News

Bahamians took advantage of an opportunity to learn more about diabetes on Saturday, with over 600 people attending the ACE Diabetes Expo on November 14 at the New Providence Community Center. In addition, 58 healthcare professionals benefitted immensely from the ACE Diabetes healthcare professionals diabetes seminar, which occurred on November 13.

“Both were well-attended, we had a wide cross-section of the general public as well as healthcare professionals at the events,” said Dr. Graham Cates, who established ACE Diabetes in 2012 with his wife, Nurse Anita Cates, to address the overwhelming need in The Bahamas for diabetes awareness and the challenge of managing diabetes on a daily basis.

“The expo was extremely well-attended, we had a mixture of children and adults, it was fantastic to see all of the families that came out, the healthcare professionals that were there providing free health screenings, education and health promotion activities, they all gave us rave reviews about how excited they were to be a part of the event and how much traction they felt they got. They felt that the general public was ready to engage and talk to them.” Cates added.

“The two presenters at the seminar, Dr. Charles Diggiss and Dr. Janine Sanchez, did an excellent job. The information was extremely well-received by the healthcare professionals, they felt it was a great opportunity to learn more about children with diabetes, the management of those children, and also the unique role of bariatric surgery in the management of patients who are obese and have diabetes.”

Dr. Charles Diggiss, chief medical officer at Doctors Hospital and president/CEO of the MedNet Group of Companies, and Dr. Janine Sanchez, associate professor and director of pediatric diabetes at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, spoke at the seminar.

Diggiss spoke on the topic “Bariatric surgery and diabetes”. He focused on the question, “Why should I have a gastric restrictive procedure to control my diabetes and reverse my obesity?”

Sanchez, who has been involved in diabetes research, including immune studies, prevention studies, insulin trials and psychological treatment studies, addressed the topic of diabetes and teens.

The theme for the seminar was “Mission possible: Diabetes down”.

“Every year both events are growing, last year as a matter of comparison we had 400 at the expo we had 40 healthcare professionals at the seminar, so every year it is growing and we expect that to continue as people become more aware of what the event is about, Cates pointed out.

“It offers such informative sessions and great opportunities for interaction with others dealing with diabetes, as well as the wide spectrum of healthcare professionals that attend this event. If we go back to the foundation principle of why we founded ACE Diabetes, the need to reduce the burden of diabetes in The Bahamas, we recognized that there are three ways we could do this, awareness, compassion and education. The expo is really an awareness event for the general public, it looks at what is diabetes, how it is affecting people, and how we can take the necessary steps to prevent it and how to reduce the risks associated with the disease.

“The healthcare seminar speaks to the educational component. The feedback we received, from people who were there, people who have emailed us and commented on Facebook, it has been extremely positive,” noted Cates.

The Nassau Guardian
Health & Wellness section

Published November 17, 2015

Following the success of the ‘Get On Track’ Expos in the last couple of years, ACE Diabetes is set to launch ‘Mission Possible: Diabetes Down’ with a focus on prevention and management through healthy lifestyle choices.

This free event will be held on Saturday, November 14th from 10:00am to 2:00pm (World Diabetes Day) at the New Providence Community Center on Blake Road.

Online registration for the Expo is encouraged, with a chance to win a Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime phone provided by BTC – the drawing is only open to online registrants and early bird attendees. To pre-register visit www.acediabetes.org.

The event brings together a variety of experts and organizations within the community to present information on healthy living and wellness as wells as diabetes-related products and services.

There will be many fun games, plus free health screenings, including mini medical eye exams for glaucoma, cataracts, and other elements of diabetic eye disease. Also dental checks, and loads of prizes and giveaways throughout the expo.

At the end of the expo a grand raffle will be held and one lucky winner will receive an all-inclusive 3-day, 2-night stay at ANY Sandals resort.

“It isn’t just about diabetes,” said Anita Cates, a registered nurse, co-founder of ACE Diabetes and organizer of the Mission Possible Health Expo.

“The aim of this expo is to increase awareness about chronic illness and to help the community make better, healthier lifestyle choices. We want people to have fun as they talk with the experts and explore the wealth of resources and demonstrations.”

This year’s Expo highlights include the popular cooking demonstration by Chef Jacques Carlino of Blue Sail who will be preparing healthy and delicious Mediterranean cuisine. Club One will get the crowd moving with an energetic fitness and dance routine. In the greenhouse, Field to Fork Community Farm will take attendees back to their healthier cultural roots with a workshop on ‘Backyard Farming’. Field To Fork will also be presenting their craft-brewed/fermented beverages (ginger beer, turmeric tonic and kombuchas).

Attendees are invited to bring all their questions about diabetes, wellness and healthy living to the “Ask The Experts” session featuring Dr. Charles Diggiss, Chief Medical Officer of Doctors Hospital, and Dr. Janine Sanchez, Director of Pediatric Diabetes at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Sanchez will be addressing questions on diabetes in children and teenagers. Parents and young people are encouraged to attend and discuss with her their concerns about early warning signs, treatment and lifestyle.

ACE Diabetes was established in 2012 to address the overwhelming need for diabetes awareness, prevention and management in The Bahamas. Diabetes is a leading cause of blindness, stroke and heart disease, as well as severe forms of nerve diseases, dental problems, increased risk of infection, and complications in pregnancy.

Health care experts and staticians have estimated that approximately 50 percent of Bahamians live with Diabetes or some other chronic illness.

“The good news is that there are now more options then ever for management, prevention and healthy living,” said Dr. Graham Cates, president of ACE Diabetes. “We look forward to showing you how a healthier life is MISSION POSSIBLE!”

