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Blue Cross launches campaign to improve the health of Latine Minnesotans

“A Place of Love” aims to spark conversations with Latinas and their families that could prevent diabetes

There’s a saying that what you don’t know can’t hurt you, but when it comes to diabetes, that may not be true.

“Knowledge is power, knowledge is hope” said Amy Bloomquist, Director of Population Health at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. “Type two diabetes can be prevented in some cases, and pre-diabetes can be reversed, so we are aiming to equip people with tools and the knowledge to live healthier and potentially save lives.”

Pre-diabetes has a diagnosis rate of 2% when in reality 1 in 3 adults have pre-diabetes (or higher in Black, Indigenous, Latine, Asian Pacific Islanders, immigrant and other communities of color). In 2020, just under 9% of Minnesota adults (about 40,000) had been diagnosed with diabetes (type 1 or 2).​ Around 1 in 10 people with ​diabetes do not know that they ​have the disease.

​“We know that Latine communities in Minnesota have disproportionately higher rates of diabetes, and that stigma around the disease is significant” said Bloomquist. “To address these issues, we’ve developed a campaign to reach Latinas in a culturally relevant way and provide them resources to optimize their health and the health of their families.”

To help shape this campaign, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota partnered with CLUES
(Comunidades Latinas Unidas en Servicio), Minnesota’s largest Latine-led nonprofit organization.

“Our work is to ensure the advancement of social and economic equity and wellbeing for Latinos in Minnesota, said Alex Palacios, Manager of Community Health & Wellness. “We know that Latinas are the heart of their families, so this campaign aims to reach her and help her take care of her family’s health.”

Creative assets feature intergenerational Latinas in loving relationships with family members. The digital campaign will find Latinas in the markets served by CLUES (Twin Cities, Willmar and Austin) and make it easy for them to click through to a landing page with culturally relevant information and content.

“Our primary goal with the landing page is for visitors to walk through a brief assessment to determine their risk for diabetes or the risk of someone they love and learn about resources to address those risks,” said Bloomquist. “Those at high-risk will be encouraged to reach out to a culturally relevant diabetes prevention program, but we’ve also included locally crafted recipes on the landing page featuring healthy spins on classic culturally relevant dishes.”

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (bluecrossmn.com), with headquarters in the St. Paul suburb of Eagan, was chartered in 1933 as Minnesota’s first health plan and continues to carry out its charter mission today: to promote a wider, more economical, and timely availability of health services for the people of Minnesota. A nonprofit, taxable organization, Blue Cross is the largest health plan based in Minnesota, covering 2.9 million members in Minnesota and nationally through its health plans or plans administered by its affiliated companies. Blue Cross^® and Blue Shield^® of Minnesota and Blue Plus^® are nonprofit independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, headquartered in Chicago.