Diabetes sufferers living better through Lake County program

A year-old Lake County Health Department program designed to help diabetes patients manage the disease has participants living healthier.

Some clients of the Be Well Lake County effort have lost significant weight. Some have quit smoking. Others have seen their blood-pressure readings drop into healthy ranges.

North Chicago resident Chester Williams IV is among the success stories. Diagnosed with diabetes about seven years ago, the 49-year-old Williams joined the program after a March heart attack.

"I didn't know how to take care of myself," he said. "Everything was out of whack."

Calling himself "a work in progress," Williams is on his way to a healthier lifestyle because of the program. He's already lost more than 10 pounds, he said.

"The biggest thing I have to learn is to eat less, and to stop eating at a certain time (of night)," Williams acknowledged.

Diabetes, a chronic disease marked by high levels of sugar in the blood, affects more than 23 million people in the United States. More than 7 percent of Lake County's adult population has confirmed cases of diabetes, according to Be Well Lake County statistics.

If unmanaged, diabetes can cause heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and other potentially deadly health problems.

The health department teamed with Evanston-based NorthShore University HealthSystem - a group that includes Highland Park Hospital - to launch the Be Well Lake County program in March 2009.

Based at the North Chicago Community Health Center, the bilingual effort has targeted that city because many of its residents have little access to healthy foods, inadequate access to health care, improper nutrition education and neighborhoods that, due to crime, discourage outdoor physical activity, health department Executive Director Irene Pierce said.

Most clients are from North Chicago and Waukegan, but participation is not limited to those cities, health department spokeswoman Leslie Piotrowski said.

Be Well Lake County provides physician visits, assistance with medication and testing supplies, self-management education, exercise programs and peer support. Clients also can meet with medical specialists to address the serious complications the disease can cause.

Williams and other clients got together last week for a nutrition class. Led by registered dietitian Michele Nord, they talked about the importance of exercise, eating small portions of food and other aspects of diabetes maintenance.

Participant Louise Johnson said she joined the program to improve her health by learning which foods she should eat and which she should avoid. It seems to be working.

"I've lost 7 pounds since April," said Johnson, a North Chicago resident who was diagnosed with diabetes 13 years ago.

Of the 328 Be Well Lake County patients who were treated the first year, 87 came back for additional clinic visits. Of those, officials said:

• Four lost more than 10 pounds.

• Three quit smoking.

• 67 reached blood-pressure results in the normal range.

"It seems like people are very motivated and they are concentrating on getting better," Piotrowski said. "It is very impressive."

The county's health center clients typically are on Medicaid or Medicare or are uninsured, Piotrowski said. For Be Well Lake County, uninsured patients are charged on a sliding scale based on a patient's ability to pay and family size, she said.

Although the program is open to all Lake County residents, the community health centers aim to serve people lacking access to private-sector health insurance, Piotrowski said. She encouraged people who are fully insured to seek diabetes-related services elsewhere.

Organizers of the program have talked about expanding, Piotrowski said, but no details have been made public.

To learn more about Be Well Lake County, visit northshore.org/community-events/community/be-well-lake-county.aspx.