After winning a DoSomething Grant we were able to make lots of progress, and mostly it allowed us to fund the series independently and have resources to buy glucometer strips and have the ability to provide for the participants. Thank you!
Our first task was to identify the theme for the seminar and to find a corresponding speaker. We determined that diabetes was an important issue in the community and since Dr. Belinda Chen, director of the Health Co-Op, had available materials and expertise on the subject, we decided that she would give the seminar.
My project allowed the Health Co-Op to offer services to members of the community who had no previous exposure to our center. We were able to combine healthy living with diabetes in this seminar through the meal portion of the seminar. We prepared most of the food ourselves, since that would be more practical for the residents to apply to their daily lives. We also included nutritional facts about the meal so participants could portion their own meals. In addition, a Rite-Aid pharmacy was kind enough to donate a glucometer and testing strips so we could test individuals’ blood sugar. The seminar was a success – we had sixteen participants that all had personal interest in diabetes.
We started off the seminar by having Dr. Chen explain some common misconceptions about diabetes and explaining the difference between type I and type II diabetes and how they affect the body. The latter part of the seminar included an interactive session with audience questions and discussions about how to better manage diabetes. Overall, the seminar accomplished what we had set out to do. We reached a target population in the Sandtown community and imparted practical applications of how to prevent diabetes progression and how to manage a lifestyle with diabetes. Without your help, none of this would have been possible. Thank you again for your support!