The Bermuda Diabetes Association and The Argus Group are joining forces for a Friends and Family Circle Walk to raise diabetes awareness.The walk, which will take place this Saturday, starts and ends at the Bulls Head Car Park in Hamilton, with goodie bags handed out to the first 100 participants to sign up.The event will begin with an 8.30am warm up session with Dr Don Peden from the Olympic Club, with the walk itself beginning at around 8.45am.And from 9.30am onwards, a free health screening will take place at Bulls Head Car Park, with blood sugar, blood pressure and other screenings available along with weight management and dietary advice.As many as one in four Bermudians either have or are at risk of developing diabetes, which occurs when the body becomes unable to regulate blood sugar.Typical symptoms include frequent urination, increased thirst and unexplained weight loss. If left untreated, it can lead to blindness, kidney failure, strokes and death.Saturday’s walk is just one of a series of events being held as part of Diabetes Awareness Month.Kuni Frith Black, executive director of the Bermuda Diabetes Association said diabetes is all too common in Bermuda, and threatens many Bermudian’s quality of life.“This event helps us to meet our objectives in terms of understanding diabetes and increasing public knowledge of the disease,” she said.“We rely heavily upon the public for their volunteer services and financial contributions to run our many programmes, so we hope to see lots of people of all ages and backgrounds coming together on Saturday to support us.”Argus group CEO Alison Hill said that raising diabetes awareness, including how to prevent the onset of the disease, is at the top of the company’s community agenda.“Despite greatly affecting a person’s health, diabetes can often go undiagnosed,” she said.“We hope the public comes out in full force to support this walk and take advantage of the free screenings at the event that follows.”For more information, contact the Bermuda Diabetes Association at 297-8427.l Useful websites: www.bermudadiabetes.org, www.argus.bm.