Diabetes Health Fair
Saturday, August 13 2005, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m

Diabetes is a serious health problem. It affects many people. Yet, some groups of people are at higher risk. It affects overweight and older people more often. It is more common in some ethnic groups too. To learn about other things that increase your risk, click here. Once you know these, you can take the right steps to stay healthy.

If you have diabetes, you can prevent or delay complications by keeping it under control. Follow a healthy eating plan, exercise and take the medicines your doctor prescribes. Talk to your doctor about other things you can do. To learn more, click here. Diabetes can damage your nerves, eyes and kidneys. This can lead to amputations, blindness and kidney failure. Diabetes also increases your risk for having a heart attack and stroke.

Many people do not know they have diabetes or that they are at risk. That is why at Care1st, we try to inform the community about the seriousness of this disease. Every year we have a Diabetes Fair. We screen people for diabetes and provide helpful information to those who have it. This year, we held our fair in Long Beach. We invited our members and the community to attend.

	Bilingual diabetes experts were on hand to give information and answer questions. We gave many brochures on diabetes complications. Some of the attendees did not have diabetes but had family members with it. They were glad to take them brochures.
	We offered free health screenings and samples of products helpful to people with diabetes. We offered blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol and body fat tests.
	After each test, people received tips on staying healthy. Those with abnormal test results received detailed advice from the experts.
	We also gave free samples of hand lotion, cereal and sweeteners. We were able to offer these screenings and samples thanks to the support we received from many companies.
	We were pleased to offer a healthy cooking demonstration. Staff from the CA 5-Day program showed how to prepare a healthy dish.
	People were then able to sample the dish and get the recipe. Attendees were also treated to Subway sandwiches
	To entertain children we had a magic show and balloon animals.
	Both children and adults enjoyed our “Wheel of Health” game. They received a prize after spinning the wheel and answering a nutrition question correctly.