When participants meet at the Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center walking track at 9 a.m. Saturday for Mississippi’s Walk for Diabetes, they’ll be calling attention to a disease that many people have, and many others have but are unaware they do.
Diabetes is a disease in which blood sugar levels are above normal, and people with diabetes have problems converting food into energy.
According to the American Diabetes Association, 23.6 million children and adults in the United States — about 7.8 percent of the population — have diabetes. Another 5.7 million people are unaware that they have the disease.
The Mississippi Department of Health says diabetes is a major cause of morbidity, disability and death for Mississippians, and a major source of health care costs.
State statistics show that in 2007, diabetes was the eighth-leading cause of death in Mississippi, accounting for 2.3 percent of all deaths.
In 2007, about 238,658 Mississippi adults were diagnosed with diabetes, and many more cases went undiagnosed. The state’s diabetes prevalence has risen from 9.5 percent in 2005 to 11.1 percent in 2007. An additional 30,123 people were diagnosed with pre-diabetes in 2006.
Programs like the diabetes walk are good about drawing attention to the disease, said Cindy Johns, congregational health nurse at Pine Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Summit.
“People see the other people walking and they understand how serious this disease is,” Johns said.
But the walk does more than draw attention to the disease, she said. It also makes people aware of the support network that is available for people.
“It’s a coming together. All the agencies and programs that can offer help for diabetics are there (at the walk),” she said. “If people have a problem, we can find a way to help them.”
Johns, who developed a diabetes awareness program from April to June at Pine Grove, said the program taught diabetics how to live with and manage their disease to prevent more serious problems. She said the program was part of an overall wellness program under the direction of Pastor Oliver Smith.
Johns said the incidence diabetes in Mississippi is still high because of the lifestyle the majority of the state’s residents lead.
“They eat the wrong kinds of food and they don’t exercise,” she said.
Staying inside to watch television and not getting outside to exercise adds to the problem, she said.
“School is out this week,” she said, “and the kids aren’t outside, they’re sitting inside with their video games and eating all the time, and the parents are at work. They are developing the potential for disease.”
Part of the diabetes program at Pine Grove involved teaching people to be responsible when they eat, to eat more fruits and vegetables and cut back on the amount of sugar they consume.
Carolyn Wren, a health education director for Pine Grove’s wellness program, said eating — teaching people to eat the right way — is the biggest problem she sees with diabetes education.
“People don’t understand how to make a menu to mix vegetables so you reduce the amount of starch in the diet,” she said.
“They don’t realize that if they eat too much foods high in starch, that turns to sugar,” Wren said. “They don’t understand how to keep it at a normal level. Actually, we should all eat like diabetics — low sugar, leafy green vegetables. To control our sugar levels.”
And diet, Wren said, needs to be tied in with some kind of exercise.
Johns said knowledge about diabetes is available, but people either don’t use it or reject it.
“There are a lot of people dying prematurely from heart disease, kidney disease and stroke, because they’re not taking care of themselves,” she said.
“If you take your medication and continue eating sweets and cake and other things, you’re not controlling your diabetes and and you’re in danger of harming your kidneys or heart,” Johns said.
She said help for diabetics is available, even if they don’t have insurance or qualify for Medicaid or Medicare.
“There are federally funded clinics available all over the state,” Johns said. “If you don’t have insurance, you can go there and set up to pay on a sliding fee scale.”
One of the services Pine Grove offers, she said, is a resource center where people can find help.
The key to managing diabetes, she said, is for people take their medication, check their blood sugar, maintain their diet, exercise and know how to manage their diabetes.
“If you’re not exercising, losing the weight, eating the wrong foods and ignoring the signs (symptoms of the disease) your blood sugar could be higher,” she said.Johns said knowledge about diabetes is available, but people either don’t use it or reject it.
“There are a lot of people dying prematurely from heart disease, kidney disease and stroke, because they’re not taking care of themselves,” she said.
“If you take your medication and continue eating sweets and cake and other things, you’re not controlling your diabetes and and you’re in danger of harming your kidneys or heart,” Johns said.
She said help for diabetics is available, even if they don’t have insurance or qualify for Medicaid or Medicare.
“There are federally funded clinics available all over the state,” Johns said. “If you don’t have insurance, you can go there and set up to pay on a sliding fee scale.”
One of the services Pine Grove offers, she said, is a resource center, where people can find help.
The key to managing diabetes, she said, is for people take their medication, check their blood sugar, maintain their diet, exercise and know how to manage their diabetes.
“If you’re not exercising, losing the weight, eating the wrong foods and ignoring the signs (symptoms of the disease) your blood sugar could be higher,” she said.
