Partners for a Healthier Community

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“Diabetes Prevention and Management,” a free four-week education program for adults held from Oct. 5-26, 2010 at the United Parish. With a common-sense, easy-to-use approach that focuses on healthy eating and exercise, Saint Anne’s certified diabetes educators, Rose Marie Couto, RN, CDE, and Laurie Hammontree, RD, LDN, CDE, note that a few simple steps can help prevent one of the country’s most prevalent diseases. According to the American Diabetes Association, 57 million people nationally have prediabetes, a condition where blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Recent research has shown that some long-term damage to the body, especially the heart and circulatory system, may already be occurring during prediabetes. In the Fall River area, the incidence of diabetes in the Fall River area is higher than both state and national averages. “However, the good news,” says Couto, “is that there are strategies that can actually help to prevent diabetes, and many tools for successfully managing it. Our goal with this program is to help people understand diabetes, learn what’s possible to help them prevent or manage diabetes, and get the help they need so they can live healthy, productive lives.” To see videos of the first presentation in the series, click the following: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV and Part V. For more information, contact Ms. Couto at 508-674-5600, X2490.



(Top row) Rose Marie Couto distributes hand-outs to participants in the first educational session held at the United Parish on Wilson Road. (Middle row) Participants enjoy the presentation and the opportunity to ask questions of Ms. Couto. (Bottom row) Ms. Couto goes over how the body digests food and what happens when a person has diabetes before explaining some of the strategies, such as weight control and exercise, that can help to keep the condition from getting worse and causing other problems.