(Bethesda, MD, June 5, 2006) - Suburban Hospital will present its first Latino Diabetes Symposium, “Camino al control…Pasos hacia un cambio saludable,” on Saturday, June 17, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. In addition to specially designed seminars to educate Latinos about diabetes, Suburban Hospital will debut a Latino Type II Diabetes Training Manual for health educators.

This program, which is made possible by a grant from the Quality Health Foundation, will promote awareness of diabetes among the Latino community and offer ways to care for the disease. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) estimates that more than 2.5 million Latinos over the age of 20 have Type II diabetes, with a large percentage of that going undiagnosed. Also, the ADA says Latinos are 1.7 times more likely to have the disease than non-Hispanic whites.

The Symposium presentations, which will be spoken in Spanish, will include “Diabetes and Your Heart,” by Dr. Ernesto Africano; “The ABC Steps to Control and Care for Your Diabetes,” by Registered Dietician Tanya M. Jonson; “Health and Flavor: Following a Health Diet,” by Dr. Osvaldo Gonzalez; and “Move to the Rhythm: Exercise and Diabetes” by Carmen Ching, CRNP.

The keynote speaker on heart-related issues, Dr. Ernesto Africano, worries about diabetes in the Latino community. “As a cardiologist, I am astonished by the high incidence of diabetes and obesity in my Hispanic patients,” he said. “With so many overweight Hispanic children and adolescents, diabetes is almost certain to increase among the younger age groups. Education is urgently needed for Hispanic families on how healthy eating and exercise will help them avoid obesity and diabetes and decrease their risk of heart disease.”

“We are honored to partner with Suburban Hospital to increase access to important diabetes education for Washington-area Latinos,” said Dr. Roger C. Merrill, chair of the Quality Health Foundation. “The Latino Diabetes Symposium will provide important information and screenings to help better manage this disease.”

The program is free, but registration is required. For more information or to register for the Latino Diabetes Symposium, call (301) 896-2244.

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Suburban Hospital is a not-for-profit, community-owned hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, that has served Montgomery County and the surrounding area for more than 60 years. The NIH Heart Center at Suburban Hospital brings the clinical and scientific excellence of the National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins Medicine to a community-based cardiac surgery program located in the heart of Bethesda.