Diabetes is the 3rd leading cause of death among Blacks and 5th among Hispanics.
Campaign Corner: Understanding the Complexities of Diabetes
July 31, 2009
Diabetes. Seems simple enough. Too much sugar in the blood. Take medicine or insulin injections and the sugar goes down. Problem solved, right?
Wrong.
The more we learn about diabetes, the more we realize how complex this disease really is. Diabetes is a metabolic disease. What that means is that it affects many parts of the body and many different functioning systems. In fact, there are few parts of the body that are not affected by diabetes, especially if it is uncontrolled.
And the diabetes epidemic is growing in New York State. The 1.5 million New York State residents with diabetes is close to the entire population of Manhattan or Western New York, and more people are diagnosed every day. If we are going stop this epidemic, we must take action. And we must take action now. Enter the New York State Diabetes Campaign, an initiative of the New York State Health Foundation. The Campaign, which I have the privilege to lead, is a statewide initiative to reverse the epidemic of diabetes and make sure that New Yorkers with diabetes get the support they need to live longer, healthier lives.
To do this, we need to find the 450,000 New Yorkers who have the disease and don't know it. We have to make sure that communities understand and have what they need to help their residents control their diabetes. We will do this by mobilizing partners across the State to engage people where they live and worship, including through public housing facilities and faith-based organizations. We are working with doctors, nurses, and other health care providers throughout the State to help them provide their patients with diabetes the best possible care and, most importantly, achieve the best possible outcomes. We also are working to promote policy changes that will sustain better health care and access to healthy foods and activity spaces.
This Web site describes our activities in depth and provides resources for community-based organizations, health care providers, policy makers, and advocates to do their part to address diabetes in New York. I hope you will take the time to look through it carefully. We invite you to join our effort and receive information on how you can help reverse the diabetes epidemic.
Sincerely,
Neil Calman MD
Type:
Campaign Corner 
