SALINAS, CA (October 2014) — The Diabetes Education Center (DEC) at Natividad Medical Center will celebrate American Diabetes Month November 14th, themed this year as “America Gets Cooking to Stop Diabetes”. The event coincides with World Diabetes Day, which this year marks the first of a 3-year focus on healthy living and diabetes, with its theme "Diabetes: Protect Our Future”.

Save the Date of November 14th:
There will be an information booth inside of the main lobby of building 200-Out Patient Services where anyone can come and pick up diabetes information.
· November 14th
· 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
· NOTE: There will be no diabetes testing on this date

Diabetes education is a collaborative process through which people with or at risk for diabetes gain the knowledge and skills needed to modify behavior and successfully self-manage the disease and its related conditions. Services are provided by diabetes educators.

The Facts on Diabetes:

Monterey County Adults:
· 9.7% with diabetes (compare: 8.4% for CA)
· 10.1% adults with borderline or pre-diabetes
· (source: CA Health Interview Survey-UCLA, 2011-2012 data)

At Natividad Medical Center:
· Approximately 25-30% of our inpatients at any given time have diabetes.
· Approximately 12 – 15% of the women hospitalized to deliver babies have gestational diabetes.

The Diabetes Education Center at Natividad Medical Center
· 391 unique patients/589 total patient visits for the period of 7/1/13 – 6/30/14
· Quality: Have seen a 10% decrease in Hemoglobin A1C for patients who completed our program during the period 7/1/13 – 6/30/14.
· Awareness/education activities: Held annual Diabetes Awareness Month event 11/14/13 and Diabetes Alert Day event 3/25/14.

Prevention:
Recognizing the need to continue to focus on the prevention of diabetes in the at-risk population the hospital serves, the Natividad Medical Foundation sought and received in the summer of 2013 a renewal of its successful "Impact" grant from the Community Foundation for Monterey County’s Dr. George & Sam Kih Thorngate Family Fund and Dr. Frank Pye Smith Medical Facilities Fund. The grant has funded a second year of community-based series of classes, "5 Steps to Prevent Diabetes/5 Pasos para Prevenir la Diabetes". The classes were held at sites throughout Monterey County from October, 2013 through September, 2014 and reached 119 participants with evidence-based, practical, diabetes prevention education, with an emphasis on nutrition and physical activity. With the "5 Steps" program again yielding highly positive results in the areas of increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and increased physical activity among its participants, the Community Foundation recently awarded Natividad Medical Foundation a third year of funding to continue this important prevention project.

About Natividad Medical Center
Natividad Medical Center is a Monterey County owned and operated 172 bed acute care hospital providing health care services to the people of the county for more than 127 years. Natividad Medical Center offers inpatient, outpatient, emergency, diagnostic and specialty medical care. NMC provides more than 34,000 patient days each year and more than 47,000 emergency department visits per year. NMC is ranked #1 in newborn deliveries in Monterey County. Natividad is the only teaching hospital on the Central Coast, through its affiliation with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). With a medical staff of more than 228 physicians, Natividad’s mission is to continually improve the health status of the people of Monterey County through access to affordable, high-quality health care services. Natividad is based in Salinas, California. For more information, please call 831-755-4111 or visit www.natividad.com.