Get free screenings for blood pressure, glucose, body mass index (BMI), COPD, Bioimpedance iTOVi, and body fat percentage on Thursday, November 8, from 9 a.m.-Noon. Saline Health System in Benton will host its annual Diabetes Health Fair in the Saline Health Education Building (the entry left of the main entrance). Diabetes-related products and information will be available and distributed.
In addition to screenings, informative seminars and screenings will be offered free of charge to participants. At 10 a.m., dietetic interns from the University of Central Arkansas will present a class on healthy holiday eating. At 10:30 a.m., UAMS dietetic interns will discuss healthy cooking tips. At 11am, Donette Spann of the Arkansas Beef Council will provide a cooking demo and food sampling.
According to the American Diabetes Association, approximately 363,781 people in Arkansas, or 14.8% of the adult population, have diabetes. Of these, an estimated 75,000 have diabetes but don’t know it, greatly increasing their health risk.
In addition, 797,000 people in Arkansas, 36.4 percent of the adult population, have prediabetes with blood glucose levels higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Every year an estimated 25,000 people in Arkansas are diagnosed with diabetes.
Diabetes and prediabetes cost an estimated $3.1 billion in Arkansas each year. The serious complications include heart disease, stroke, amputation, end-stage kidney disease, blindness – and death.
Call (501) 776-6051 for more information or visit salinememorial.org.