BROWNSVILLE — Health and wellness in the Rio Grande Valley.
The topic is important enough in any scenario, but in the time of COVID-19 it’s more crucial than ever.
That’s why Dr. Christopher Romero, medical director of PanAmerican Clinical Research, has begun a new video series called, “Health and Wellness in the RGV.”
He’s already posted the first presentation, “5 Tips for Starting and Keeping a New Year’s Resolution”, on YouTube.
“Like all of us, I’ve watched the Rio Grande Valley get so heavily impacted by COVID-19 over this past year,” he says in the video.
“It’s been heart breaking,” he continues. “And many of us are still mourning the loss of family and loved ones and colleagues to this horrible pandemic.”
Romero then explains in the video that Cameron and Hidalgo counties were in the top 10 locations in Texas for high mortality rates of COVID-19 patients in 2020.
“The sad truth is that this pandemic unroofed health issues that have been impacting our community for decades,” he said.
Talking later about the video series, Romero explained that COVID-19 has impacted the Hispanic community at a disproportionate level.
Several factors have contributed to this problem. It includes genetics, but also certain lifestyle habits that have contributed to a high level of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.
These and other health conditions can contribute to COVID-19 patients in the Valley having severe cases of the disease.
“It’s truly unfortunate that the population of the Rio Grande Valley has been at such a predisposed level for having severe disease in the midst of this pandemic,” Romero said. “The things that have placed our community at high risk are — obesity, diabetes, hypertension.”
Fortunately, all these conditions are modifiable through lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise.
“These are factors that aren’t just purely linked with genetics through lifestyle modification, these can actually be reversed and turned around,” he said. “I think if we’ve ever seen a reason to make a dramatic change in health and wellness it’s now.”
Romero said if Valley residents can make lifestyle changes in the time of COVID-19, those changes can help lower the incidence of such health matters as stroke, heart attack and chronic kidney disease. These maladies affect a disproportionately large number of Valley residents.
“Diet and exercise, those are two of the hallmarks of truly moving the needle on obesity, diabetes, hypertension, a lot of the modifiable risk factors for heart disease and stroke risk,” he said. “Those are going to be present long after COVID’s gone. And if you look at the recommendations for managing a lot of chronic illnesses, the first thing is lifestyle modification — diet and exercise.”
Thus the purpose of Romero’s video series.
“I plan on releasing a video twice a month,” he said. “It’s going to be an ongoing series really highlighting the great opportunities for finding health and wellness in the Rio Grande Valley. It will have interviews with local experts that are sharing insights on how to truly find meaningful health and wellness here in this beautiful region that we live in.”
Romero said he’ll also be talking about other health matters such as smoking cessation and managing anxiety. He also plans to post the videos on Facebook. He hopes to create an Instagram account for the series and maybe a separate website.
