Faculty EmailMarch 11, 2009
PVAMU's Project DEAP Educates Communities
Several citizens gathered early February 20 in the Sunnyside Community Center located outside of Houston for Prairie A&M University’s Cooperative Extension Project DEAP Walk-A-Thon and Health Fair.
Project DEAP (Diabetes Education Awareness Prevention) empowers individuals and families affected by diabetes to adopt healthier lifestyles.
“This is an annual event which is usually held on the campus of Prairie View, but this year we decided to have an area Walk-a-Thon to make it more accessible to the communities,” Carolyn Perkins-Frank, health coordinator, Cooperative Extension Program said. “This year, we held the Walk-a-Thons in Harris, Travis and Bell counties, and also had a Tri-County event for Waller, Grimes and Washington counties.
The purpose of the Project DEAP Walk-a-Thon and health fair events was to provide education and information about one of the silent killers among African-Americans-- diabetes.”
“I don’t think anyone can say they don’t know somebody or are not related to someone who has diabetes,” Patricia Spikes, Harris County DEAP advisor and committee chair, said. “One of the greatest enemies of ours as a people is lack of education about things.”
The importance of education, nutrition, exercise and medications to control the disease were some key points discussed at the event.
“We’re going to look and talk about things that are caused by diabetes like blindness, amputations, kidney disease, and complications that lead to heart disease,” Spikes said.
At the Harris County event, Garvin H. Davis, M.D., Ophthalmologist, University of Texas Health Science Center, held a discussion titled The “Eyes” Have It. In this discussion he talked about what affect diabetes has on the eyes.
“This disease affects us (African-Americans) more than anybody else,” Davis said. “My main focus today is to tell you what I see when I look into the eye, and to just tell and show you what diabetes does to the eye,”
Following the discussion some warm-up exercises were held before the actual Walk-a-Thon. The citizens enjoyed the exercises and 45 minutes to an hour walk.
“I enjoyed this very much,” Joyce Smith, a participant said.
Although an allotted time was set for the walk, there was no rush or pressure for the citizens to walk under a certain time.
“We had 45 minutes to an hour time frame set, but we encouraged individuals to walk at their own pace,” said Perkins-Frank.
After the walk, agency presentations were held along with two food demonstrations.
“I enjoyed every bit of the event and I’m feeling good,” Oscar Davis, a participant said.
The crowd seemed to be pleased as well as Texas State Representative, District 146, Al Edwards.
“This is great.” Edwards said. “I thank the city of Houston, the individuals at Sunnyside Community Center , the Prairie View A&M University Cooperative Extension Program and all these great volunteers who helped put on this very successful health fair.”
For video clips and images from this event and more, visit our Cooperative Extension Program Photo Gallery.
Writer: Nastashia Matlock – PVAMU Communications Major
Photo and Video Taken By: LaRachelle Smith
Daniels Selected for 2009-10 Class of Food Systems Leadership Institute Fellows