Health Department's Dana Herazo recognized for successful diabetes education program

Dana Herazo, second from the right, was one of two state nutrition advocates

who received Diabetes and Cardiovascular Prevention and Self-Management

awards from the Alabama Diabetes Network on May 15, 2013, in Montgomery.

MOBILE, Alabama -- Dana Herazo, a registered dietitian who works in nutrition services for the Mobile County Health Depatrment, was one of two state leaders recognized by the Alabama Diabetes Network with the Diabetes and Cardiovascular Prevention and Self-Management Award during a ceremony on May 15, 2013, in Montgomery. 

Herazo is a senior nutritionist with Nutrition Services at the Health Department's Diabetes Today site. She was honored for teaching patients referred from health care providers in the self-management of their diabetes which can prevent future health complications that include hypertension, heart disease, stroke, blindness, neurological problems, kidney disease and lower extremities amputation. Herazo also serves as the president of the Alabama Dietetic Association and was named Employee of the Year in 2011 by the Mobile County Health Department.

The certificate of appreciation she was given acknowledges her work with the following message: "The selflessness, sacrifice and leadership displayed enables patients to climb the stairs of health care self-management one step at a time."

Lilly B. Hall, a registered nurse in Tuskegee, also was honored for starting a diabetes support group in 2011 that includes 26 churches in her area, according to "Alabama's Health," an official publication of the Alabama Department of Public Health in Montgomery.