Ohio State medical students and the Central Ohio Diabetes Association are kicking off National Diabetes Awareness Month on Monday by conducting diabetes screening tests at area Kroger stores. The free tests are available throughout the month of November and results are ready in about a minute.More than 50 medical students have volunteered to test people’s sugar levels. “I’m volunteering because a lot of people have diabetes who don’t know that they have it,” said Evan Deutsch, second-year medical student.First-year medical students can get credit applied to their community service project requirement, Deutsch said.Only half of the more than 60 million people that have the disease are aware of it, said Reina Sims, CODA outreach director. Untreated diabetes can result in visual impairment, kidney problems, and heart disease.The tests do not diagnose diabetes, they determine blood sugar levels. If results show that a person has a high amount of sugar in the blood, CODA employees will follow up to see if the disease is present, Sims said. Diabetes is especially a problem for minorities. Black women over the age of 45 have a one in four chance of getting diabetes, Sims said. The medical volunteers and CODA are trying to raise awareness in minority communities, which is why the first screening will be in a predominantly black neighborhood, at the East Main Street Kroger, Sims said.People with a family history of diabetes should also be concerned and get tested, she said.”Some people think that the diabetes will skip a generation,” Sims said. “That’s complete nonsense. You are definitely at a higher risk if a family member has had diabetes.”