Cath Lab Digest

What Can Schools Do To Prevent Diabetes?
Dr. Satterfield recalls that Robert Trevino, MD, discovered many inner city elementary school children in San Antonio who already had type 2 diabetes or its precursor, impaired glucose tolerance. She says Dr. Trevino began an educational program in which kids earned points by exhibiting good habits, such as exercise and health knowledge, and then could “spend” points on items like toys, clothes or school supplies.
In her own childhood, Dr. Satterfield recalls the days before TV remote controls when kids had to walk across the room to change the channel. “There was no computer to entice us to spend hours surfing the Internet or playing games,” she recalls. “We had physical education classes. We also did not have vending machines in school. We did not have elevators in our schools. We walked to school.”
Dr. Satterfield notes that Lawrence Harkless, DPM, is committed to changing the attitude in schools in Texas. Most schools in the state had eliminated physical education, calling it expendable. She says Dr. Harkless, as the Chairman of the Texas Diabetes Council, has made it his mission to get kids moving again.
Dr. Satterfield feels kids could get healthier if they were motivated to exercise or participate in sports, or make healthy dietary choices. “Sure, we all go for the Coke and HoHos if given the choice but we have to be shown that maybe a Diet Coke and dried fruit are not so bad either,” she says.

In Brief
A track on pediatrics will be one of the featured events of the Midwest Podiatry Conference, which will be held at the end of this month in Chicago. The DuVries Memorial Pediatrics Track on April 27 will feature various pediatric topics, including abnormal gait, open and closed forefoot fractures, adductory deformities, the Ponseti Method, diagnostic ultrasound and skin conditions, according to conference organizers.
Other sessions at the Midwest Podiatry Conference will focus on flatfoot correction, diabetes, wound care, practice management and forensic podiatry.
For more information, call (312) 427-5810 or go to www.midwestpodconf.org.