Dillon Family Medicine, the Dillon County Free Medical Clinic, and Dillon Internal Medicine are launching pre-diabetes prevention classes at each of their locations.
Dr. Timothy Fitzgibbon of Dillon Family Medicine said that diabetes has become an epidemic in our nation, state, and county and ducktails with the obesity epidemic. He encourages the public to see if they meet the criteria (see chart) and see if they fall into the “pre-diabetic” category. He said the purpose is not to scare anyone, and the program is non-confrontational.
Statistics show more than 86 million Americans have prediabetes and many do not even know it – that is about one in three adults. Approximately 15-30 percent of those who have prediabetes will develop Type 2 diabetes within five years if they do not take steps to intervene.
Having prediabetes means your blood glucose (sugar) levels are higher than normal-but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Prediabetes can lead to heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes. Prediabetes can often be reversed.
With type 2 diabetes, your body cannot properly use insulin (a hormone that helps glucose get into the cells of the body). You can get type 2 diabetes at any age, but you are at higher risk if you are older, overweight, have a family history of diabetes, are not physically active, or are a woman who had gestational diabetes.
Gestational diabetes is a kind of diabetes that some women get when they are pregnant. Even if a woman’s blood sugar levels go down after her baby is born, she is at higher risk of getting type 2 diabetes later in life.
With type 1 diabetes, your body cannot make insulin, so you need to take insulin every day. Type 1 diabetes is less common than type 2 diabetes; about 5 % of the people who have diabetes have type 1. Currently, no one knows how to prevent type 1 diabetes,” according to the centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Who is at risk? According to the CDC, “If you have these risk factors, you may be at higher risk than others for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.
•  You are overweight.
•  You are 45 years of age or older.
•  Your parent or sibling has type 2 diabetes.
•  You are physically active fewer than 3 times per week.
•    You ever gave birth to a baby that weighed more than 9 pounds.
•   You ever had diabetes while pregnant (gestational diabetes).
Race and ethnicity also affect your risk. African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, Pacific Islanders, and some Asian Americans are at particularly high risk for type 2 diabetes.”
The program is the National Diabetes Prevention Program which focuses on changing the participant’s lifestyle, according to Wendy Martin, LPN, Chronic Care Coordinator at Dillon Family Medicine.
Angelique Rutledge Wallace, the Lifestyle Coach who will be teaching the program at Dillon Family Medicine, said this is not a ‘weight loss” program, but a “lifestyle” program that will help participants make changes that will improve their health. This program can help reduce the chances of getting type 2 diabetes.
The program lasts one year. The classes meet once a week for 16 weeks and then once a month.
Wallace said one cannot get all the tools in the first week and then do it on their own. Each week information will be brought out on how to work toward the lifestyle goals. There will be incentives, and they will celebrate successes. They will promote fitness and moving more and how to utilize places such as the wellness center and local parks.
Wallace said they encourage the “buddy system,” and those who participate are asked to bring along a buddy.
The program is sponsored by DHEC and Eat Smart, Move More.
At Dillon Family Medicine, the classes are free and one does not have to be a Dillon Family Medicine patient as long as they meet the criteria. The classes at Dillon Family Medicine will begin May 2nd and will be held from 6:00-7:00 p.m. on Mondays. Classes will start promptly at 6:00 and will end on time.
If you would like to participate, please contact Wendy Martin at Dillon Family Medicine at 843-774-7336.
A lifestyle change program such as the one being offered focuses on the long-term, designed to have “long term changes and lasting results.”
According to the CDC, “ A CDC-recognized lifestyle change program is a structured program-in person or online-developed specifically to prevent type 2 diabetes. It is designed for people who have prediabetes or are at risk for type 2 diabetes, but who do not already have diabetes.
A trained lifestyle coach leads the program to help you change certain aspects of your lifestyle, like eating healthier, reducing stress, a getting more physical activity. The program also includes group support from others who share your goals and struggles.” The hope is to prevent type 2 diabetes among the participants. When there are fewer cases of Type 2 diabetes, there are lower health care costs and more productive citizens and employees. Consider this from the CDC: “Prediabetes and type 2 diabetes are growing concerns for America’s workforce, affecting the health and quality of life of millions of U.S. adults and costing employers and insurers billions of dollars each year in lost productivity and medical expenses. Lifestyle change programs have been shown to cut a person’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes in half and reduce the risk of serious conditions associated with prediabetes.”
