New diabetes center opens in Brooklyn
EAST FLATBUSH, Brooklyn (PIX11) – Nov. 14 is World Diabetes Day, and November is Diabetes Awareness Month. A new diabetes center has opened up in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. They have recruited people who have diabetes to volunteer to help others, saving lives in their community.
Located right off Eastern Parkway is a new state-of-the-art diabetes center. It’s a real victory for the neighborhood. The peer leaders are the secret to the success there. Their volunteers live with diabetes and know what it’s like to fight it and win.
Rodney Murreld, 63, from East Flatbush, still remembers the day he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, 14 years ago. It was a life-changing moment. Murreld says the diagnosis changed his lifestyle. He now checks his blood sugar levels three times a day.
Murreld changed his diet and started walking. He began to see results almost immediately.
Murreld is healthy now and wants to give back by sharing his experience.
Murreld is part of a new volunteer team at the new diabetes center of excellence at the Pierre Toussaint Family Health Center.
He is one of 16 new peer leaders who are trained and ready to lead a diabetes self-management education class for six weeks.
More than 37 million Americans live with diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. People with diabetes are at higher risk of developing other serious health complications, including cardiovascular disease, dementia and severe COVID-19.
This new center will also give patients access to endocrinologists, health coaches, and exercise and nutrition counseling.