Mid Valley Urgent Care in Mercedes, The Clinic in Weslaco available to help patients with diabetes or pre-diabetes

WESLACO, TX, Nov. 2024 – November is National Diabetes Month, and Rio Grande Valley patients are urged to work with their healthcare providers and take steps to fight diabetes and to improve their health.

Healthcare professionals are available at Mid Valley Urgent Care in Mercedes, and at The Clinic Family Practice and Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco to help patients in the Mid-Valley who are coping with diabetes — or those who are pre-diabetic but are trying to improve their health and reduce their risk of becoming diabetic.

Physicians, dietitians and other healthcare professionals at Prime Healthcare facilities, along with the American Diabetes Association, recently shared several tips which can help in the fight against diabetes:

To help manage diabetes, or to prevent diabetes, reduce the size of your meals by using smaller plates (such as plates that are 9 inches in diameter).
Fill up half of your plate with vegetables.
Fill up one-quarter of your plate with lean protein (such as salmon, tuna or other fish; chicken or turkey).
Fill up the remaining one-quarter of your plate with grains or fruits.
Read up on food labels and nutritional information. The American Diabetes Association website can be a great starting place in learning how to “translate” food labels and make smarter food choices:
https://diabetes.org/food-nutrition/reading-food-labels/making-sense-food-labels
Exercise in consultation with your doctor. Lack of exercise, inactivity, weight and obesity can increase the risk for diabetes. To help control or to prevent diabetes, many patients benefit from walking 20 minutes or more per day.
While it is widely known that many people in the Valley have diabetes, many patients don’t notice any symptoms – and some don’t even know that they have diabetes. That’s why it’s important to get tested … so you can start working with your doctor to control diabetes if you have it … or to prevent diabetes if you don’t have it (yet).
Those who do notice symptoms of diabetes — such as being very thirsty, urinating often, or losing weight without trying — should consult their physician immediately.
Diabetes patients are particularly susceptible to developing foot problems … so it’s important to have your feet screened for wounds, calluses, infections and other potential problems, to avoid the potential complication of amputation. Patients should check their feet on a regular basis, wear proper footwear, and seek medical care (through their physician and through the Advanced Wound Healing Center at Knapp Medical Center).
Diabetes patients are also at high risk for other very serious complications – including stroke, heart attack, kidney failure, and blindness – so working with a healthcare provider to control diabetes is essential to the patient’s quality of life.
For women who had gestational diabetes during pregnancy, it is important to get tested for diabetes within 12 weeks after your baby is born — and at least every three years after that. Women who had gestational diabetes are at a higher risk to develop type 2 diabetes later in life, according to the American Diabetes Association.
Make an appointment to visit your healthcare provider. For appointments with The Clinic Family Practice in Weslaco, please call (956) 565-2727. The Clinic is located across the street from Knapp Medical Center, at 1315 E. Sixth Street, Suite 6 in Weslaco. Conveniently, The Clinic is open on Saturday mornings, from 8 a.m. to 12 noon – as well as Mondays through Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Don’t put your health on hold if doctors’ offices are closed. For convenient after-hours care, drop in at Mid Valley Urgent Care, 2810 W. Expressway 83 in Mercedes (across from Med High and Science Academy). You don’t need an appointment, and Mid Valley Urgent Care is open from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Mondays through Fridays … and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays (phone: 956-825-3749; online at https://mid-valleyurgentcare.com/).