Atlanta workers team up with Morehouse Medical to address diabetes
Employees with the city of Atlanta have been selected to participate in a Morehouse School of Medicine program aimed at providing a sustainable community-based approach for diabetes research and management through online coaching, diet and exercise.
The e-HealthyStrides program will train volunteers to serve as coaches who will work with city workers who have diabetes. They will use a Web-based application on health skills to improve self-management of diabetes that included advice on healthy eating, exercise, taking medication, reducing risks and developing coping skills.
Dr. Priscilla Pemu, an associate professor of clinical medicine at the Morehouse School of Medicine, is hoping to get at least 100 city workers enrolled in the program. Previously, more than 100 people joined the program through Big Bethel AME Church.
More than 25 million children and adults in the United States have diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association’s 2011 report. An additional 7 million are undiagnosed.
About the Author
Ernie Suggs is an enterprise reporter covering race and culture for the AJC since 1997. A 1990 graduate of N.C. Central University and a 2009 Harvard University Nieman Fellow, he is also the former vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists. His obsession with Prince, Spike Lee movies, Hamilton and the New York Yankees is odd.
