Diabetes clinic tastes sweet success

BY JOYCE SHELBY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, January 8th 2008, 4:00 AM

Nursing coordinator Johnie Owens-Turner (r.) shows diabetics how to make a healthy salad with the help of nutritionist Enid Knight at the Bedford Stuyvesant Family Health Center.

It's a record any health clinic director would be proud of, and Ulysses Kilgore is no exception.
The president of the Bedford Stuyvesant Family Health Center says over the last 20 years not a single patient who completed the center's diabetes education class has lost a limb to the disease.
"Our patients lose weight, not their limbs," said Kilgore. "When they come to us, it's not just for a prescription. They come for tools so they can manage their disease."
About 700,000 adult New Yorkers were estimated to have diabetes in 2004, according to city Health Department statistics. More than half were black or Hispanic.
At any given time, the center has between 400 and 500 diabetes patients in its registry, Kilgore said. All are invited to take a free, six-week course, and many patients have, along with community leaders and people who have relatives with diabetes.
Poor food choices, obesity and lack of exercise all can lead to complications of the disease.
"But if you take the time to learn, you can have a much better quality of life," said Johnie Owens-Turner, the health center's director of nursing and a diabetes educator. "We give concrete information so people will have concrete results."
Owens-Turner teaches the course with a physician, a nutritionist and peer educators.
The approach is hands-on, Owens-Turner said. Simple, easy-to-read materials are given out and all are reviewed in class. To be sure everyone knows how to check their blood daily, demonstrations are done in class.
To demystify what can be done to improve diets, Owens-Turner takes students to the grocery store, where they read labels and learn to be on the alert for products that have transfats or high amounts of sodium or carbohydrates.
In the center's kitchen, nutritionist Enid Knight and the students whip up and eat tasty meals using fresh foods seasoned with herbs, spices and homemade dressings.
The course also stresses exercise and relaxation.
"If we reverse the things that have contributed to the problem, we can reverse the problem," Owens-Turner said. "But we do not expect our students to do this alone."
Harold Williams, 79, of Brownsville, has had diabetes for 14 years. He said he welcomed the class.
"I've learned a lot about what I should eat," Williams said as he polished off a salad he had helped make. "And I keep myself walking and dancing so I don't get weak."
Miriam Borell of Bergen Beach has had diabetes for 15 years.
"I've learned to steam and bake foods instead of frying them. I use less salt and my glucose levels have gone down," she said. "I feel much happier and healthier."
For more information about the class, call (718) 636-4500, ext. 140.