Christian Hospital opened its Diabetes Institute in late June of this year and they have been rolling right along every since.  The Diabetes Institute operates from two fixed location offices (Christian Hospital and Edwardsville campuses) and a mobile unit (Diabetes Busters) that roves through the community with free screening and education services.  The Diabetes Institute offices are staffed by four educators (Trebblecock, Goldstein, Yu, Talley) and is affiliated with the four-physician specialty practice North County Endocrinology.  Thus far in 2006 the mobile unit has screened 3,500 people with glucose, BMI, and lipid profile tests at Scnhucks, worksites, churches, community events and other places.  Look for Busters at an upcoming Rams game… not tailgaiting per se, but reaching out to the community where the community is.   The work of the Busters team, which is led by a flight nurse named Jim Thull, is making a difference for hundreds of people.  Approximately 10% of their blood glucose tests conducted on non-diabetics are abnormal.  That’s right… this bus probably finds one or more new cases of Type 2 diabetes at every stop.  The Diabetes Institute team, which is managed by registered nurse Mary Overstreet, contacts all patients with abormal test resutls to assure and/or coordinate physician follow-up.  For more information about the Chrisitan Hospital Diabetes Institute, contact Mary Overstreet at mao9487@bjc.org.