CNMI launches drive vs. diabetes

Amid calls for the creation of a diabetics support group, Public Health Secretary Kevin Villagomez yesterday pledged his assistance by providing the hospital’s technical expertise in understanding the disease.

Villagomez underscored the need for family members to have a clear understanding of diabetes to help those who are afflicted cope with depression.

“The suffering becomes worse when the person who is afflicted with diabetes is suddenly told by doctors that they have to cut off his foot,” he said.

During the Food and Nutrition Council conference held Wednesday, delegates heard how the people who are suffering from diabetes cope with the disease.

According to Remy Sablan, a staff at the House of Representatives, she almost gave up on her husband who was found diabetic because his mood swings were so extreme. “I did not know that my husband’s change in behavior had something to do with diabetes, that’s why a support group will help the family understand the changes that the sick person goes through,” she said.

Vegetarian food can be introduced to those who have diabetics in their families said Doris Aguon, operations manager at Sunny Wholesale. When a member of her family was found diabetic, she prepared vegetarian meals which she learned in Guam Adventist Academy.

Dr. John Bruss, medical director of CHC, encouraged people to maintain a healthy lifestyle to prevent diabetes as the cost of medicine for the treatment of the disease has become so expensive.

While awareness on the disease has improved, this does not necessarily guarantee a change in the people’s behavior, said David Tuohey-Mote, program manager for Chronic Disease Control. “It all depends on how enlightened the people have become on the disease,” he said.

Those who are afflicted with diabetes suffer from various complications such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, blindness, kidney disease, amputations, nervous system disease, dental disease and complications of pregnancy.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, people with diabetes are about three times more likely to die from complications of influenza and pneumonia than people with diabetes.

Death rates among people with diabetes increase by 5 to 15 percent during flu epidemics.

“People with diabetes may be unaware that their disease can make their immune system more vulnerable to severe cases or even death from the flu,” said Dr. Frank Vinicor, director of the Division of Diabetes Translation at CDC.