Diabetes Center for Excellence becoming a reality

It was an exciting afternoon as staff of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s Let’s Get Healthy Program and Mohawk Healthy Heart Project gathered to share wonderful news with the Akwesasne Community this past Tuesday afternoon. Tribal officials were on hand to announce that the grassroots effort of fundraising has raised enough funds for phase one of the Diabetes Center for Excellence. This announcement demonstrates to the community that dreams do come true when enough people come together for a common goal.

“It has been a privilege to work on this project,” said Tribal Chief Monica Jacobs in one of her last speeches on Tribal Council. “Most important as a community not only do we owe this to ourselves, but to others to go forward in such a positive manner.”

Jacobs was able to provide historical background into the development of the Let’s Get Healthy and Mohawk Healthy Heart Projects to the group that had assembled. Back in the early 1990’s Akwesasronon and other supporters wrote a proposal to get the funding to start these two initiatives. The work of everyone involved in the process up until now has helped to make Akwesasne a healthier place to live and to support a healthy lifestyle.

“Thank you for bringing this disease awareness to Council table,” said Tribal Chief Randy Hart. “These hard working community members made this possible, to save us from diabetes. Let this center be the ‘thank you’ to all who have contributed to this project.”

After the ceremonial ground breaking on site next to Generations Field, the festivities were moved to the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Maple Room for a reception and additional speeches.

Dr. Benson Kelly started off the evening by thanking everyone for attending the reception. Invitations had been sent out to everyone who was instrumental to the process of developing the diabetes framework as well as raising funds for the center. The list was long as the entire community really pitched in to make this dream a reality.

“You, as a family, have lost loved ones to diabetes,” said Janine Rourke who is the Director of the Let’s Get Healthy Program. “As a community you must take the tough first step to cross through the door…you are our mentors and we are forever in your debt for all of the contributions to articles, posters and your strength – you are our shining stars.”

Rourke went on to explain some startling statistics about the prevalence of diabetes in our community. Basically, out of 100 people in a room, 94 of them either have a form of diabetes or the precursor symptoms that indicate diabetes. The programs themselves have made a total of 8 moves to date because there hasn’t been a facility yet with the space required for all of their activities. Staff hopes that the ninth move will be into the newly built facility that is scheduled to start this fall with a completion date for phase one of August 2012.

Deborah Martin was also on hand to run through the financial contributions that have been made throughout the past five years of fund raising. In one instance the Akwesasne Housing Authority gave the project $1-million to be used towards construction of the center. The annual golf-tournament has also been a great contributor with $263,353.23 raised over the past few years it has been held. The walk-a-thon that is held in October has also generated $17,527.25 in support of the facility. Even the St. Regis Mohawk School came on board with the project by organizing a penny drive and collecting $766.50 in pennies at school. From these larger contributions, to privately held garage-sales like one held at Charity “Brad” and Wayne Lazore’s that generated over $800 that was then donated to the project, the Akwesasne community should be very proud of the achievements made to date.

“We also need to acknowledge the property that this facility will be built on,” said Martin. “The late Margaret Terrance wanted to have something beneficial to the community.”

The CKON Board of Directors was also on hand during the event and gifted the program a $10,000 check to go towards the project. “This is one worthy cause in Akwesasne,” said Andy Cook of the entire project.

Bids on the project will begin to go out in a few months, with construction slated to begin around September of this year. “Most of this has been done from the community at a grassroots level and when the construction starts we want to make sure that it is all Mohawk labor and that everything inside is Mohawk or Native done,” said Rourke of building the 14,000 sq. ft. facility.

Fundraising is ongoing, as they still need additional funding to do phase two of the Diabetes Center for Excellence, which includes an indoor walking track. For more information on how you can help with this project, contact the Let’s Get Healthy Program at 518-358-9667 or the Mohawk Healthy Heart Program at 518-358-6091.