PAMPER stands for: Prevention And Management Program for the Effective Recovery of patients at high risk for chronic diseases such as diabetes.

The program educates diabetic CHI patients to manage their diabetes and prevent more serious health problems including:

• Nerve damage (numbness in the feet),
• Eye complications such as glaucoma and cataracts,
• High blood pressure and stroke, and
• Even death from diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), which is commonly called a diabetic coma.

Because 7 percent of all CHI patients are diabetic, the program works to prevent them from getting sicker and reduce hospital visits by providing them with resources such as:

• Providing a standing order to get their A1c test, for only $10, at any CHI lab,
• Educating them about how to regularly check their blood glucose (sugar) levels and to keep those levels stable,
• Encouraging routine check-ups with their primary doctor,
• Connecting them to CHI’s medication assistance program for reduced cost diabetic testing strips ($5 instead of $20), and
• One-on-one attention with a CHI Health Navigator who will help the patient get the health care services, from dental to behavioral health, they need.

The program also follows up with patients who are overdue for selected tests, procedures or immunizations including: A1c test, Pap smear test, mammography, and immunization for children up to age 2. The program helps women get a Pap test if they have not had one in the past three years or longer. The Pap test checks for cervical cancer that is the easiest gynecologic cancer to prevent, with regular screening tests and follow-up.

PAMPER was created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to reduce health disparities and improve care outcomes for patients who are at risk or have selected chronic diseases, by implementing a financially sustainable clinical outreach and chronic disease care management program.

PAMPER is conducted at CHI’s Martin Luther King Jr. Clinica Campesina and at Naranja Health Center. For more information, call MLK at ( 305 )-248-4334 or Naranja at ( 305 )-258-6813 .