Diabetes Center Problem

It appeared that the Upper East Side and East Harlem have two major problems, namely: air pollution in the environment and the prevalence of diabetes among the residents which is mainly caused by obesity. With respect to the problem on air pollution, the then Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, on September 26, 2013, professed that the quality of air in New York City has improved after the lapse of fifty years. The air pollutants has been evidently reduced after the introduction of PlaNYC’s Clean Heat Program in 2008. Consequently, the sulfur dioxide (SOx) levels decreased to 69% and soot pollution levels (PM2.5) decreased to 23%. This program has eradicated the utilization of heating oils that contributed heavily to New York City’s air pollution.

Hence, Mount Sinai has created the Mount Sinai Diabetes Center with a mission to deliver free diabetes education classes in order to enable patients to control, self-manage or prevent the onset of diabetes. The curriculum is taught by nurses of diverse culture and language, who are certified diabetes educators. The center aims to promote awareness and prevention of diabetes in East Harlem, Upper East Side, Central Harlem and other communities such as Queens and the Bronx (Mount Sinai Diabetes Center, n.d.). Indeed, it is up to the residents of East Harlem and Upper East Side to utilize this resource provided by Mount Sinai for free. As noted from various studies, it is difficult to engage the youth to be educated or recruited about lifestyle intervention efforts or research studies. In furtherance of disseminating diabetes awareness and prevention among the youth residing in East Harlem, Vangeepuram, et. al (2016) conducted a study and reached a finding that building a good rapport with community based organizations and primary care clinics facilitated recruitment of adolescent population, aided in building trust with prospective participants and their parents, and assisted them formulate adolescent-centered recruitment