NDEP is currently compiling existing tools and resources that can better help us help (or work with) people with diabetes, people at risk, and their health care teams as they work to make behavior changes that are at the core of good outcomes, and we need your help.

As a result of NDEP’s new strategic plan, the Support Behavior Change Committee, led by Marti Funnell, M.S., R.N., C.D.E., was formed to assemble and review research, programs, and tools that address the need to transition people with and at risk for diabetes from awareness to action to make small lifestyle changes that will help them to control or prevent diabetes. In turn, NDEP will work to share these resources with the diabetes community to help ensure that people with diabetes and those at risk have the information and behavioral skills they need to take action.

Our starting point is simple: we need to identify and assemble any and all existing resources on behavior change. To do that, we need your help. Please send us three kinds of materials:

• Programs and/or curricula that have been used effectively to empower and teach those with diabetes how to make small lifestyle changes;
• Individual tools for people with and at risk for diabetes that work – whether the format is a one-page tip sheet, a 20-page booklet, or an online resource.
• Research, or links to research, that demonstrate effective ways to engage people with and at risk for diabetes in lifestyle or behavior change efforts or coping strategies.

SEND MATERIALS AND/OR LINKS TO: Garry Curtis, Hager Sharp Inc., 1090 Vermont Avenue NW, 3rd Floor, Washington, D.C. 20005 or gcurtis@hagersharp.com. If you have immediate questions, please contact Joanne Gallivan at 301-496-6110 or Joanne_Gallivan@nih.gov. Thank you for helping NDEP in our efforts to motivate people with diabetes and those at risk to take appropriate action to prevent or manage the disease.

Register now for the 2008 CDC Division of Diabetes Translation’s annual diabetes conference on May 5-8, 2008 at the Wyndham Orlando Resort Hotel in Orlando, Fla. The conference will bring together more than 600 participants from a wide range of local, state, federal, and territorial governmental agencies, and private-sector diabetes partners. For more information about conference registration, click here.

Also, don’t miss the conference’s 2008 Frankie Awards held on May 5 at 5:30 p.m. Come enjoy the fun as NDEP shows appreciation to state Diabetes Prevention and Control Programs and National Outreach Organization grantees by recognizing their creative use of NDEP campaigns, materials, and messages. This year, we have more than 50 Frankies to present!

More than 3 million or 13 percent of African Americans aged 20 and older* are living with diabetes in the United States. In fact, 1 in 3 African American youth born in 2000* are expected to develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime.

NDEP has developed a new community curriculum to address this diabetes epidemic among African Americans. Power to Prevent: A Family Lifestyle Approach to Diabetes Prevention* can be used by small groups to teach African Americans with and at risk for diabetes how to make healthy lifestyle changes around making healthy food choices and increasing physical activity to prevent and manage the disease.

Power to Prevent is based on the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) study, which proved that type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed for those at high risk for the disease. Its curriculum helps African Americans learn how to apply the findings of the DPP study in their own communities by providing effective, step-by-step lesson plans. For more information about type 2 diabetes prevention, click here.

To order your free copy of Power to Prevent, click here or call 1-888-693-NDEP (6337). To download a copy, click here.

NDEP is urging people at high risk for type 2 diabetes to take small steps to lower their risk for the disease and serious complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, nerve damage, and other health problems. NDEP is currently promoting its new “Ten Ways to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes” lists to minority online and print media. Each list is tailored for African American*, Hispanic/Latino*, and American Indian* audiences. The lists offer practical, creative tips on losing weight by making healthy food choices daily and being more physically active to lower the risk for type 2 diabetes. For more information on lowering the risk for diabetes in African Americans, Hispanic/Latinos, and American Indians, click here.

During Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, NDEP will target Asian American and Pacific Islander media to promote its new 4 Steps to Control Your Diabetes. For Life. Asian language adaptations through the Control Your Diabetes. For Life. campaign.

In May, NDEP will promote a new feature article entitled, “Dealing with a Diabetes Diagnosis as an Older Adult*” to print and online media during Older Americans Month. The article highlights small changes older adults can make to learn to manage type 2 diabetes.

In June, NDEP will promote its new “Ten Ways to Shape Up Your Family Reunion to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes” list to African American print and online media using a summer family reunion theme. The list includes useful tips for the entire family on making healthy food choices and incorporating more physical activity into family reunions to lose weight and lower the risk for type 2 diabetes. For more ways to prevent type 2 diabetes in African Americans, click here*.

In each issue of News & Notes look for NDEP promotional tools that are ready for you to personalize, customize, and distribute.

• Take our feature articles, press releases, and public service announcements, and add your organization’s logo*.
• Add your organization’s name and mission and talk about how you and NDEP are working together.
• Add your contact information to a feature article.
• Then submit the ad and/or article to your local paper.

By using our promotional tools, everybody wins. Your community newspaper receives a story with important health information for its readers, your organization receives good publicity, and you help NDEP continue to be the nation’s No. 1 resource for free information and materials on diabetes control and prevention. Each issue of News & Notes features tools that tie into the following month’s promotions and can help us promote NDEP together

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) has announced the release of new health information to raise awareness about diabetes and other diseases among people not yet diagnosed with these illnesses. The “Awareness and Prevention Series” publications are doubled-sided fact sheets printed in English and Spanish, which address a variety of health topics. Each fact sheet provides a snapshot of an illness, highlighting risk factors, symptoms, prevention tips, and links to additional resources to learn more. NIDDK developed the “Awareness and Prevention Series” for use during community health fairs, workplace health forums, family reunions, and other similar events.

To order the diabetes publications, as well as the complete list of “Awareness and Prevention Series” publications, please visit www.niddk.nih.gov.

Look for the NDEP exhibit at these upcoming conferences:

• American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance

  April 8-12, 2008; Fort Worth, TX

• National Hispanic Medical Association

  April 17-19, 2008; Washington, DC

• CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation

  May 5-8, 2008; Orlando, FL
  NDEP will also present a session here.

• American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists

  May 14-18, 2008; Orlando, FL

• American College of Physicians

  May 15-17, 2008; Washington, DC

• American Association of Physicians Assistants

  May 24-29, 2008; San Antonio, TX

• American Diabetes Association

  June 6-10, 2008; San Francisco, CA
  NDEP will also present a session here.

• The Endocrine Society

  June 15-18, 2008; San Francisco, CA

• American Academy of Nurse Practitioners

  June 26-30, 2008; Washington, DC
  NDEP will also present a session here