NBA Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins will share his personal journey with type 2 diabetes at a special public event on Saturday, June 20, to celebrate the culmination of the 2015 Diabetes Care for Life Program, an eight-week diabetes self-management program facilitated by Straub Clinic & Hospital.
The free public event will be held from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at the Straub Clinic & Hospital cafeteria. Other members from the community including the American Diabetes Association and HiComp will speak about diabetes in Hawaii and the inception of the program. Autographs by Wilkins will be given to the first 50 people.
Wilkins will be in attendance to recognize graduates of the diabetes education program and hand out certificates at a special VIP celebration prior to the public event. As a diabetic himself, Wilkins is passionate about raising awareness about the disease.
The Diabetes Care for Life Program was offered to people with diabetes at no cost thanks to a grant secured by Hawaii National Bank from Novo Nordisk, Inc. Participants identified challenges they had with managing diabetes, and learned tips and skills from diabetes educators at Straub Clinic & Hospital on how to make informed decisions, how to cope with the disease, and how to make lifestyle changes to improve their outcomes.
“We’re grateful to Hawaii National Bank and Novo Nordisk for their support in making this program available here in Hawaii,” said Straub CEO Art Gladstone. “Nearly 600,000 people in Hawaii are living with prediabetes or diabetes. Through programs like the Diabetes Care for Life Program, we can provide patients with diabetes with the tools and resources they need to understand how to manage and take control of their condition in order to live a healthy and productive life.”
The program covered a variety of topics including how medications work, monitoring blood glucose methods, understanding nutrition labels and recognizing and treating hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. Participants tracked goals, counted steps and kept a food journal to track their progress. At the end of the program, they discussed their success and the challenges they faced along the way, and the group was able to share tips and advice with one another.
For more information, visit straubhealth.org.