Lowell General Hospital Partners with Novo Nordisk for Changing Diabetes Day

Oct. 22, 2012 - PRLog -- Lowell General Hospital is one of several healthcare partners participating in Changing Diabetes Day, a free community event hosted by Novo Nordisk, a world leader in diabetes care and management.  The event is open to the public and takes place on Saturday, November 10th at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.  It offers a variety of clinical information sessions and activities centered on diabetes and pre-diabetes education with highlights featuring free health screenings, healthy cooking demonstrations, and guidelines and tips for proper nutrition and exercise.

Attendees will have the opportunity to talk with certified diabetes educators, nutritionists, fitness experts, local outreach and health enrollment specialists, among others. In addition, a variety of free screenings and exams will be available and provided by healthcare partners, including those for blood pressure, non-fasting blood glucose, foot screenings, BMI, depression screenings, and more. Other event partners include Lowell General Physician Hospital Organization, VNA of Greater Lowell, New England Foot & Ankle, P.C., Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and Stop & Shop.

According to a recent study commissioned by Novo Nordisk and conducted by the Institute for Alternative Futures (IAF), a nonprofit research and educational organization, there were 557,200 people in Massachusetts with diabetes in 2010.  Some 207,000 of them were undiagnosed and possibly beginning to suffer from the common complications of diabetes, including eye, kidney, lower extremity, and heart damage.  Another 1,693,600 people had pre-diabetes, a condition in which the blood sugar level is higher than normal but not yet in the range for diabetes.  If they do not take action, individuals with pre-diabetes can often progress to diabetes within 10 years.  

Using new information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the IAF model estimates that the number of Massachusetts residents living with diabetes (diagnosed and undiagnosed) will increase 61% by 2025 from 557,200 to 895,000. The resulting medical and societal cost of diabetes will be $8.8 billion, which is a 66% increase from 2010.  More information from the report for Massachusetts can be found at http://www.altfutures.org/diabetes2025/.