Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois Awards $10,000 to Crusader Clinic Diabetes Program

Rockford, Ill., June 23, 2006—The Crusader Clinic has received a $10,000 grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois to support its Mobile Diabetes Program. These funds will be used to educate the community about diabetes risk through administering free blood screening tests and providing information on diet, lifestyle and diabetes risk factors.

The grant will expand the Crusader Clinic/Cosmopolitan Mobile Diabetes Program by providing a diabetic educator who will conduct diabetes screenings at a variety of community locations, including churches, services clubs, work sites on a monthly basis.

The next free fasting diabetes screening will be held from 8-11 a.m. on June 30, 2006, at the Crusader Clinic on Broadway-Uram Building, located at the corner of Broadway and Seventh Street. A Spanish-speaking translator and materials printed in Spanish will be available.

The Diabetes Management Program served 2,700 diabetic patients in 2005, providing medical care, consultation with a diabetes educator, diabetes classes, eye, dental and foot exams and assistance with medications, public aid and transportation.

Upcoming diabetes screening dates offered by the Mobile Diabetes Program are posted at the Crusader Clinic Web site www.crusaderclinic.org. For more information or to schedule the Diabetes Van at a community event, please call Lisa at 490-1605.