SAMC employees take diabetes fight to the streets

Raise $12,000 for JDRF during recent walk at Hidden Lake Park

CROWN POINT - Jeannine Plesac, Beth Dziadon and Darieta Strazzante share personal reasons for not taking the fight against juvenile diabetes lying down.

They recently led the way for about 125 Saint Anthony Medical Center employees who raised nearly $12,000 recently to benefit Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International during a Walk to Cure Diabetes that took place locally at Hidden Lake Park in Merrillville. They were among more than 1,000 participants who raised money from sponsors and made the one- or three-mile treks that were offered through the program, organized by the foundation’s South Bend-based Northern Indiana Branch. The foundation, founded in 1970, is headquartered in New York.

“I got involved because my son (Frank, age 8) was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in January of this year,’’ said Plesac, of Crown Point, a recovery room nurse who has been with Saint Anthony for 13 of her 17 years in the profession. Frank is doing fine, with the help of an insulin pump.
Plesac also credited Dr. John King, the hospital’s vice president of medical affairs, and Carol Schuster, vice president of patient services, for supporting the hospital employees’ efforts.

Strazzante, of Lakes of the Four Seasons, a six-year nurse who works in the catheterization lab, is a Type 1 diabetic whose son Nicholas, 12, likewise was diagnosed in January and is doing well with an insulin pump, as is his mother. “I want the walk to get bigger and to have more people every year,’’ she said, adding this year’s event was her third.

Dziadon, of Lowell, who has worked as an emergency department unit clerk for five years, learned of her diabetes, also Type 1, about a year ago. She takes insulin injections four times daily.
“One day Mindy Webb, a nurse at work, noticed I had a dry mouth and was drinking a lot of water. She told me I had better get checked. My blood sugar reading was 687 (normal reading is between 70 and 120). It was a good thing I found that out when I did. Now, the doctors are always watching out for me. I’m very lucky to work here.’’

Dziadon said the emergency department also began a recycling program in September that collects plastic items and aluminum cans to help the foundation’s cause. She, along with Dr. George Librandi, who came up with the idea, plan to take the items to area recycling centers, open a joint account and annually donate the proceeds to the program. “Other departments bring aluminum cans to the emergency department to support our cause. I welcome anyone from the hospital to drop off aluminum cans in our department, or to start a recycling program of their own in their department,’’ Dziadon said.