Residents Invited To Weigh In On Type 2 Diabetes in Escambia County

March 5, 2019

On March 6, the Community Health Implementation Plan (CHIP) Workgroup is inviting the community to a public forum to discuss the root causes and solutions to type 2 diabetes in Escambia County. This is an opportunity for the community to get involved by contributing ideas, feedback, or resources to address the increasing diabetes burden in Escambia County.

The forum will be held Wednesday, March 6 at 10 a.m. in the West Florida Public Library Conference Room at 239 North Spring Street.

The CHIP workgroup was established in 2016, following the release of the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) to address issues surrounding healthy weight status and food access. This workgroup brings together community organizations and resources to develop actionable goals and objectives for addressing these health priorities in the community. With the new health priorities set in the 2019 CHNA, the focus of this group will be type 2 diabetes.

According to the Florida Department of Health in Escambia County, 16.4 percent of residents currently have type 2 diabetes, and 9.3 percent of residents have pre-diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is a condition in the body where sugar is not properly processed. If left untreated, it can lead to major medical issues, such as amputation and blindness. Pre-diabetes is a condition of elevated blood sugar, and if left untreated, can become type 2 diabetes.

Comments

One Response to “Residents Invited To Weigh In On Type 2 Diabetes in Escambia County”

  1. A momma on March 8th, 2019 9:18 am

    For starters they can start by making our kids exercise at school instead of letting them sit and talk. Including the P.E. teachers. If they gone teach and get paid for it, they need to be showing and teaching it. Stop letting people on food stamps buy soft drinks and junk food give them more money to buy fruit and vegetables. It sure does cost more to eat healthy than not. As a matter of fact ban them. If someone wants a French fry let them peel the potatoes, cut them then fry them or bake them. Tell these schools to stop giving it to them. Stop them from giving anything sweet.