General News
Diabetes and nutrition were the top priority issues for Harnett County in the county’s 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1 million North Carolinians have diabetes, and more than an estimated 72,000 are diagnosed with it annually. An alarming one in three adults is prediabetic.
Those statistics are troubling to Dr. Adithya Kattamanchi, an endocrinologist who specializes in diabetes, endocrine issues and metabolism.
Fortunately for residents of Harnett County, where health department officials listed diabetes as the fifth leading cause of death in 2016, Kattamanchi practices in a new local clinic, Cape Fear Valley Diabetes & Endocrinology Center – Dunn.
The center, which opened mid-November, is located directly across the street from Betsy Johnson Hospital with hours from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and from 7:30 a.m. to noon on Friday.
“Dr. Kattamanchi is set to be an immense asset for our community and the surrounding areas,” said Julie Hurtack, Director of Physician Practices for Harnett Health’s region of ambulatory outpatient practices.
“Harnett County has a population of over 133,500 and is growing rapidly. With that growth comes an even greater need for specialized care,” Hurtack said. “We’re focused on expanding much-needed health services in this area and committed to bringing exceptional quality and innovation to our hometowns.”
“Our primary care practitioners are thrilled to have the expertise and partnership of an endocrinologist to increase our level of patient care and oversight,” Hurtack continued. “Through our partnership with Cape Fear Valley Health, we have begun to expand our access to specialists in this area.”
Harnett County doesn’t have many clinics specializing in endocrinology, and Kattamanchi and Hurtack hope the new clinic in Dunn will be attractive to patients who prefer local doctors.
“Our priority is to provide exceptional care and kindness to our patients through each step of their visit,” Hurtack said.
Diabetes education is part of patient care at the new clinic. This is critically important because of the medical problems diabetes can cause, including cardiovascular disease, strokes, kidney failure, liver damage, retinopathy, neuropathy, amputations or the need for dialysis.
“We teach patients about diabetes technology, including glucose monitors and insulin pumps,” Kattamanchi said. “Most patients have a lot of questions about the type of diabetes they have, different treatment options, and about the newer technologies and medications.”
People with diabetes have either type 1, which prevents the body from producing enough insulin and is generally developed during childhood, or type 2, the most common form of diabetes that develops when people’s bodies don’t properly use insulin, a protein hormone secreted in the pancreas that controls the concentration of glucose, or sugar, in the blood.
Kattamanchi said he’ll spend 45 minutes to an hour with patients during initial visits. After their follow-ups, patients whose diabetes is well controlled will likely be seen once every six months, while those requiring more care will likely come in every other month. There’s no one-size-fits-all treatment for diabetes and endocrine disorders, so it’s important to create an individualized plan of care for each patient.
Kattamanchi is excited for his new role and ready to help more people in the area manage their disease. His desire to help runs in his family, especially from his late father, who was an endocrinologist who practiced medicine for 40 years in India. His mother, also in India, is a physician specializing in obstetrics and gynecology. His wife is an oncologist, and his brother is a nephrologist – both in the U.S.
“My father mainly dealt with diabetic patients, so that’s where my interest started,” Kattamanchi said. “But then I went into residency and my interest amplified when I was treating patients with endocrinology issues.”
Kattamanchi took a special interest in geriatrics, care of older adults, because he didn’t think that population received care on the same level of other patients. He followed up his residency with a fellowship in geriatrics before going into endocrinology. His fellowship training on this specific population of older adults sets him apart from other endocrinologists.
Kattamanchi completed his residency in internal medicine at the State University of New York in Syracuse, followed by a fellowship in geriatrics at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and another fellowship in endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Harnett Health President Cory Hess said Kattamanchi has a noticeable passion for his patients. Coupled with his medical expertise, it makes him the perfect physician to work at the new clinic, Hess said.
“Dr. Kattamanchi is a very compassionate and kind man,” Hess said. “His father was a physician with a practice focused on diabetes and endocrine disease, so he grew up around this patient population and is passionate about giving them a greatly improved quality of life.”
“Now that we can deliver high-quality care to this patient population right here in Harnett County, we’re confident we can make positive progress toward the reduction of these debilitating conditions,” said Hess.
