It's an epidemic that affects more than 23 million Americans.
More than 5 million Americans have it, but have never been diagnosed.
And if current trends continue, one in three children born in America around the year 2000 are expected to develop the disease.
One Maryville woman is leading the charge to help prevent that.
Debra Hull, a diabetes instructor at St. Francis Hospital and Health Services, has started a program to help educate children about diabetes and what they can do to help prevent its development. She has taken her program, "A Journey with Joe into Diabetes," into every elementary school in Nodaway County (except for ACES, which opted out). And now she's looking to expand into high schools in Nodaway County and beyond.
Diagnosed with diabetes as a child, Hull said she wants to help others realize the importance of what they can do before diabetes even sets in.
"Having lived with Type 1 for 32 years now, I want to do everything in my power to lower the risk of others developing this disease. And it's exciting that we as medical professionals now know and understand how to lower someone's risk of (Type 2) diabetes," Hull said. "Diabetes is not a hard disease to live with. But the complications that can happen with it make it a devastating disease. If we can stop the disease before it ever sets in, that's my biggest goal, so that children can grow up healthy and adults can live a long healthy life, rather than being riddled with the complications that diabetes can lead to."
Diabetes is a group of diseases marked by high levels of blood glucose resulting from defects in insulin production, insulin action or both, and can lead to serious complications and premature death, according to the Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Today, 7.8 percent of Americans, or 23.6 million, have diabetes, 5.7 million of which are undiagnosed.
But there is much that can be done. After presenting a program to elementary students at West Nodaway this past school year, Hull was asked by other school districts within the county to come and present to them. Using visuals along with her presentation, including one that she draws out a life-size outline of a person with models of the pancreas, stomach, and the body's circulation and cells. Doing so has helped Hull connect with students about Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
"I really got out of the box and created a visual of what insulin resistance looks like, which is usually the beginning of Type 2 diabetes. I call him Joe," Hull said. "On a cellular level, they're able to visualize and see what the beginning of Type 2 diabetes looks like. And they get it. I can tell. It was clicking and they were asking very appropriate questions and were understanding a very complex disease."
The response has been overwhelmingly positive, Hull said. That prompted her to apply for a grant, which she received. She's now preparing to visit area high schools with her presentation and working in conjunction with Bearcat Productions to make a DVD of "A Journey with Joe into Diabetes." They were awarded funding from the St. Francis Hospital Foundation as well as Heartland Foundation, Heartland Health and North Kansas City Hospital through the Healthy Partnerships program.
The group is looking for two children and one adult male to volunteer for roles in the DVD. Auditions for the children will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 8 and from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 11 at the TV studio in Wells Hall on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University. Auditions for adults will be held at the same place from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 2 and Thursday Sept. 3.
Once the DVD is complete, Hull said she would like to help educate children in Holt and Worth counties next and has been encouraged by Nodaway County schools and the hospital to do so. Not only will schools receive a DVD, but children will be able to take a copy home with them to watch with their parents.
It's part of a process that's part of Hull's overarching goal, to prevent diabetes and the complications that arise from it from ever happening. New technologies have given health officials new tools, but perhaps the most valuable one is knowledge.
"(Diabetes is) the leading cause of new blindness, of kidney failure and non-traumatic lower-limb amputations. And that's in America," Hull said. "It's important if somebody has diabetes, that they not only stay up to date on the technology, but with Type 2 diabetes, to realize that it's not just the technology, but it's their day-to-day choices of diet and exercise that is just as powerful as all of the technology to control the disease.
"It's important that people with diabetes realize the power that they have within themselves."
Maryville, Mo. —
