Donations pour in for reservation Diabetes Center
HOGANSBURG — The much-dreamed-about Diabetes Center for Excellence is one large step closer to becoming a reality for residents of the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation.
The Akwesasne Housing Authority is donating more than $1 million to the Let's Get Healthy program, a division of the tribe's Health Services Department that works with diabetes patients on the reservation. The donations come in part from the Housing Authority's 25th anniversary celebration, which also was a fundraiser for the proposed Diabetes Center. Health Services still needs to raise about $5 million to make the center a reality.
"We were proud to do this event," said Retha M. Herne, executive director of the Housing Authority. "I think we reached our goal of spreading awareness about the disease of diabetes."
The celebration, a black-tie event with performances by professional dancing troupes, attracted 300 people and raised more than $15,000 to go to Let's Get Healthy for the proposed diabetes treatment facility.
The Housing Authority also received $3 million in grants from the federal government to expand the Sunrise Acres development, which now has 20 units for low-income residents and the elderly. That award freed more of the authority's money for other causes, $1 million of which was promised to the Diabetes Center as well, according to Ms. Herne.
The St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Council promised an additional $30,000 to the center during the celebration, which was earlier this month.
The money will be used to build a diabetes treatment and education center on the reservation. Diabetes affects approximately 13 percent of the reservation's residents, according to Janine M. Rourke, director of the Let's Get Healthy program. The disease occurs much more frequently in American Indian and Alaska native populations than in whites. Approximately 16.5 percent of native populations have been diagnosed with the disease, as opposed to 6.6 percent of non-Hispanic whites, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Exercise and education classes on the reservation are gaining in popularity and available spaces are inadequate, Mrs. Rourke said. Often, 20 to 30 people sign up for an exercise class when the space, in a renovated lumber yard, can accommodate only 15, and more new patients sign up for education classes every week, she said. Those classes are held three miles away from the lumberyard.
To address the problem, Let's Get Healthy has been raising money for the past three years for a diabetes treatment center.
Before the black-tie dinner/dance, the program had raised only $120,000; it needs $6.8 million to build its envisioned center, Mrs. Rourke said.
The building will be constructed in phases and include an indoor track, classrooms, a pool and kitchens to teach patients about healthy menu choices.
Though there are preliminary drawings of what the center could look like, there is a lot of fundraising to be completed first.
"At this point, it's just paperwork and see what comes across our desk," Mrs. Rourke said. "We're still hoping to begin (construction) next year. There's not one big purse, so we're trying to tap into lots of little purses."
