Baptist Golden Triangle hosts free diabetes screening

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) —  Nearly 30 million Americans have diabetes, that according to the CDC.

And Mississippi is ranked first in the nation for overall diabetes prevalence.

And on Wednesday, Baptist Memorial Hospital Golden Triangle hosted a free drive-thru diabetes screening.

According to Baptist Memorial Healthcare.

More than 15 percent of the adult population here in mississippi have diabetes. Where thousands don’t even know they even have the disease.

Clinical Dietician Lacy Smith call this alarming.

“We do see a big percentage of people that blood sugars just kind of creeping up,” said Smith. “They don’t really have an alarm that goes off that tells them. You know there are signs that you can look for but not all the time, it’s not something you know really unless you get that blood test done.”

And Lacy said it’s important to know and recognize the symptoms.

“Excessive thirst, excessive urination, explained weight loss, fatigue and those are a few signs.”