UAMS Holds Free Glucose Screenings for Chemistry Week

By todd

The free event, also featuring Fay Boozman, M.D., director of the Arkansas Department of Health, will be held in the Jo Ellen Ford Auditorium at the UAMS Donald W. Reynolds Center on Aging. It is open to the public and refreshments will be served.

The event is hosted by the Central Arkansas Section of the American Chemical Society as part of National Chemistry Week, which focuses on the contributions made by all branches of chemistry to health and wellness.

Certified diabetes educators Kathy Riordan, R.N., with the UAMS Arkansas Diabetes Program, and Carol Hickerson, R.N., will be conducting free glucose screenings and also will evaluate the risk of developing diabetes based on lifestyle.

Boozman will talk about health challenges facing the state and will speak about the ongoing Healthy Arkansas initiative to transform Arkansas from one of the unhealthiest states in the country into one of the healthiest.

UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, five centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has about 2,170 students and 650 residents and is the state’s largest public employer with almost 9,000 employees. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of about $3.8 billion a year. UAMS centers of excellence are the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Center on Aging, Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy and Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neurosciences Institute.