LEEDS – The DFD Russell Medical Center has joined a National Diabetes Quality Improvement Initiative sponsored by the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services.

In collaboration with Northeast Health Care Quality Foundation, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, Drs. Maxwell Barus, Steven Molnar-Gabor and John Yindra, Nurse Practitioners William Flewelling, Amanda Klein and Teresa Weeks and Physician Assistant Diane Handler are working to increase the rates of key preventative examinations and tests in order to reduce the rates of diabetic complications.

Yearly dilated eye exams, tests for cholesterol and blood glucose, foot exams and urine tests can detect problems early and lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, blindness, limb amputations and kidney disease.