastructure and culture to support physical activity.
The DIP-IN grant expansion began August 1 and extends the project to a total of eight years. With this new expansion, DIP-IN will be able to increase community capacity to continue these efforts after the project ends.
DIP-IN includes partnerships with: the Marion County Public Health Department, Polis Center at IUPUI, Regenstrief Institute, Alliance for Northeast Unification (ANU/UNEC), Flanner House and Christamore House.
