Knowing Their Numbers
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- Screening starts with blood pressure
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- Finger pricked
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- Blood sample added to machine
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- Lipid and diabetes panels printed out
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- Sister Madeleva consults patients on health changes to better their results
As restrictions from the COVID pandemic begin to wind down, CHRISTUS Healthy Living Mobile Clinics is adding back health screenings to the program. The screenings include blood pressure and diabetes and lipid testing. “Our ultimate goal to help people know their numbers,” Mobile Clinics Supervisor Nancy Bocanegra said.
One exciting change to the health screenings is the ability to test blood on site. “The Mobile Clinics has purchased a machine that will test both diabetes and lipid panels,” Bocanegra said. With the prick of a finger, the machine shows results in three minutes and prints out a label with glucose and lipid numbers.
“In the past, we went to the sites, drew blood and sent the samples to a lab,” Bocanegra said. “Being able to test and educate onsite allows patients to immediately make changes to address their healthcare issue.” Patients needing ongoing care for chronic conditions will be referred to CHRISTUS St. Mary’s Clinic.
At sites, Sister Madeleva Manzanares, a Congregational volunteer and former nurse, will do a presentation on cholesterol and work on educating patients about healthy eating. “We will have more time to educate and work with the patients on their health,” Bocanegra said. “Hopefully the patients will have more inspiration to address their health.”