It's Time To Get Serious
A Message From The National Leaderhship
http://www.diabetes.org/ada/nltext.html
"It's Time to Get Serious About Diabetes"
To those of us who live or work with diabetes day in and day out, it may seem obvious that
America should take diabetes seriously. We know the difficulties faced by people who are
newly diagnosed. We know the challenges of keeping in good control. And we know the
devastating complications that can arise if good care is not taken.
But to millions of Americans, diabetes is a "great unknown." They are not aware of
diabetes. And if aware at all, they may not think of it as the serious disease we know it to
be.
As newly elected leaders of the American Diabetes Association, we are pleased and proud to announce our commitment to beginning the process of changing public awareness. During our term in office, we will launch a new public awareness campaign. This campaign is being developed right now, in response to goals determined by Association volunteers and staff who participated in our recent Strategic Planning Conference.
Our public awareness campaign will have four main messages:
1.To the general public, it's time to get serious about diabetes as a major public health issue facing America.
2.To those people who are at high risk for diabetes, it's time to get serious about
learning the risk factors and symptoms and seeing a doctor as appropriate, and
learning how to prevent diabetes wherever possible.
3.To those persons who have diabetes, a reminder that it's time to get serious about
getting in better control of their diabetes, to help prevent or delay the onset of
complications.
4.And finally, to health care providers, it's time to get serious about detecting diabetes
early and treating it aggressively, using the Association's "Standards of Care" as
their guide. We can wait no longer. We must express our outrage about the
devastation caused by diabetes. We need a comprehensive communications approach
involving not only the American Diabetes Association, but also other organizations
that are concerned about this terrible disease. Working together, we can make a
difference. As we travel the country this year in fulfillment of our duties as leaders
of the American Diabetes Association, we will be spreading the word about diabetes
as a serious disease that, if detected early and treated aggressively, can be
controlled.
Working on your behalf, we're looking forward to an exciting year.