Main Story / 032408
Cayuga Community Health Network Stages
Lunch - and - Learn Series at Unity House
| |
|Ann McCarthy L, |
|Michelle Dart R |
AUBURN - The Cayuga Community Health Network, in collaboration with the
Cayuga County chapter of the Central New York Diabetes Prevention
Partnership, the countys Tobacco Free and Healthy Men and Women
Partnerships, and the countys Cornell University Cooperative Extension,
initiated a four-part, four-week Lunch-and-Learn series at Unity House of
Cayuga County Inc on March 19, 2008 at the agencys administrative
conference room
The four, one-hour sessions of the series, aimed at educating and
informing organizations employees about healthy living via increased
awareness of healthier choices, feature free healthy lunches to employee
participants
Entitled Diabetes Prevention and held from noon to 1 pm, the
first session on March 19 attracted a capacity audience of 18 Unity House
employees from all four of the agencys primary services and programs as
well as staff from various support departments The remaining three
sessions are scheduled to be held at the agency on March 26, April 2, and
April 9,
respectively
Cayuga County Health Network representative Ann McCarthy told the
attendees that its no longer a secret that there is a huge rise in
diabetes onset in the nations general population She said the purpose of
the session was to inform and educate so as to help prevent any further
increase in the incidence of diabetes as well as to provide resources to
individuals and/or family members who may already be diagnosed with Type II
diabetes
Were also thrilled to be able to bring you what we know is a
healthy lunch from Subway in Auburn, she said to the attendees, in
reference to the trays of whole wheat bread tuna and turkey sandwiches,
fruit, and bottled water she brought to the session Its to demonstrate
that even at Subway, you can make decisions about and get healthy,
nutritious food
Accompanying McCarthy and presenting on the diabetes prevention
topic was Michelle Dart, PNP, CDE The pediatric nurse practitioner and
certified diabetes educator, who has spent the past seven years presenting
on diabetes prevention and management primarily to Medicare and Medicaid
populations, told her audience that the primary risk factor for onset of
Type II
diabetes was obesity
Nationwide today, two of every three American adults is
technically obese, she said In Cayuga County, and were not sure why,
its estimated that just under 50 of the adults can be classified this
way We also know that one-half the people in NY State have Type II
diabetes now
Dart declared that about 75 of Type II diabetes, whereby ones
pancreas either cannot manufacture an adequate amount of insulin or ones
system is or becomes insulin-resistant, is related to ones genetic
components Other important factors that one can change, she said, are
diet and exercising
Type II diabetes occurs often without any manifestation of
symptoms, she said It proceeds slowly One thing being encouraged is to
screen for it earlier in life The two most important things we can do to
prevent the disease are eating healthy and exercising They alone will
really put a stop to the onset
Dart and several Unity House employees attending the session
discussed impediments to healthy eating and exercising, including a lack of
time; the countrys fast-food culture; poverty; living alone; being
physically limited; and the development of the
computerization of our
lifestyles
We need to look hard at where we are at individually and make
that commitment to changing if we need to, she said Its more than
worth it, in the long run
