Article about World Diabetes Month for local school newsletter

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Permalink Reply by Jo on November 12, 2008 at 2:10pm

Thanks Manny..... This I am sure will be a big help to many many people.

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Permalink Reply by rainbowgoddess on November 12, 2008 at 2:44pm

It is a good article, but I wish it could be posted in HTML or even PDF, because it takes way too long to download a Word document. I had the idea to read it and then see if there were any ideas I could take away for my college's newsletter, but the school computers don't allow me to open "attachments" so I had to wait until I got home to read it.

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Permalink Reply by Manny Hernandez on November 12, 2008 at 2:56pm

Here is the article,

November is World Diabetes Month
By Manny Hernandez, father of Santiago Hernandez (Kindergarten, Room 17)

Diabetes is a big deal! More than 250 million people have some type of diabetes worldwide. In the U.S. the number is close to 24 million people, according to the CDC’s latest figures.

November is World Diabetes Month. With Nov. 14 designated by the International Diabetes Federation as World Diabetes Day, there are lots of activities all through the month of November to help bring attention to this very important disease.

As part of the activities for World Diabetes Day, San Francisco’s City Hall was lit up in blue (the color that signifies diabetes) Nov. 14. The effort was part of a global initiative that resulted in more than 800 buildings and monuments getting illuminated in blue worldwide.

Closer to home, between October 29 and November 6, the School Nurses in the Palo Alto Unified School District had a diabetes awareness poster contest in each classroom where a child has diabetes. The posters are now being shown at the District Office in 25 Churchill. The top 3 posters received a gift certificate for their teacher to buy something for the classroom.

All these efforts have one common goal: to raise diabetes awareness. Here are some tips about diabetes:
• There are three main kinds of diabetes: type 1 diabetes (where the pancreas no longer produces insulin, requiring insulin shots); type 2 diabetes (where the insulin doesn’t do its job properly, requiring oral drugs, diet and exercise); gestational diabetes (which affects 4% of all pregnant women).
• Symptoms of diabetes include frequent urination, unusual thirst, weight loss, weakness, extreme fatigue, blurred vision and tingling or burning in the extremities. Be mindful of any of these signs and take immediate action, going to the doctor to get tested.
• If you have diabetes, it is very important to test your blood sugars regularly, take your insulin and other drugs as prescribed, exercise regularly and pay close attention to what you eat. Learning to count your carbohydrates is critical when you have diabetes.
• Last, if you or a loved one is touched by diabetes, join a community like TuDiabetes.com (in English) or EsTuDiabetes.com (en español). You can learn a lot from others who have diabetes.

There is no reason why you can’t live a long and healthy life with diabetes. It all starts this month, World Diabetes Month.

Manny Hernandez has had type 1 diabetes since 2002. He is the President of the Diabetes Hands Foundation, a Palo Alto-based nonprofit that runs two social networks for people touched by diabetes, TuDiabetes.com (in English) and EsTuDiabetes.com (en español).

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