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While experts say diabetes disproportionately affects African-Americans, one small group of Montgomery County residents is trying to counter that statistic.

It hasn't been easy, said Brenda Lockley, a registered nurse and the program manager for the county-sponsored African American Health Program, which aims to eliminate health disparities in African-Americans in Montgomery County through education programs and health screenings.

Lockley said the numbers are stacked against them. According to the AAHP, blacks are 1.8 percent more likely than non-Hispanic whites to have the life-changing disease.

"Diabetes is a really big issue in the black community," Lockley said at an end-of-the-year diabetes dining club celebration last week at the Holiday Park Senior Center in Wheaton. The dining clubs, which meet once a month from March through November in Rockville, Gaithersburg and Burtonsville, are sponsored by AAHP and target African-Americans with diabetes by enforcing healthy eating habits and lifestyles.

The three clubs are now in their second year and total about 50 people. But Lockley said that number is relatively small compared to the number of blacks affected by the disease. African-Americans make up 17 percent of Montgomery County's population but account for 39 percent of the county's diabetes-related hospitalizations, she said.

That's because blacks aren't likely to see a doctor until their condition is serious, said Robin Worsley, a nurse and certified diabetes educator who works one-on-one with the most serious cases in the dining club to help people understand exactly what's going on in their bodies.

"The problem is just so devastating," she said.

Part of the problem is that people may not be aware they have diabetes until something serious happens. They could experience symptoms such as thirst or fatigue and not realize they're sick, said Pat Wellington, a nurse practitioner and diabetes educator.

"It's like, ‘Maybe we suspected something was going on,'" she said, "But they just didn't want to hear it."

Worsley said if blacks do see a doctor, many of them don't visit special care physicians, who could more clearly explain diabetes and other health conditions. She said she sees many African-American patients with diabetes who don't want to take their insulin because they think it will make them sicker. Worsley said she has to explain to them insulin is actually helping their diabetes by regulating their blood sugar levels.

Sharon Frazier, who has diabetes and attends the dining clubs, said she didn't understand why her doctors were prescribing her certain medications until she took a diabetes class with AAHP.

"They didn't tell me what it was for," she said. Now she knows how and when to monitor her glucose levels and what areas of her body her medications target. She's also learning healthier recipes that use herbs instead of sugar and margarine instead of butter.

Audrey Hopkinson, also part of a diabetes dining club, said she wishes she saw more African-Americans taking charge of their health by participating in one of the classes or clubs.

Lockley said the dining club is free to Montgomery County residents with a $5 donation every month for the meal. Anyone else is welcome to join for $20.

Many people who don't watch their health are caught off guard when they get diabetes because they don't realize they have to manage the disease 24 hours a day, Wellington said.

Lockley said people with diabetes have to completely rearrange their life to avoid complications such as blindness or lower limb amputations and education helps them learn the warning signs and live healthier lives. And for a diabetic, she said, living healthier could be the difference between life or death.

For more information on the African American Health Program's diabetes education program, call 301-421-5767 or visit onehealthylife.org.