David Ramirez teaches salsa dancing at Club Copa in Lorain/Photo by Marcus Atkinson
Marcus Atkinson
HispanicOhio.com editor
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LORAIN – Diabetes, a disease that can leave you blind, it can leave you with loss limbs, it does not kill you directly, but it is the cause of thousands of deaths each year.
In 2007, diabetes was listed as the underlying cause on 71,382 death certificates and was listed as a contributing factor on an additional 160,022 death certificates. This means that diabetes contributed to a total of 231,404, according to the American Diabetes Association.
That is why the Ohio Hispanic Heritage Coalition (OHHC) held their fourth of 12 salsa socials was held at Club Copa (939 Broadway) Saturday March 9 in Lorain. The event, dubbed “Salsa Social for a Cause” took place to raise awareness of diabetes for Hispanics, which are almost 2 times more likely to have diabetes than a non-Hispanic white.
There are 18.8 million people diagnosed with diabetes and 7 million people living with diabetes and do not know it. Ed Morales, program coordinator said the month’s salsa social had a goal to bring awareness of the issue to the Hispanic community, he said the community needed to be exposed to the issue and a good way to do is was through salsa dancing, and Dee-Dee Marrero agreed.
“Our goal is to bring out causes that people otherwise wouldn’t know about,” said Marrero, OHHC president.
The evening began with diabetes educator Mary Horst Nicolay of the Diabetes Partnership of Cleveland speaking about the signs of diabetes such has fatigue and blurry vision and she completed with how the disease is treated today.
Diabetes is essentially when there is too much or too little sugar in the bloodstream, and can lead to heart disease, kidney disease, retinal disease, amputation, and nervous system damage.
Once the diabetes education was complete, David Ramirez gave a few salsa lessons, and there was even some time for merengue. Once the lessons were complete, everyone danced, showing off their new talent.
Among Hispanics 7.6 percent of Cubans are diabetic, 13.3 percent of Mexican Americans, and 13.8 percent of Puerto Ricans.
After the education, salsa began.
“One of our key goals is to continue to preserve our culture,” said Marrero. “We thought it would be a good time to utilize our culture and showcase the pride of our culture, to save our culture by giving it to our children and grandchildren.”
“A lot of the tradition is fading away,” Morales said. “We want to bring back the tradition to the community.”
Though the OHHC has a goal to preserve culture and advocate good health at the same time, attendance at the monthly events have been scarce. Organizers are not sure why attendance is low.
“We want a bigger turnout,” Morales said.
The OHHC has promoted their event primary through social media, flyers and word of mouth, organizers say many people know about the event, but for one reason or another do not attend.
“The salsa social is a fun and healthy activity,” said Morales. “You can network with others, and learn to dance salsa.”
“There are a spark, a conduit, and a wire,” said Marrero. “The coalition, we are the conduit, we are looking for the grassroots leaders, they are the wire. We need all three to turn the switch on, once the switch is on the whole community lights up.”
The next salsa social will be April 13 supporting child abuse prevention, the time and location is unknown at the moment, be sure to keep checking www.hispanicohio.com for updates.