Pittsburgh Steelers' offensive lineman Kendall Simmons will share his personal journey with type 2 diabetes at a special public event on Saturday, July 30, to celebrate the culmination of the 2016 Diabetes Care for Life Program, an eight-week diabetes self-management program facilitated by Straub Medical Center.
The free public event will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Straub Medical Center 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 Simmons will be given to the first 50 people.
Simmons 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, Simmons 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 Medical Center 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 offer this program for a second year in a row thanks to the continued support of community partners,” said Art Gladstone, CEO of Straub Medical Center. “In Hawaii, almost 600,000 people are living with prediabetes or diabetes. Education programs like this can help them learn how to make lifestyle changes to decrease their risk for diabetes-related complications, and improve their quality of 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.