The Conn. Health I-Team, (www.c-hit.org) in collaboration with ConnectiCare and the Hispanic Health Council, is hosting a panel discussion on Thursday, April 7, in Hartford, where experts will discuss the latest developments in early screening and treatment of diabetes and offer advice about how adopting a healthy lifestyle can help combat the disease.
Chef Jay Lewis
The free event, called “Beating Diabetes: Food, Fitness and Focus,” will include a social hour and food tasting starting at 5 p.m. featuring famed local chef Jay Lewis, who will present healthy foods choices.
Lewis, who was nominated as “best chef” in the state in 2012 by Hartford Magazine, has been a sous chef, as well as the banquet chef for the Goodwin Hotel. Among the chef’s foods offered for tasting during the event will be “Mini Chicken Apple Spinach Endive Leaves,” “Pan-Seared Fried Fish Bites,” and “Roasted Plantains With Chipotle Honey Dip.”
The “Beating Diabetes” panel discussion features experts on the disease, its causes and prevention. Panelists are: Dr. Robert M. Oberstein, an endocrinologist and medical director of Diabetes LifeCare at Hartford Hospital; Dr. Jorge Diez, an endocrinologist and internal medicine specialist at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center; Elizabeth Caffrey, a registered dietitian and educator at Diabetes LifeCare, Hartford Hospital; and Migdalia Texidor-Huertas, a nutrition educator and research assistant at the Hispanic Health Council.
“ConnectiCare is pleased to sponsor this much needed discussion about diabetes. We know that Hispanic and Latino people are at significant risk to develop diabetes in their lifetime. In Connecticut, Hispanics have a higher rate of diabetes (14.6 percent) than whites (6.7 percent). It’s important for people to learn how to manage diabetes so they can live well and their families can thrive,” said Dr. Wayne Rawlins, vice president, senior medical director at ConnectiCare. ConnectiCare, based in Farmington, will serve as the forum’s “Pulitzer” sponsor.
The event, moderated by Diane Alverio, publisher of CTLatino News, runs from 5-7:30 p.m. at the Chrysalis Center, 255 Homestead Ave., Hartford. Free on-site parking is available. Live Spanish translation will be provided.
In Connecticut, just under 9 percent of adults have been diagnosed with diabetes, while another 83,000 residents have prediabetes – but have not yet been diagnosed, according to the state health department. If untreated, prediabetes can turn into diabetes within 10 years. But if caught and treated through lifestyle changes, a prediabetic person’s blood glucose levels can return to normal.
The disease is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S., and its reach is broad, affecting more than 12.8% of Hispanics, 13.2% of blacks, and 7% of whites, according to the American Diabetes Association.
Register in advance here.
For information contact Lynne DeLucia at delucia@c-hit.org or call 203-215-6373.
