November 14th is World Diabetes Day! Diabetes advocates everywhere (patients, educators, family members and friends) will be focusing on disease awareness. Diabetes will be acknowledged by the United Nations and is supported by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO). World Diabetes Day began in 1991 and has brought a great deal of attention to the disease. The exciting part this year is the beginning of a five year push for diabetes education and prevention programs. I couldn’t be prouder or more energized to do my part as a certified diabetes educator!
Let’s bring it down to the trenches…what can we do fight this disease? What can I do as a diabetes educator to prevent the complications of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes? How do I reach more people with pre-diabetes in order to prevent or delay the onset of Type 2 diabetes? How can we come together to find a cure for diabetes? These are questions I ask myself each and every day.
I’ve been a certified diabetes educator for over 10 years. During that time I’ve been involved in educating my wonderful clients on the importance of self diabetes care and education. I constantly stress the importance of improved blood sugar control, healthy dietary habits and increased physical activity. Staying motivated is a very difficult part of diabetes management. My goal is to encourage my patients to identify risk factors associated with diabetes and support them (always) in their quest to improve their physical and emotional health. Whether it’s just listening to the daily trials of diabetes management or dealing with the progession of the disease, I will continue to offer my complete support.
Diabetes has many possible critical complications such as heart, kidney and eye disease as well as increased incidence of stroke. It’s not as if one day you wake up and the pancreas will start actively producing insulin. So we have to work together to “fight” the disease. Together let’s work on getting our diabetes under control and band together to find a cure.