Rector Diabetes Center Dedication set for Nov. 17

PARSONS, Kan., Nov. 5, 2009 – Dedication ceremonies for the new Rector Diabetes Education and Resource Center on the Labette Health campus will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17. The Center, established with a goal of halting the spread of diabetes and improving the lives of those who are affected by it, is the only such facility located in a rural community in the United States.

Among those attending the dedication ceremonies will be Peter Savage, M.D., senior scientific advisor in the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases of the National Institutes of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) in Bethesda, Md. NIDDK is part of the National Institutes of Health.

Other federal, state and local officials have been invited to attend, as well as representatives of Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. Children’s Mercy physicians and staff worked with the project’s medical director, Parsons pediatrician Manish Dixit, M.D., in developing plans for the Rector Center and Children’s Mercy Endocrinologists Wayne Moore, M.D., and L. Kurt Midyett, M.D., conduct a monthly pediatric clinic at Labette Health.

Housed in a 2,000-square-foot building funded by a grant from Parsons residents Jacque and Kelly Rector to the Labette Health Foundation, the Rector Center includes a library with interactive kiosks, a classroom area and a demonstration kitchen. The Center will serve as a focus for diabetes-related educational activities, including support groups for diabetics, nutrition- and fitness-related programs for area school children and families, medical education for health care providers and training for area teachers and school nurses.

In addition to coordinating its education programs, Center Director Shellie Collins, R.N., C.P.F.T., is currently leading screening teams in compiling body-mass index statistics on several hundred area children in grades two through five. A pilot study a year ago showed higher-than-average levels of obesity, which has been shown to be a factor in the onset of type 2 diabetes later in life.

 The Rectors were inspired by their grandson, Rhett May, who was diagnosed at age two with type 1 diabetes. Rhett, the son of Ron and Angie May of Lawrence, is now an active seven-year-old who controls his condition with an insulin pump.

Diabetes is a condition in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone that is needed to convert sugars, starches and other nutrients to energy. In Type 1, known as juvenile diabetes because it is commonly diagnosed in children, the body does not produce insulin. Type 2 diabetes, a condition in which the body either does not produce enough insulin or is unable to recognize it, is increasingly common and has been associated with obesity, lack of exercise and other lifestyle issues.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics, the prevalence of diabetes diagnosed among Southeast Kansas adults over the age of 20 in Labette County is 9 percent, with Montgomery, Neosho and Wilson close behind at 8.9 percent. In 2004 alone, the direct and indirect cost of diabetes in Kansas was an estimated $1.4 billion, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s Division of Health.