Blessing Health offering free diabetes screening Monday, cholesterol screening March 16 at Horizons

QUINCY — Two no-cost health screenings will be available at Horizons, 224 S. Eighth, in partnership with Blessing Health.

The first event will be a no-cost A1C screening from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 30. No appointment is required. Those attending the screening should enter the Horizons building through the door near Eighth Street. The A1C test helps to diagnose pre-diabetes and diabetes. Its results also help patients and their healthcare providers manage the disease.

Diabetes occurs when the body is either not producing or not properly using the insulin it naturally produces. That leads to organ-damaging high levels of blood sugar contributing to heart, kidney, vision, and circulatory problems, and to disability or death.

Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. It is estimated that 1 in 10 Americans, or 37 million people have diabetes, but 1 in 5 of them don’t know they have the disease because people often don’t notice symptoms in early stages of diabetes.

Risk factors for Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, are:

• Being Black
• Being 45 years or older
• Having a parent, brother, or sister with type 2 diabetes
• Being overweight
• Being physically active less than three times a week

The second event will be a no-cost cholesterol screening at Horizons from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Thursday, March 16. No registration is required. Those who want the cholesterol test need to fast for 12 hours before the test. Enter the Horizons building through the door near Eighth Street.

A cholesterol test measures both types of cholesterol in the blood, as well as total cholesterol and triglycerides, and blood glucose. The results are part of the information needed to determine a person’s heart health.