Local Impact - Alaska

Charlotte McConnell, Tlingit

SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) Lifestyle Balance and Diabetes Prevention Program

“We seriously need the Diabetes Prevention Program in our community. The longer it is here the more people it will help to prevent diabetes.”
- Charlotte McConnell

Through the Diabetes Prevention Program I found out I had pre-diabetes. I had also been told I had high cholesterol and blood pressure and they wanted to put me on pills but I didn’t want to take their pills. I wanted to lower my blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol with food and exercise. The Diabetes Prevention Program was there to help me get my blood sugar back to normal and improve my health without having to take pills, so I joined the program and started going to classes. The classes have really helped keep me on track. I’ve learned ways to eat less fat, and how to cook and prepare my meals in a more healthy way. I really like the positive changes that are now evident in my overall health. When I completed the program I stopped going to classes and found my cholesterol and blood pressure were starting to go up again. So, I came back to the program and I’m doing better now and my blood sugar is back in the normal range.

It is so important to have the Diabetes Prevention Program available to us because we are seeing more people with diabetes in our community. The diabetes staff are very helpful and they bring in professionals to explain things (sometimes scary things) about our health and diabetes. We also have the support of all the other participants working to prevent diabetes and be healthier. The stories everyone shares give us the courage we need to keep on doing the right things to be healthy and prevent diabetes.

Diabetes in Alaska

According to 2008 CDC data, approximately 31,000 people in Alaska – 6.9% of the state’s population – had diagnosed diabetes, and many of them suffer from serious diabetes related complications or conditions. In addition to the human toll diabetes places on people in Alaska, the financial burden diabetes places on the state’s health system is staggering – in 2007, the direct and indirect cost of diabetes in Alaska was approximately $419 million.

Stories & Progams