At Wound Care Advantage our team is focused on the every growing challenge to reach patient populations to educate them about our specialty of wound healing. Unfortunately, forever linked with the wound care industry is the deadly disease of diabetes.
Since November is diabetes awareness month and we are always interested in helping spreading diabetes awareness, we have joined forces and resources with the American Diabetes Association to bring greater awareness of this horrible disease to our patient populations across the country.
Hutson Morris-Irvin, is Director of Marketing & Communications in the greater Los Angeles area at the American Diabetes Association.
She says that the biggest challenge is helping the public to wade through all of the misinformation and misunderstandings about what diabetes really is, how someone can get it, and how to maintain a healthy lifestyle once diagnosed.
“There is so much the public thinks it understands about this disease that is completely wrong that it’s extremely troubling,” Morris-Irvin said. “Diabetes is such a complex disease, it is nearly impossible to be able to hold the public’s attention long enough to complete an explanation.”
She believes that unfortunately this leads to over simplified answers, that while are correct, don’t fully equip people to prevent or maintain the disease well enough.
Why Diabetes Requires So Much Awareness
According to the American Diabetes Association as of 2012, 29.1 million Americans, or 9.3% of the population had diabetes. Of that number 8.1 million were undiagnosed.
An even more startling statistic is that in 2012, 86 million Americans age 20 and older had pre-diabetes, an increase from 79 million in 2010. The risk of death for adults with this disease is 50% higher than those without it. And still the fact remains that 9 out of 10 of the 86 million with pre-diabetes do not currently know that they have it.
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Overcoming The Complexity Of The Disease
“Our biggest challenge is the complexity of the disease,” Morris-Irvin said. “Being able to engage the public with accurate information via traditional communications tools and media is nearly impossible.”
She points to confusion over the role that obesity plays as an example.
“It is completely true that obesity is a contributing factor in someone getting type two diabetes, but it is not the only one,” Morris-Irvin said. “It is however an easy one for someone to see as ‘the’ cause. Among people with type two diabetics, a high percentage of them are obese. However, of obese people, the percentage diagnosed with diabetes is much lower than one might think.”
This is an important point in the reason why many believe that people don’t take diabetes as serious as they should.
“The consequence of the narrative that “obesity = diabetes” is that people who are not over weight do not think they are in great threat and end up not seek screening in a way that would be helpful to them,” she said. “Waiting until an actual symptom shows itself, results in the problem being well on its way … when it could have been prevented if they had understood the threat more accurately.”
An Extra Awareness Push Each November
Organizations like the American Diabetes Association are busy pushing awareness year round, but the Nation has designated November a special month for awareness of this disease.
“The concerns about going into the holiday season are upon us, where traditional foods are richly adorned for gluttonous enjoyment and the tendency to overdo it is at the forefront of medical and public health professional’s minds,” Morris-Irvin said. “It’s never a bad thing to rally around healthy reminders, suggestions of alternative recipes and behaviors, and even recommendations for new traditions during the month when families come together.”
Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes is the signature fundraising walk of the American Diabetes Association.
“The event has been taking place for more than 20 years and has raised more than $175 million to stop diabetes,” she said. “More than 120,000 participants from 120 walk events across the country came together last year to raise more than $24 million.”
A Personal Connection
As with so many of us Morris-Irvin has a personal connection to this disease.
“Both my parents were diagnosed with pre-diabetes 3 years ago,” she said. “Then I was shocked to be diagnosed with the same last year.”
Her family received the message loud and clear and is currently doing everything that they can to turn that around.
“My parents now have fun cooking from a new set of recipes together and finding more excuses to be active with their grandchildren,” Morris-Irvin said. “For me that meant getting a personal trainer and letting my kids know that mommy needs time to take care of herself just as much as they need me to take care of them. Everyone is making adjustments and we are all happy to report that we are getting our health under control.”
To find out more information about getting yourself or loved ones screened for diabetes, please visit diabetes.org.
