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he Diabetes and Nutrition Center at Northeast Missouri Health Council will recognize Diabetes Day Wednesday with an open house will educate patients about their health care options and the public.
Carrie Snyder, a dietitian and diabetes education coordinator at the center, said the event to provide an opportunity to bring the community together.
"It's an opportunity to have the public and health care providers come together in one place to discuss issues of diabetes," Snyder said.
The event will feature several live demonstrations of technologies like insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitoring and blood glucose monitoring, that help patients manage diabetes, and more. It will be held at the center's conference room at 1506 Crown Drive from 5-7 p.m.
Snyder said World Diabetes Day is important because it helps increase awareness of the condition; up to half of patients with Type 2 diabetes have not been diagnosed. Type 2 diabetics do not respond to insulin and usually develop the disease later in life; Type 1 diabetics do not produce their own insulin and are usually diagnosed in childhood, though both types can develop later.
Snyder said diabetes is much easier to manage if it is diagnosed early,
Symptoms to look out for as indicators of type 2 diabetes include an increase in hunger and thirst, frequent urination and sudden weight loss.
"It can take years before patients start having symptoms of Type 2, so we're going to have some paper where they can assess their risks of diabetes," Snyder said.
The open house will also provide support for patients with diabetes and their families, including the daily stress of monitoring blood sugar levels and following up on the health and well-being of patients. Other topics covered with diabetes prevention and nutrition therapy, which are available for Medicare patients.
Patients who are uninsured or underinsured, including NEMHC, who provides services on a sliding scale based on income level.
Snyder said she loves to address misconception patients may have about diabetes treatment. She said many patients have misunderstandings about insulin and it is risky.
"It's just one of the treatments," Snyder said. "There's nothing wrong with going on insulin."
Snyder also wants to help diabetes patients and the general public understand that type 2 diabetes is not just caused by high blood sugar. That is a risk factor, as are excessive calorie intake and physical inactivity, but age and family history also contribute. Snyder said people can develop type 2 diabetes even if they live a healthy lifestyle, and patients should not face social stigma.
"People think of Type 2 as a lifestyle disease, and it's not," Snyder said. "There's a lot of contributing factors to it."
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