Did you know that ISSSTE has support groups and mutual aid groups for people with non-communicable diseases? | Institute of Security and Social Services of State Workers | Government

Loss Groups of Mutual Aid (GAM) They are made up of beneficiaries and family members assigned to medical units with diabetes diabetes, high blood pressure, overweight or obesity where they work to get the best results after three months as a group in terms of body weight, glucose levels and blood pressure until they reach a year of the best and have an empowered group.

These groups are combined with family medicine units (UMF), family medicine clinics (CMF) and hospital clinics (CH) with the aim of working with people with a chronic disease to try to prevent and delay complications. Currently there are more than 60 formal Mutual Aid Groups accredited, re-accredited and with excellence in 35 ISSSTE delegations, coordinated by a multidisciplinary health team (support circle) composed of a doctor , nurse (o), social worker, nutritionist, psychologist, physical educator and dentist, who conducts and schedules talks on self-care and workshops for the well-being of people with the disease.

Loss GAM They are classified into two groups: formal and informal.

1. The formal ones They are the strict control of diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, obesity, and others.

1. The informal ones They are made up of the elderly, teenagers, and people who are physically active; and in hospital clinics they take groups of people with cervical cancer, where they give educational talks and support.

To access the program there are two ways:

1. Through the family doctor, once it is known that the patient has a non-communicable disease, he will be referred to the Social Work service where they will give him reports, let him know what the group consists of and start on dates.

1. By spreading the waiting room through the Social Work service, where the beneficiaries can feel and be informed of the importance of self-care.

The activities that take place in these spaces are workshops or topics taught during the year by personal specialists, every eight and fifteen days (depending on the scheduling of each medical unit) with contents such as :

• Automonitoring

• FEEDING

• Physical activity

• Pharmacotherapy

• Reduce risks

• Learn to face everyday challenges

Benefits of Support Circles and Mutual Aid Groups for the beneficiaries and the institute: