Volunteers in Medicine Calls Attention to Health Crisis During Diabetes Awareness Month

According to the Florida Department of Health (FDOH), one out of every ten people living in Duval County is diagnosed with diabetes.

Over the past decade, Duval County has lost nearly 2,500 men and women to diabetes. This is especially true for non-Hispanic Blacks, who, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, are twice as likely as non-Hispanic Whites to die from diabetes.

The team at Volunteers in Medicine strongly believes that it doesn’t have to be this way. We help our low-income, working uninsured patients get diagnosed with diabetes and offer them free medication on-site, including expensive insulin. We match them with supportive resources such as nutrition counseling and weight management classes.

“With regular doctor’s visits, medication, healthy food, and support in making better lifestyle choices, people do not need to suffer the horrible consequences of diabetes,” said Jennifer Ryan, Volunteers in Medicine’s CEO. “If they aren’t able to get those things, as so many of the uninsured cannot, the community pays for it.”

To further help our patients, we partnered with Feeding Northeast Florida earlier this year to start a Prescriptive Nutrition Program. Our diabetic patients are given a prescription for healthy food and are scheduled to visit the clinic every other Saturday so they can shop at a Mobile Corner Market for free under the guidance of a dietitian. 

In each of the last five years, the FDOH counted between 3,000 and 4,000 ER visits in Duval County that have been the result of diabetes. By providing them the proper medication and care needed, we can help them live a happy life while reducing ER visits and fatalities at the same time.

“No person suffering from diabetes in our community should be left without the resources to care for themselves,” said Ryan.