Reach 2010

Did you ever get a call that changed your life? Ms. Florene Linnen did in 1997.

She got called and asked to attend a Diabetes Today workshop. Ms. Linnen says, “I learned more at that workshop than I had learned in 16 years of living with diabetes.”

As Proverbs 15:7 says, ‘The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish doeth not so.’ With wisdom and new knowledge, Ms. Linnen shared what she learned with people in her church. But she didn’t stop there. She rallied others to help educate people about diabetes by founding and leading the Georgetown County Diabetes CORE Group, a grass-root community organization that is now a powerful force of active volunteers. Working as a lay community health advisor with the REACH 2010 Charleston and Georgetown Diabetes Coalition and as a leader in the Georgetown County Diabetes CORE Group, she’s helping her community get healthy.

About 20 years ago, Ms. Linnen was sick. She had no energy, blurry eyes, numbing in the hands, upset stomach, drank lots of water, and was sleepy. She knew something was wrong. The doctors back then couldn’t find anything and said it might be a kidney infection. A local doctor decided to send her to MUSC for some tests. There they found it was diabetes.

“I thought I had kidney problems so I saw a kidney specialist in Georgetown. Back then I didn’t realize that diabetes causes kidney disease. After getting the education I received, I was able to talk to other people and other doctors. For instance, when my mother was told that her sugar was just a little high, I wanted to know, how high? With a blood sugar of 371, I knew that was too high. The nurse said to me, ‘I guess I better get the doctor,’ and I said, ‘I guess you better.’ When we were leaving my mother said, ‘I never had an examination like that.’ My thought to that is that knowledge is power. Had I thought that 371 was just a little high, who knows what would have happened to my mother, an 83 year old woman living by herself.”

Now she works full time in diabetes education as a REACH 2010 community health advisor. She helps people learn how to manage their diabetes -- how to control it, how to live with it, and what kind of education to get. Ms. Linnen gets called to speak at local, regional, and national events about diabetes and community activities.

At just about every community function in Georgetown, diabetes is there, but so are Ms. Linnen, her family, friends, Diabetes CORE Group volunteers, REACH 2010, and the health ministry of the Georgetown District of the AME Church. Her husband of over forty years, six children, ten grandchildren, five great grandchildren, and all who know her are proud of Ms. Linnen.

The Georgetown County Diabetes CORE Group started and is sustained by the vision, passion, and the hard work of Ms. Linnen, its leaders, and many volunteers. She says,

“We can call on anyone and everyone.”

She’s quick to credit the more than 50 Diabetes CORE Group volunteers with the Group’s success. From its first meeting when 80 people from the community organized CORE (Community Outreach Referrals Education) and appointed 7 co-leaders, the Georgetown community understood the importance of getting people educated about diabetes. Each CORE person was to go back to his or her own community to find out needs and make community members aware of diabetes through education. In March 1998, a diabetes educational banquet drew 200 people to Browns Ferry Elementary School and raised money to support diabetes community education. Ms. Linnen recalls,

“We started going where the people were—churches, basketball games, football games, even the nightclubs! The media got a hold of what we were doing--TV and radio stations, newspapers, church announcements. We got the word out big time!”

The annual diabetes banquet has become a celebration of community success. Real success is a new health center. With support from the Diabetes CORE Group, Representative Ted Brown, Councilman Johnny Morant, Mr. Ronald Ravenell (former director of the St. James–Santee Family Health Center), and over 300 community members, the Choppee Health Center opened October 1, 2002 in the former Choppee High School building. The facility serves as a ‘one-stop shop’ for primary health care services, Diabetes CORE Group, and services, such as mental health services provided by other agencies.

Ms. Linnen has received many awards for her community work and service. She serves on several organizations' boards and citizen advisory councils, and is a nationally recognized community health advocate.

“My work with REACH is constantly on my mind for things I can do to make things better.”

Ms. Linnen teaches by example. Her A1c test used to run over 8%, when below 6.9% is recommended. But her A1c is now below 6.7%. She's an A1c champion! She shows people how to control their blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol, and warns of the dangers of not controlling them. She walks the talk of preventing serious complications. Her positive spirit motivates us all to take better care of ourselves.

"Your diabetes doesn’t mean that your life is over. You are in control of your health -- that’s the important thing.”

“My heart is diabetes.”