Angel Rios is a life-long learner. The 80-year-old had to be to build a life for his family when they moved to San Jose from Mexico in 1966. It’s how he went from a bank job in Mexico, to working in the fields, to learning construction, to learning the ropes of owning a pest control business in the Bay Area.
What Angel didn’t learn was how to take care of his health. Diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure in his 50s, Angel ignored the changes -– eating a healthier diet and exercising -– he should have made to manage the conditions.
Years later, kidney failure and dialysis were the result. Hispanic Americans are at greater risk for developing diabetes, which is the leading cause of kidney failure.
“When you’re young, you don’t care,” Angel says. “I didn’t do what I was supposed to.”
Satellite Healthcare helped him change that, starting with his first day at Satellite Healthcare’s White Road dialysis center in east San Jose.
“I went to their free Wellness Class to learn about being on dialysis,” says Angel. “A dietitian explained how I needed to eat for dialysis and how to take care of my diabetes.”
He and his wife Martha, who attends to learn how to cook for someone with diabetes and on dialysis, have become class regulars. Angel helps promote the class and will also teach one in Spanish.
His grandkids even help keep him on track.
“They tell me, ‘No Grandpa, you cannot eat candy,” Angel laughs.
He’s made exercise a big part of his healthy lifestyle too, riding a stationary bike for 30 minutes every day, walking and cleaning the house.
“If I had gotten the education when I was diagnosed that Satellite Health has given me, maybe I would have understood how serious it was. Through my disease, I’ve learned how to take care of myself. It’s never too late to learn. Because of this treatment, today I have a life. I feel like a millionaire.”
