Published: November 12, 2008 08:13 am      

County holds diabetes awareness weekend

World Diabetes Day will be celebrated this weekend in Richmond to promote awareness in the community, said Kim DeCoste, director of the Madison County Diabetes Coalition.

Events will kick off at noon Friday at the Madison County Courthouse where community leaders, health professionals and diabetes patients will be speaking.

The courthouse will be illuminated in blue lighting Friday night in honor of the national event.

World Diabetes Day is the result of action taken by the United Nations.

The awareness campaign began in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization.

In 2006, the United Nations (UN) World Diabetes Day resolution was passed in deeming it a United Nations World Health Day.

Madison County Diabetes Coalition — a group of consumers, health care providers and other community members with an in interest in diabetes and its prevention — will provide information to the community Saturday about how to prevent and live with diabetes.

Saturday’s Diabetes Day event at First Christian Church on Main Street will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will feature blood pressure screenings, diabetic foot assessments, eye screenings, healthy holiday cooking demonstrations, flu shots and other helpful, healthy activities for people with diabetes or who are at risk for the disease.

The foot assessments are one of the most popular requests among visitors, DeCoste said.

“We know that diabetes is the leading cause of non traumatic lower extremely amputations,” she said. “Just a small wound could turn into something really dangerous.”

All of the services offered are ones commonly needed by diabetes patients.

“People with diabetes and other chronic diseases are at a higher risk for things like the flu,” DeCoste said. “This may be something that sends that person’s blood sugar out of control. It’s so important that they get their flu shot.”

Like preventing any other disease, prevention is the key, DeCoste said.

“This (event) is about early detection and awareness,” she said. “Tired, thirsty, have to go to the bathroom all the time? Those are all signs of high blood sugar and it’s important that we have early detection.

Type two diabetes used to be something that was found in adults, but is not beginning to surface in children at the age of 9, she said.

Call DeCoste at 623-3462 for more information about Friday or Saturday’s event.

Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 623-1669, Ext. 234.