The Appalachian Rural Health
Institute (ARHI) recently received a $200,000 grant under the
three-part Appalachian Diabetes Initiative, which was announced
by Gov. Bob Taft. The three-part initiative was for $460,000,
which comes from Ohio’s master tobacco settlement funds, and is
part of Taft’s Healthy Ohioans Initiative.
The Appalachian Diabetes
Initiative focuses on heightening awareness and improving care
and self-management, with the aim of preventing or delaying the
onset of diabetes and its related complications. The three-part
grant will be used to establish and bolster diabetes treatment
and education services in 11 Appalachian counties.
“Too many people in Ohio’s
Appalachian counties are developing Type II diabetes. And too
many people,” says Taft, “including many who don’t even know
they have diabetes, are not receiving the tools and information
they need.”
The populations of the
Appalachian counties have disproportionate numbers of Ohioans
with diabetes. According to the Ohio Department of Health,
approximately 110,000 Ohioans in Appalachian counties have been
diagnosed with diabetes and an additional 30,000 remain
undiagnosed.
These counties report the
highest poverty rates in the state, and studies show that people
with lower levels of income and education are stricken with
diabetes at much higher rates, says Frank Schwartz, M.D.,
director of ARHI’s Diabetes/Endocrine Center. The center was
established in 2003 to spearhead the university’s diabetes
research, clinical training and treatment, and educational
outreach efforts in Southeastern Ohio under the larger umbrella
of ARHI.
“Within Appalachia there are
clusters of counties that are at risk; they tend to be more
devastated economically and have lower group socioeconomic
status,” says Schwartz.
Although the total diabetes
picture in Appalachia doesn’t seem as critical if all
Appalachian counties are lumped together, he says, “when you
look at specific counties you find populations at real risk.”
“For instance, Vinton County
has a 12.8 percent prevalence, which approaches what you see in
African Americans and Hispanics, who are affected more by
diabetes than the majority population,” says Schwartz, who is a
member of the advisory board of the Ohio Department of Health’s
Diabetes Prevention and Control Program. The program is a joint
project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
and the Appalachian Regional Commission.
About half of the $200,000 will
be used to complete surveys in the 11-county region. Four
counties have been surveyed, he says.
“The other $100,000 will be
used for more screening, to increase our presence and identity
and, hopefully, to recruit county health leaders — those in
health departments, school systems, etc. — who can help us build
and implement our overall diabetes initiative outreach plans.”
Schwartz adds that the CDC sees the center’s initiative
potentially as a model for a 13-state program.
“And it’s possible that the
grant could be refunded next year. The funding will help
coordinate and collaborate with partners — old and new — of our
existing diabetes initiative for Southeastern Ohio.”
“The (Appalachian Diabetes)
initiatives,” says Ohio Department of Health Director J. Nick
Baird, M.D., “will have a great impact on helping residents
self-manage their diabetes, prevent related complications and
increase the number of Healthy Ohioans across the Appalachian
region.”
- 30 -
News for
the week of Nov
19 –
Dec 24
