Radio Show

A Flower is a sign of hope for those at risk of diabetes

Host Intro: (SHOW LENGTH:  APPROX 5 MINUTES) As more people eat fast food and skip exercise, more are becoming diabetic.  This year, the World Health Organization reports that three million people will die from the disease.  When it?s diagnosed early, diabetes is reversible, but it?s often hard to catch in time.  The Centers for Disease Control estimate that nearly one quarter of all diabetes cases in the U-S go undiagnosed, so some communities are adopting innovative ways to get people?s attention.  From Colorado Springs, Shelley Schlender reports.

Groups Featured in this report include: Diabetes Resource Network, (719) 575-9172, www.diabetesresourcenetwork.org




Full Text:

SFX:  Sounds of kids in an echoey gym lobby . . .

NARR:  At the Southeast YMCA gym in Colorado Springs, a dad tosses a basketball with his wife and son.  A mom herds her children toward the waterslides, and a sweat suit-clad couple saunters toward the weight-lifting room.  While many of these patrons are slender, quite a few have expanded waistlines, giving their bodies an apple shape. Health educator Wayne Greene says they?re at risk for diabetes.

WAYNE GREENE--Especially when you see a man that has a large abdominal girth like that.  Even though he?s in his thirties, late 20s or early thirties, if he?s not on the road to pre-diabetes, he may have some complications down the road.  

NARR:  Diabetes can lead to heart disease, blindness and death.  When it?s detected early, a healthy diet and exercise can reverse the condition.  So Mr. Green approaches the young family playing basketball.
WAYNE GREEN?Excuse me, sir?  Ma?am.  Excuse me.  My name is Wayne Greene of the Urban League.  And today, Penrose Hospital and the Diabetes Resource Network, they?re offering free, free health screenings.  What they?re doing today is they?re allowing you to have your blood pressure checked, allowing you to get your screening for diabetes as well as checking your cholesterol.
MAN-I?ve never had mine checked.  (nervous laughter)
WAYNE GREENE-If you can take maybe the next 20 minutes, take some time, fill out some forms . . .  

NARR:  Mr. Greene invites them to the screening.
WAYNE GREENE-. . . We even have some students that will come over and watch the children.

NARR:  The man says that they?re late for a hockey game on TV.
MAN:  We have about ten minutes into the Avalanche game.
WAYNE GREENE:  Ten minutes into the Avalanche game, but you?ve never had your cholesterol checked.  How about your blood sugar checked?  Did you have children over 9 pounds.  
WOMAN:  Yes.
WAYNE GREENE:  Did you have gestational diabetes?
WOMAN:  No.  
WAYNE GREENE:  No one told you that?
WOMAN:  No, I just had a big kid.
WAYNE GREENE:  Those are some risk factors you should keep in mind.  I?d really like for you to think about it.  

NARR:  Mr. Greene turns his attention to another apple-shaped couple.
WAYNE GREENE:  Just to let you know, we have a free blood screening, to see whether or not you?re a susceptible to diabetes.  If you have the time.
MAN:  We?re pushing it today.
WAYNE GREENE:  Okay.  Thanks.
MAN:  Have a good one.

NARR:  As the couple leaves, Mr. Greene shakes his head.
WAYNE GREENE:  The sad news is that most people who have the greatest amount of indicators that they?re susceptible to diabetes are the ones who always refuse.  We really have to take preventative measures right now, so we?re trying to raise the awareness.

NARR:  Next, he approaches a mom with three squirmy kids.
WAYNE GREENE:  Have you had your blood pressure checked, ma?am.
Mom:  Oh, It?s going to be high.
WAYNE GREENE:  Would you like to have it checked for free today?
MOM:  Sure.

NARR:  She strolls to the screening room, where people seem to be having fun as they don blood pressure cuffs and learn how a tiny pedometer counts their steps as they exercise.  Some are getting their blood sugar checked? which doesn?t look like fun?

YOUNG MAN:  Oooh.  Ow!  Laughter.  

NARR:  A young man named Duane teases the nurse who?s drawing his blood.
YOUNG MAN:  Oh, this hurts.  She stabbed me!
NURSE:  I?m taking blood today.  I?m the vampire.
YOUNG MAN:  Some people have diabetes in my family, so I want to make sure, if I?m at risk, I can prevent it.
NURSE:  There?s so much we can do to delay, and or to get diabetes and save quality of life.

NARR:  Family physician Rebecca Davis-Trujillo organized this screening event.  She says the risk of diabetes has become so common, it even affects young children, such as a little girl that Mr. Greene noticed in the lobby.
DR. TRUJILLO:  The youth was pretty overweight.  As I talked with her mother, (I learned) the grandmother has diabetes, and a cousin has diabetes.

NARR:  Because she had known people who didn?t receive effective treatment, the girl was terrified about what might happen to her.  Dr. Trujillo gave her special attention.  

DR. TRUJILLO : This little girl didn?t want to know if she had diabetes, because for her, that means death.  So she broke down in tears, didn?t want her blood sugar checked.  So we spent a lot of time, and I gave her my pedometer and talked with her about how to use it, and they?re really on the right track, and I think she?s going to do really well.  But, we?ve really got to treat them with gentle gloves, to help them pull through that process.

NARR:  Keeping these fears in mind, Wayne Greene greets people in the lobby of the Southeast YMCA.
WAYNE GREENE:  The screening is free if you have the time.
MAN:  Right now, we gotta go put a baby to bed, but we may be back.
WAYNE GREENE:  Thank you.

NARR:  To encourage more of her neighbors to be checked for the disease, Dr. Trujillo founded the Diabetes Resource Network, which raises funds and organizes volunteers to help with screenings.  For How on Earth, I?m Shelley Schlender in Colorado Springs.