A new study is being conducted by Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. It will determine whether community health workers can help Hispanic diabetes patients better manage their disease.
MATCH (Mexican American Trial of Community Health Workers) includes 144 people divided into two groups. The first group will receive personal attention from a community worker once every two weeks for the first year, and once a month for the second year.
The worker will visit the patients' homes and educate them on diabetes self-management skills that are essential to the daily care of diabetes.
Patients in the second group will receive only a newsletter detailing the same diabetes self-management information. 
Researchers will monitor patients in both groups to see how well they manage their diabetes.
In a prepared statement, MATCH principal investigator Dr. Steven Rothschild stated, "Diabetes is unique because it requires daily self-management in order to remain healthy. The MATCH study hopes to show that community health workers are effective in teaching Hispanics diabetes self-management skills to assist them in their diabetes care.”
-- Robert Preidt
