(20-March-2005) "Louisiana has the nation's worst death rate when it comes to diabetes, and many people don't even know they have it."
That somber warning is part of a 30-second public service announcement to promote "Operation Diabetes," a Xavier University College of Pharmacy-sponsored initiative aimed at increasing public awareness of diabetes.

A shorter 10-second spot says, "If you can learn to manage diabetes, you can live with it."

"Operation Diabetes" is a free community health fair that will he held 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at Lakeside Shopping Center in Metairie.

The event will include free blood pressure and blood sugar screenings and cooking demonstrations on eating and planning healthy meals.

Professional pharmacists, doctors and Xavier pharmacy students will be on hand to educate the public about the seriousness of diabetes and the importance of monitoring and managing the disease with medicine.

"The goal of Operation Diabetes is education," said Dr. Adrienne Allen, the program's coordinator and a clinical assistant professor at Xavier.

"If we can educate people, increase their awareness of diabetes and how to manage the disease, we can absolutely reduce diabetes complications and deaths."

In Louisiana, which has the country's highest per capita death rate from diabetes, roughly 208,000 adults have been diagnosed with diabetes, Allen said.

Diabetes also is the leading cause of foot and leg amputations, blindness and kidney failure, she said. Information will be available at the health fair on diabetes treatments, medications, exercise and foot care.

Allen said the incidence of diabetes is especially alarming in the black community.

The state Department of Health and Hospitals' Louisiana Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System reports that black people are 50 percent more likely to have diabetes than white people.

The risk of developing diabetes increases with age, Allen said, and about 25 percent of black people with diabetes are over the age of 45.

Research shows that, if diabetics control their blood sugar, diabetes complications can be reduced or even prevented, Allen said. Even though about a third of the people with diabetes in Louisiana are on insulin, fewer than half of them check their blood sugar levels daily, she said.

Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans says that, while 13 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes, there are another 5 million who are unaware they have the disease.

Xavier's College of Pharmacy is one of two pharmacy schools in Louisiana. It ranks first in the nation in the number of doctor of pharmacy degrees awarded to black people, and since 1927 it has graduated nearly one-fourth of the 6,500 black pharmacists practicing across the country.