The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On a mission to help people control diabetes
‘I felt like I was stuck having to take three or four shots a day (for) the rest of my life.’
Wendy Norris Type 2 diabetic
In a former church parsonage in Grundy County, Tennessee, Karen Wickham ladled out her lentil stew as people arrived for an evening health education class.
Wickham and her husband, Steve, are whitehaired, semiretired nurses who have dedicated the last years of their working lives to helping people with Type 2 diabetes control and even reverse the condition with diet and exercise.
Wendy Norris is in the group, and she has brought along her father and daughter. Since her diagnosis several years ago, Norris said, her doctor prescribed insulin shots and told her to watch what she ate.
She recalled thinking at the time, “Well, what does that mean?”
The Wickhams have set out to answer that question in Grundy County, which ranks lowest on the scale of residents’ health. Grundy’s population of 13,000 has the shortest life expectancy in the state and an elevated rate of diabetes (16% of adults), which can eventually result in blindness, kidney failure or amputations.
Norris said trying to overhaul her diet by herself was confusing and difficult. And when things didn’t change, the doctor just kept increasing her dosage of insulin.
“I felt like I was stuck having to take three or four shots a day (for) the rest of my life,” she said. She enrolled in one of the sixweek seminars the Wickhams offer and is seeing results in how many shots she needs: “I’ve got it down to one already.”
With slide presentations, the Wickhams explain the difference between sucrose and glucose, and the science behind the fact that certain foods, like potatoes, spike blood sugar, while sweet potatoes don’t. They preach eating as much fiber as a stomach can stand and dropping almost every kind of sweetened beverage.
During one education session, as participants shared their latest health stats, Steve called out: “Her blood sugar is going down! Give her a hand.”
If it sounds like a revival meeting, it kind of is. Steve and Karen Wickham say they are compelled in this work by their Christian faith as Seventh-day Adventists — a denomination known for a focus on health. They first moved to Grundy County to take care of ailing parents, and once settled in their scenic mountain retreat, they grew disturbed by the suffering they saw in their neighbors.
“I think God holds us responsible for living in the middle of these people and doing nothing,” Steve Wickham said.
Many people think of Type 2 diabetes as practically incurable, though it has long been known that the condition can be reversed with weight loss and exercise. But research shows people need lots of help to change their lifestyle, and they rarely get it.
“Nobody, actually, will make all of the lifestyle changes that we recommend,” Steve said. “But if you’re making the kind of choices that lead you to a healthier lifestyle, then you get better.”