Free diabetes screening!

Houston Northwest Medical Center is offering a free diabetes prevention screening on Saturday, August 20

From 8 to 11 a.m., you can learn more about your risk for developing diabetes. The event will screen to see if you are at risk for type 2 diabetes and includes: blood glucose, blood pressure, weight, and a personal diabetes risk assessment. The screening is free, but appointments are required. To register, call 281-580-0000.
Prevention starts with understanding your health and setting goals, then gradually making changes to achieve long-term success. Even if diabetes runs in your family, you can make lifestyle choices to help delay its onset and prevent serious complications.

There are seven common risk factors associated with diabetes. While these do not guarantee a diagnosis of diabetes, they are important to consider.

• Obesity - Being overweight or obese increases your risk for diabetes. This is the primary risk factor for type 2 diabetes.

• Family History - If you have a parent or sibling who has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, you run a higher risk of developing the condition.

• Inactive Lifestyle - Because muscles cells have more insulin receptors than fat cells, regular exercise can decrease insulin resistance. Regular exercise also can help control weight and lower blood sugar levels by increasing insulin effectiveness.

• Increasing Age - People over the age of 45 should be tested for type 2 diabetes every three years if results are normal. If results are borderline, the test should be repeated annually.

• Genetics - African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, Alaska Natives, American Indians, and Asians are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

• High Blood Cholesterol and High Blood Pressure - The risk of developing diabetes increases if your HDL (good) cholesterol level is under 35 mg/dL or your triglyceride level is over 250 mg/dL. High blood pressure of 140/90 mmHg or higher also increases diabetes risk.

• Gestational Diabetes - Women who developed gestational diabetes when pregnant or gave birth to a baby that weighed more than nine pounds run a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.

For people living with diabetes, sugar (or glucose) can be bad if left unchecked. In diabetics, glucose can build up in the blood stream because their bodies do not produce or properly use insulin to process the sugar into energy. This can result in a condition is called hyperglycemia, which can result in complications, so it is important to know the symptoms and how to treat the condition. Symptoms of type 2 diabetes include increased thirst, frequent urination, fatigue, weight loss, blurred vision, or slow-healing sores.

For more information, contact the hospital’s Diabetes Services at 1-877-22-Tenet (1-877-228-3638).

HPD officer kills knife-wielding suspect who killed another man.

KHOU:

An off-duty police officer shot and killed a knife-wielding suspect who stabbed another man to death early this morning at a gas station near a bar in northwest Houston.

The shooting occurred at the station at 4401 W. 18th near the 610 West Loop about 2:15 a.m. Monday, according to the Houston Police Department.

Police said the suspect, whose name has not been released, died at the scene. The man who had been stabbed was taken to Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. His name has not been released.

The officer, who is identified as C.E. Hightower, was not hurt. No other injuries were reported.
Police said Hightower and another off-duty officer were in uniform and working an approved extra job directing traffic in the parking lot of the El Chaparral club when they saw a group of men get into a confrontation outside a nearby gasoline station.

The officers rushed to the station and intervened. They pulled one of the men away from the altercation, but the man went to his vehicle, grabbed a knife and began stabbing another man he had been fighting.

Hightower saw the assault and ordered the attacker several times to drop the knife. The man ignored the commands and continued to stab the victim.
That’s when Hightower, in fear of the victim’s safety and the safety of others nearby, fired several shots, hitting the knife-wielding man. The man got up after he was shot, climbed into his vehicle and drove a short distance, plowing through several bushes and slamming into a few cars in the El Chaparaal parking lot before he stopped.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7648026.html#ixzz1RpP4uHYk

Tuesday morning busy for Houston Firefighters

2 Building Fires in Northwest Houston: MyFoxHOUSTON.com

HOUSTON - The Houston Fire Department was kept busy early Tuesday morning with two fires in northwest Houston -- one at a convenience store and one at an apartment complex leasing office.

Firefighters arrived around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday to the A-MADCO Food Store on Long Point Road near Thonig Road and found smoke and flames coming from the rear of the building.

Since the store was closed, firefighters forced their way into the building and were able to put out the fire within 10 minutes and prevent it from spreading throughout the store.

The firefighters determined the fire started in the electrical room. No one was injured in the fire.
Firefighters later arrived around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday to the Yale Village apartment complex on Yale Street near Patrick Street and found a small fire above the door of the leasing office.


Read more: HERE