IN a pre-emptiove move to help thwart the diabetes epidemic from worsening on the island, the Bermuda Diabetes has announced the appointment of Sara McKittrick to the newly created position of diabetes educator. In this role, Mrs. McKittrick will be dedicating her time to both clinical and community education initiatives, which should not be confused with her previous role with the Diabetes Centre at the King Edward Memorial Hospital. The diabetes educator position, partly funded by the Argus Group, focuses more on prevention of diabetes within the community rather than solely attending to patients who already have the condition.

"We know the diabetes epidemic is on the rise and this new position shifts my focus to more prevention based initiatives. I'm still doing some clinical work in this job but the Diabetes Association felt that having somebody on board as an educator who's aim would be not only to help people with diabetes but to focus on preventing the condition through education programmes in the community.

"In no way do I really see what I'm doing as similar or in competition with what the Diabetes Centre (at the Hospital) is doing. My role serves as an adjunct, supporting what they are doing but with more of a community prevention based focus," said Mrs. McKittrick.

Joining the association in June, her first initiative in the new position was to run an education programme for a dozen adolescent boys who were identified as being at risk for developing Type II diabetes.

"My first big project was aboard the Spirit of Bermuda," she explained. "It was a new initiative, the very first of its kind just focusing on diabetes prevention. I felt I got more across to the boys there rather than in a traditional classroom setting. We had conversations while we were polishing the brass aboard the ship about the importance of eating breakfast every day - it was the off-the-cuff education that I believe really got to them. Being out there and having them captive for three days I think it was a great experience for all of us.

"And, we found some alarming results from that project. We screened all but two boys (who refused the test) on the boat and we found that one-third of them had high blood sugar levels and hypertension. So what does that represent? If we go into middle schools and screen 100 kids are we going to find that more than we think are heading down the road of diabetes? So I think the trip was worthwhile. I came back and thought 'wow, we needed to do that'. It was an eye opener for all of us and it shows the amount of work that has to be done to educate the public."

In addition to developing a camp in September focused solely on children with Type I diabetes, Mrs. McKittrick has also begun to make the rounds to local companies including Digicel, Deloitte & Touche and Liberty Mutual to provide lunch and teach seminars to their employees.

"The sessions are mostly about creating an awareness of how to make healthy lifestyle choices on a daily basis. A large part of the sessions is developed around correctly interpreting food labels, making people aware of the appropriate portion sizes with foods that they eat and making them aware of appropriate fat intake at meal and snack times. We've also been offering free blood sugar testing and blood pressure screenings and people seem to like that," Mrs. McKittrick said.

Mrs. McKittrick will also be working closely with the Healthy Schools Coordinator, Marie Beach to support programmes that Government is putting into place.

"I will be working very closely with Marie Beach to continue the focus in the schools to make everyone very aware of diabetes prevention in terms of healthy choices in vending machines, healthy lunch policies and more physical activity in school curriculums. We are continuing to support Marie Beach with any education that needs to be done in the schools as it relates to diabetes prevention and really reviewing and collaborating with her on the guidelines that they are recommending with the schools," she said.

While utilising her diabetes knowledge and past experience, Mrs. McKittrick's new role also allows her to immerse herself into the community she loves.

"I've always been inspired and found that I enjoy helping people," she explained. "I'm a people person and I love to feel that I can make a difference and make an impact. I've gotten a lot out of that. Making people understand or helping people live healthier lives with diabetes. So this new role just opens up a whole new door for me to do something on a bigger scale in terms of prevention. I am Bermudian. I'm very passionate about being Bermudian and helping our community come to grips with the impending epidemic of diabetes. Not just how it affects our adult population now but also how it will affect the next generation to come."

To contact Sara McKittrick about any of the Bermuda Diabetes Association's upcoming education initiatives and the September camp for children with Type I, she can be reached by calling 29-sugar (297-8427).