A&M-Commerce student seeks to educate the community with free diabetes awareness program

A public health student at Texas A&M University-Commerce has created a free eight-week program to educate people across the world about diabetes and how to live with the disease.

Jesus Medrano Palacios created the program for his internship with U.R.A. Resource Center, a public health consulting firm. He plans to graduate from A&M-Commerce with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health.

Palacios said that his idea came from a needs-assessment study completed by A&M-Commerce students in 2019.

“We found that one of the biggest needs in the community was proper education regarding diabetes,” Palacios said. “So, I took the challenge to develop a program that would fill that need.”

The program, titled “Educate Yourself,” is completely online. The associated web page is updated each week with new and robust information about diabetes and how to manage it, including keys to a healthy diet, the effects of diabetes on the heart, how physical activity can affect diabetes, and more.

Palacios said that taking the time to learn these things can lead to a more educated community overall, as those who have the knowledge can share it with others.

“That's why I named it ‘Educate Yourself,'” Palacios said. “Most people want to help others, but it's hard to do that when you don't have the knowledge yourself.”

The program is available in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Arabic, French, Hindi and Japanese. Palacios said that he hopes this program can help make a difference in people's lives.

“You can live with diabetes if you know how to manage it,” he said.