BRONX WEEKLY N www.BXTimes.com ovember 24, 2019 10
Claremont resident featured
in diabetes documentary fi lm
BY JASON COHEN
More than 30 million Americans
have diabetes – that’s
about 1 in 10 adults – and 90 to
95 percent of them have Type 2
diabetes.
This past Sunday, November
17, A&E debuted a film,
‘Touch of Sugar,’ about diabetes
and one of the four people
featured in it is a woman from
Claremont.
The documentary dives into
the diabetes healthcare epidemic
that affects every community
in the United States,
told through the voices of people
in their struggle with this
chronic disease.
Interviews with patients
and their loved ones, as well
as doctors and advocates, explored
diabetes and helped to
reinforce Type 2 diabetes as an
urgent public health issue that
cannot be ignored, especially
among underserved populations.
Niurka Rodriguez, 55, was
diagnosed with pre-diabetes at
age 29 while pregnant with her
son Max. While her mother,
Nidia Cuevas, 73, and a few
aunts and uncles have diabetes;
it has not been easy for
her.
“It has changed my life because
you cannot eat things
that you like,” she said.
She explained in the Dominican
culture, one eats a lot of
rice and beans, but due to diabetes
she has had to eat less of
the ethnic staples.
Life as a diabetic is no cakewalk,
she stressed. She has to
carefully watch what she eats
and the disease has caused her
to have two operations on her
right eye.
Today, she eats healthier,
doesn’t eat after 8 p.m., never
skips a meal, portions her food
and eats lots of fruits and veggies.
In fact, over the years, she
has lost 30 or 40 pounds.
Furthermore, she learned
how important it is to check
labels on everything at the supermarket
to make sure it is
okay to eat.
Buying food in an impoverished
community was a challenge
at first, but now she
knows where to get the right
stuff. She noted healthy foods
are quite expensive.
When she was first diagnosed
she was scared, but today,
she takes care of herself,
and her children, Illys, 25,
Max, 24 and Juliana, 17, support
her. Illys is pre-diabetic.
She told the Bronx Times
that sharing her story in the
film meant a lot.
“I think that doing the documentary
has been helping
many people,” Rodriguez commented.
“For the people that
are diagnosed with diabetes,
they have to take care of themselves.
There is no cure, but
you can live with it.”
Niurka Rodriguez,who is featured in a documetary about diabe
Photo Courtesy/ Merck/ Jazzmine Beaulieu
Woodlawn Cemetery program teaches leadership
BY KYLE VUILLE
Students from two local middle
schools spent the day exploring
Woodlawn Cemetery alongside
their teachers and their
mentor, retired NHL All-Star
player, Ron Duguay.
Students from M.S. 371 Urban
Institute of Mathematics and
P.S./M.S. 194 met on Wednesday,
November 13 outside one of the
cemetery’s many mausoleums
where a bus trolley would take
them on a trip to visit the monuments
and sites around Woodlawn.
Duguay for the past year and
a half has been coming to Woodlawn
Cemetery with different
schools in the area in partnership
with the Woodlawn Student
Leadership and Legacy program
to promote leadership skills and
inspire the children to create
their own legacies.
According to Duguay, he was
approached by a colleague of his
at a hockey event and was asked
if he would be interested in the
mentorship program.
With prior experience of
working with inner city youth
and raising fi ve kids himself, he
saw it as a no-brainer.
Duguay said while working
with charities and going to gala
events, people are always speaking
on the subject of legacy. After
awhile, he started to ask himself,
“what is my legacy?” and
how he could tie it in with the
community.
The program at Woodlawn began
in 2017 with one local school
and since then has grown to include
more then 40 area schools.
The three month program incorporates
the meaning of leadership
and legacy by having the
students research some of the
famous individuals buried in
Woodlawn while exploring one
of NYC’s largest cemeteries.
“The program uses Woodlawn
to learn from the past,” Duguay
said.
Woodlawn is home to some
serious history makers such as
Madam C.J. Walker, Fiorello La-
Guardia, Elizabeth Cady Stanton
and Celia Cruz to name a
few.
The hopes of the program are
to inspire the children by learning
about these formidable history
makers and encouraging
students to be history makers
themselves.
Students who take part in
the program not only see to understand
the meaning of legacy
through the departed laid to rest
here, but they experience Woodlawn
Cemetery as the historical
landmark and arboretum it
truly is.
Jordan Fernandez, an educational
coordinator at Woodlawn
noted there are over 145 different
species of trees in Woodlawn,
more than the New York Botanical
Garden displays. Fernandez
also expanded on how the program
impacts child to see the
cemetery in a brighter light.
He added he likes to show
the children that whatever they
have done so far in their life can
change and building a legacy is
never ending throughout your
life.
Fernandez said he fi nds
what’s most important about the
program is showing the children
what leadership skills look like
and steering them towards those
qualities.
According to Duguay, the
program has had a grand effect
on the students. “The teachers
tell me kids who were so shy
are more talkative now, for instance,
running into a teacher or
principal, they will say hi which
seems small, but it’s big for some
of these kids,” Duguay said.
Duguay said his primary goal
with the program is to continue
to inspire and encourage the future
of America.
(From L-R) Jordan Fernandez, Ron Duguay and John Grebe stand in front of the
Woodlawn Cemetery Trolley before departing for the loop around Woodlawn with
students. Duguay is a mentor for students for the Woodlawn Student Leadership
and Legacy program. Photo by Kyle Vuille
/www.BXTimes.com