Intervention now can prevent type 2 diabetes and other serious health complications later.

Dillon County Free Medical Clinic
At the Dillon County Free Medical Clinic, the National Diabetes Prevention Program will begin May 10 at 6:30 p.m. It will meet on Tuesday nights at the Free Medical Clinic located at 310 east Washington Street in Dillon. It is a year long program. Classes meet weekly for the first sixteen weeks and then monthly for the remainder of the year. One must pre-register for the class; registration ends April 29th. It is open to anyone who is prediabetic with referral from doctor or positive result on the CDC Prediabetes screening form. “The Clinic has been recognized as a National Diabetes Prevention Program provider by the Center for Disease Control and are listed in the national database for NDPP providers that is maintained by the CDC. We have begun the 2 year process to obtain full certification from the CDC,” said Ernest Barrentine, director. “We currently serve more than 400 patients in Dillon County.”
There is a small charge for the class. To enroll or for more information about this class at the Free Medical Clinic, please call Ernest Barrentine at 843-774-4241.
Barrentine shared the following information about the Free Medical Clinic. The following is verbatim: The Dillon County Free Medical Clinic is a faith based non-profit organization committed to providing quality medical care to the indigent uninsured population of Dillon County and surrounding community.
If the following applies to you, you may be eligible for free healthcare at the clinic.
• You are a Dillon County resident.
•  You are between the ages of 19 and 64.
•  Your household income is at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level.
•   You do not have insurance – private, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.
You must apply for services at the Dillon County Free Medical Clinic. Applications must be done in person and are only done on the following days and times.
Tuesday-3:00 p.m-6:00 p.m.
Wednesday-2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
Appointments are not necessary to complete the application.
You will need the following items in order to complete your application. The clinic cannot render medical care and treatment until your application is complete.
•  Proof of all household income
•  A photo ID with your current address
•  Social Security Card
•  DSS household summary if you are receiving SNAP benefits
• Rent receipt if you are paying rent for your place of residency
•  A utility bill if your address on your ID does not match your physical address
If you need additional information, please contact the Clinic.
Dillon County Free
Medical Clinic
310 E. Washington Street
Dillon, SC 29536

Dillon Internal
Medicine
Dillon Internal Medicine has been asked to participate in two federally recognized programs with SC DHEC.  The first is the SC DHEC National Diabetes Prevention Program.  The goal of this two-year program is to help participants with prediabetes make lifestyle changes to lose weight through healthy eating and active living.   “We will never get a handle on the complications of diabetes until we get a handle on the obesity in the community,” Dr. James P. Wallace.  The program is led by our trained lifestyle coaches, Sharon Rowell and April Davis, who will motivate and build on group dynamics to encourage participants to make healthy behavior changes for life.  Sharon and April attended a two-day lifestyle training course in Florence to prepare for the classes we will offer to our patients and the community.  Dillon Internal Medicine is thrilled to be a part of this program that can potentially prevent these individuals from acquiring this serious disease.  If you are interested in participating at our office, please contact Sharon Rowell at 843-774-2478,  ext. 234.
The second program is SC PHASE (Prevention and Health Across Systems and Environment) which will help reduce the complications, burden and disability caused by hypertension and diabetes in educating and assisting our patients in self monitoring and medication adherence.  With the use of our practice EHR for care plan oversight and measuring quality we will be able to continue tracking patient compliance. This program supports the practice team based PCMH model, policies and procedures in the care of prediabetes and diabetes with physician and non-physician team members.  At the end of the program we will become recognized as a Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP) practice.  The physicians at Dillon Internal Medicine, Dr. James P. Wallace and Dr. James J. Kelly achieved NCQA DRP (Diabetes Recognition Program) recognition and this program supports the goals we continue to work on for our diabetes population.