This event is made possible with the help of all the generous sponsors and contributors, with special thanks to major sponsors: Diabetes Education Network; Family Medicine Center; The Lyford Cay Club; BTC; Albany Resort; BAF Financial & Insurance (Bahamas) Ltd.; Accu-Chek; and Atlantic Medical.

The ‘Mission Possible: Diabetes Down’ expo is free and open to the public. It will be held on Saturday November 14th from 10:00am to 2:00pm at The New Providence Community Centre on Blake Road.

For more information visit http://www.acediabetes.org or call 702-9310.

Diabetes spares no organ, the eyes, the brain, the feet, the heart. You name it, and it can be affected. The disease is due to either the pancreas not producing enough insulin or the cells of the body not responding properly to the insulin produced. If left untreated, diabetes can cause a number of complications, some of them quite serious. Diabetes doubles the risk of cardiovascular disease, and about 75 percent of deaths in diabetics are due to coronary artery disease.

In 2005 the Communicable Disease Prevalence Study was conducted by the Ministry of Health. It showed that 6.7 percent of the local population, about 23,000 people, were pre-diabetic, and 9.2 percent, around 32,000 people, had diabetes.

According to figures released by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), in 2014 The Bahamas had 34,900 people with diabetes. The figures did not include those who are pre-diabetic.

“When we look at the world overall, The Bahamas is leading in the prevalence of diabetes in the entire world,” said Dr. Graham Cates, president of ACE Diabetes, which was established in 2012 to address the overwhelming need in The Bahamas for diabetes awareness and the challenge of managing diabetes on a daily basis.

“One of our strategies is through the ACE Diabetes Expo that will occur on November 14,” said Cates. “It is a free, public event, no charge for admission, it’s from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the New Providence Community Center. We will have over 50 healthcare professionals there providing free health information, free health screenings, eye examinations, dental examinations, foot examinations; there will also be prizes, giveaways, as a part of helping to increase awareness in terms of prevention and the management of diabetes in The Bahamas.

“The disease is multifactorial. We know that lifestyle is one of the leading causes of diabetes, but there is also the genetic predisposition. In The Bahamas we have a very high genetic predisposition, so you combine that with poor lifestyle choices, it’s like a time bomb. So when you talk about prevention through health promotion and health education, these are essential tools that unfortunately a lot of Bahamians are not aware of, or are not willing to make the necessary changes required to have a positive impact on their health,” noted Cates.

“You are talking about good nutrition practices. We have become a culture of fast food, it’s easy, it’s quick, it’s simple, but it’s high in carbohydrates, sugar and fat. We know that it has a negative impact on health and increases the risk of diabetes. Certainly the nutritional aspect is critical. We also know that physical activity has diminished locally and globally, because of job requirements, technology, the increase in transportation available, and the end result is increased incidence of obesity. As this continues to rise in The Bahamas, as well as globally, we will continue to see a high incidence of conditions like diabetes.”

ACE Diabetes was established in 2012 by Cates and his wife Anita Cates to address the overwhelming need in The Bahamas in regards to diabetes. It is a non-profit organization. “ACE” stands for “awareness, compassion and education”. Its goal is to reduce the burden of diabetes and its long-term complications in The Bahamas.

“One of our strategies is through the ACE Diabetes Expo that will occur on November 14,” said Cates. “It is a free, public event, no charge for admission, it’s from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the New Providence Community Center. We will have over 50 healthcare professionals there providing free health information, free health screenings, eye examinations, dental examinations, foot examinations; there will also be prizes, giveaways, as a part of helping to increase awareness in terms of prevention and the management of diabetes in The Bahamas. We feel that ACE Diabetes is poised to have a significant impact on this ever-growing problem through the expo. The other significant event we have going on is the healthcare professionals diabetes seminar on November 13. This is a continuing education component of ACE Diabetes.”

Dr. Charles Diggiss, chief medical officer at Doctors Hospital and president/CEO of the MedNet Group of Companies, and Dr. Janine Sanchez, associate professor and director of pediatric diabetes at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, will speak at ACE Diabetes’ third annual seminar for healthcare professionals.

Diggiss will speak on the topic “Bariatric surgery and diabetes”. Specifically, he will be focus on the question, “Why should I have a gastric restrictive procedure to control my diabetes and reverse my obesity?”

Sanchez, who has been involved in diabetes research, including immune studies, prevention studies, insulin trials and psychological treatment studies, will address the topic of diabetes and teens.

The theme for this year’s seminar is “Mission possible: Diabetes down”.

“I believe we can reduce the incidence of diabetes locally, but it will take a global approach through government, non-governmental organizations partnering together through public-private partnerships,” said Cates. A significant component of the disease is related to lifestyle and that is the area we need to emphasize in terms of prevention and management, and increase the scope of information available. I strongly believe we can reduce not only the overall number of people with diabetes, but also the burden of diabetes in those persons that have it,” he added.

Moving forward, ACE Diabetes wants to create a firm foundation for diabetes education throughout The Bahamas. “We would like to do this by using diabetes educators to get out into the community and get the message out about prevention and the management of diabetes,” said Cates. “These educators are specifically trained to deliver this message. As part of our continuing development, we would like to get more diabetes educators certified, access additional funding to be able to go out into the communities, the churches, civic and non-civic organizations, and not just Nassau but the Family Islands.

“For example we have partnered with One Eleuthera which does a lot of work on the island. We do a health symposium with them once a year. We did our third symposium in August and we have planned again for next year, so that is another event that we are involved in. We are committed to continuing the diabetes expo and see that grow, where we can bring in additional international speakers, we can collect scientific data locally that can be presented at the conference, and really help to elevate the information and resources available to healthcare providers within our community.”

The Nassau Guardian