Highlands County ranks 10th in diabetes

Don't take offense, but we've gotten older, we've gotten fatter, and now Highlands is the 10th most diabetic county in Florida.

Why is this happening to us?

"With type 2, it's lifestyle choices," said Debra Caruso, director of the wellness and diabetes programs at Highlands County Health Department. "You don't just wake up and then you have it."

Type 1 diabetics contract the disease as juveniles when their immune system destroys the B cells of the pancreas, which secrete insulin.

Type 2 diabetics often have mothers and brothers and cousins who are also diabetics, but they also engage in risky behaviors: they eat or drink too much, they eat the wrong kinds of food, they smoke, or they don't exercise.

"Diabetes is a prevention choice," Caruso said. "You can prevent or delay the onset."

Twelve percent of Highlands County citizens are diabetic, according to 2007data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. The highest counties were Union and Hardee, both with more than 13 percent. The national rate is 8.7 percent.

Age

Adult onset diabetes can start at any age. These days, obese juveniles are getting adult onset diabetes by age 12, according to weight-control specialist Dr. Howard Shapiro.

And it's becoming an epidemic, said local health department administrator Robert Palussek.

"One-third of everybody born in 2005 will have some form of diabetes," Shapiro told Time for the magazine's April 27 edition. He has written a book, "Eat & Beat Diabetes with Picture Perfect Weight Loss: The Visual Program to Prevent and Control Diabetes."

Type 2 diabetes usually presents itself later in life, said Elizabeth Rugg, executive director of Health Council of West Central Florida, from 40 to 58. And Highlands County has three times as many 65-plus seniors as the rest of the nation.

"Anytime you have 32 percent of your population over 62, you're going to see those types of conditions," Rugg said.

As we age, Rugg said, our bodies start shutting down.

"Your organs don't work as well," she said. One of those organs is the pancreas, which gets overworked after years of out-of-control eating.

Schools

Although South Beach is known for svelte bodies, the rest of Florida is more like the South, known for its beefy diet.

"One of our big concerns is that our children heavier too," Caruso said.

School-aged diabetics are a big enough problem that the Florida Legislature is addressing the matter. On Wednesday, Gov. Crist signed HB 747, which allows students to manage their own diabetes in class, on the bus, or during activities.

In some Florida school districts, that was a problem. School policies required that pills, insulin and sharp needles be brought to the office. In those districts, school nurses administered or supervised injections or pill distributions.

"We've never had that problem," said RN Barbara Moore, the school health coordinator. If children are old enough to adhere to the health management plan from their doctor, they are allowed to manage their own care in their classrooms.

Some students, as young as age 6, can test themselves and manage their insulin schedules.

Budget

The bigger problem, Rugg said, is access to health care. Highlands County has 169.4 doctors per 100,000 people, compared with 298 in the rest of Florida.

Also, Highlands citizens spend less money - about $3,100 - on health care than the rest for state.

"You have a relatively low median per capita income," Rugg said. When economics is a challenge, citizens tend to be uninsured and unable to afford prescription medications.

For the first time in the history of human beings, Caruso said, a generation has come along who won't live longer than their parents.