SAN ANTONIO – The New York Times recently reported on the crisis of diabetes in Latino communities in San Antonio.
The report cited a combination of poor genetics, little access to health care and deficient diets as causes for the acute issue in South Texas.
Recommended Videos
“It’s a huge issue in San Antonio and dare I say, it’s the diabetic foot capital of the world, in terms of complications,” Michael Sobolevsky, a podiatry doctor at the Texas Diabetes Institute, told the Times. “We are constantly amputating.”
A study from the City of San Antonio said men are three times more likely to lose a limb to diabetes than women.
For example, most men have been showing up at the Texas Diabetes Institute on the West Side of San Antonio with sores on their feet that won’t go away, Sobolevsky told the paper. Many of them end up having their feet, or even their whole leg amputated.
Type-2 diabetes, the most common type, happens when the human body cannot keep normal levels of blood sugar. It affects many parts of the body, but mainly the feet.
Sobolevsky pleads with patients to take even the smallest sores seriously.
“My job is to prevent, save, save, save,” Sobolevsky said.
The paper also spoke with Dr. Ralph DeFronzo, who moved to San Antonio in the late 1990s.
“Here in San Antonio, if you actually went and tested all of the people, you would find that probably one in every two individuals over the age of 40 has diabetes,” Dr. DeFronzo said.
The Texas Diabetes Institute on the West Side, located in a historically Mexican American community, sees around 80,000 patients a year, the New York Times reported.
Julius Hunter, a program coordinator with San Antonio’s Diabetes Prevention and Control program, said that men are more likely to ignore cuts on their bodies. They have the mindset to just tough it out and ignore the issue.
Anthony Perez, a Grammy-award-winning musician, had his right leg amputated due to Type-2 diabetes. Perez’s pinkie toe became infected after it busted open while carrying heavy equipment. By the next morning, his foot turned purple, and doctors said he had to lose his leg to continue living, the Times reported. Perez ended up receiving a prosthetic leg. A year later, he stood back up on his two feet.
The new leg for Perez meant that he could get back on the road as a musician. On New Year’s Eve, Perez walked onstage and performed in Midland, Texas.
“I was able to stand and play for the first time in a long time,” Perez said. But he also knew: “I have a lot of steps ahead of me.”
More coverage of fighting against diabetes on KSAT: