SEATTLE, Wa. —The Regence Foundation awarded a $50,000 grant to Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital to hire bilingual health educators for “Tomando Control de su Salud,” a chronic disease self-management program for Spanish-speaking patients. Through educational workshops, the program helps Latinos with chronic diseases learn more about their condition, better manage their symptoms, and avoid unnecessary trips to the emergency room.

Chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer require extensive self-management to slow the disease process and prevent worsening health. Although Latinos make up 41 percent of Yakima County’s population, “Tomando Control de su Salud” is the county’s only outreach program geared toward helping the Spanish-speaking population manage chronic diseases.

“This program is about improving quality of life for Latinos with chronic diseases,” said Jonathan Hensley, president of Regence BlueShield. “Removing the linguistic and cultural barriers to care that Latinos face is a priority for both Regence BlueShield and The Regence Foundation.”

The program, which started in Yakima in May 2006, is based on a chronic disease self-management program developed and studied at Stanford University School of Medicine. After just four months, patients who participated in the Stanford program demonstrated improved health status, more self-confidence in managing their condition and fewer emergency room visits.

“Engaging in self-management activities is critical for patients to live successfully with their chronic disease,” said Anne Caffery, president and CEO of the Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital Foundation. “This grant provides us the opportunity to engage the Latino community and break through cultural barriers, such as language, income, lack of insurance, transportation or work schedules to help this underserved population learn more about how to care for themselves as well as how to access health care resources in our community.”