March National Awareness month info

 

 

National Diabetes Awareness Day is March 24th. The Marion Family YMCA is encouraging residents of Marion County to learn their risks for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, and to take preventive steps to potentially reduce their chances of developing the disease.
The CDC and the American Medical Association (AMA) have begun a new effort to take lessons from the many successful pilot programs on type 2 diabetes awareness and prevention and apply them nationally.
The partnership will be called Prevent Diabetes STAT — for Screen, Test, Act, Today — and will continue efforts by both organizations to deal with the diabetes epidemic.

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Diabetes Awareness Month is March/ FLickr

Assess your risk for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes by taking a test at YMCA.net/diabetes. Through this assessment, visitors can also learn how lifestyle choices and family history help determine the ultimate risk for developing the disease. If a person is at risk, a diabetes screening conducted by a physician can confirm a diabetes or prediabetes diagnosis.
“In one of the most medically advanced countries in the world, more that 86 million Americans live with prediabetes, yet nearly 90% of them don’t even know it,” said Robert Wah, MD, president of the AMA, by telephone at a press conference to announce the initiative. “This isn’t just a concern, it’s a crisis.”
The two organizations have developed a toolkit for physicians and healthcare workers, which can be found at a new website they created. The effort is also an attempt to bring together physicians, community organizations, and insurers to increase awareness in patients with prediabetes and to get the patients to make lifestyle changes, the groups’ leaders said.
In 2012, the CDC launched the National Diabetes Prevention Program, which attempted to bring together community organizations, insurers, and those in the healthcare industry and government to get those at high risk for diabetes to make lifestyle changes. According to the CDC, there are now 500 programs nationwide, including online programs, that promote evidence-based lifestyle changes among those most at risk.
And in 2013, the AMA partnered with the YMCA and other organizations to prevent diabetes type 2 and cardiovascular disease. Part of their effort included attempts to get physicians to refer patients to community prediabetes programs.

Read more at http://americanlivewire.com/2015-03-12-march-is-national-diabetes-awareness-month/