Albany town hall meeting held to tackle diabetes awareness

Dougherty County is ranked 3-percent higher than the national average of people diagnosed with diabetes.

City leaders hosted a town hall meeting Saturday to inform citizens of those numbers and hopefully make a difference.

Diabetes is one of the fastest growing diseases in the United States.

Specialists said that they are seeing more diagnosis of diabetes in South Georgia.

The purpose of the town hall was for people to leave with a better understanding of diabetes and how to prevent it.

"First off, know if you have diabetes," said Heather O'Connor, a registered nurse with the Phoebe Diabetes Resource Center. "If you have it, or if you're not sure, get tested for it. But if you do have diabetes, know what your blood sugars are, know what your A1C levels are. Be conscious of your food choices, get some daily exercise in, whatever that may be, something enjoyable that you'll want to do every day."

According to the American Diabetes Association, over 29 million Americans have diabetes.

Over 6 million people don't know they have it, and 85 million people are Pre-Diabetic.

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