MidMichigan Medical Center Alpena Honors World Diabetes Day

In honor of World Diabetes Day, our very own MidMichigan Medical Center Alpena is taking more measures to maintain a healthy community.

“It’s a scary disease,” Diabetes Education Coordinator, Angela Soltysiak, RN, BSN said.

Those are the words that most would use to describe the chronic illness, diabetes.

“I think the biggest thing we can tell people is that they’re not alone. Lean on family, lean on friends. They have providers, they have us here at the diabetes center and we’re more than welcome to help them with whatever they’re struggling with,” she said.

This year’s theme is focusing on women and making sure they don’t become victims to the disease.

“There are almost 200 million women living with diabetes. By the year 2040 it’s projected to be over 300 million, that is a lot of people,” Soltysiak said.

Expecting mothers are most at risk.

“1 in 7 pregnancies are affected by gestational diabetes, which can affect the baby, and the baby’s outcome. It also predisposes mom to having diabetes later in life, like a 70 percent chance that she will develop diabetes later in life,” she said.

Offering more than just medicine, MidMichigan Medical Center Alpena is making sure that diabetics, and those on the verge of getting the disease stay on track with their goals.

“We offer individual appointments, and we offer group classes. Our group classes we do monthly, there are 4, 2 hours each. We do each class once a week for 4 weeks straight,” she said.

Pre diabetic and diabetic complications can be controlled if you follow key methods, and put in the work.

“I think the more we can educate people and the more we can get the word out there and say: “Hey this isn’t a death sentence, this is manageable and get educated and get your family educated and have them on board with you it can delay a lot of those complications,” Soltysiak said.