Diabetes Community Partnership Guide

Contents

• Introduction
• Using This Guide
• Organizations Making a Difference with 18 Easy Ideas
• Host a work-site lunch seminar on diabetes
  
• Start a mall-walkers program for senior citizens.
• Get pharmacists involved: Organize an “Ask the Pharmacist” day on diabetes
• Control diabetes with healthy foods and fun: Encourage restaurants to add a diabetes-healthy selection to the menu

Introduction

Why diabetes must be a priority for each of us: A letter from the NDEP Community Interventions Workgroup

Dear Community Member:

Did you know that 16 million people in the United States are currently living with diabetes and that this disease is diagnosed in more than one-half million people each year? One-third of those with diabetes don’t even know they have it because diabetes is a silent thief. Symptoms rarely develop until complications develop. If untreated, diabetes can lead to severe complications such as blindness, kidney and heart disease, stroke, and lower-limb amputations.

The American population is growing more ethnically diverse, aging, gaining weight, and becoming less physically active. As a result, there will be a greater proportion of minorities who are disproportionately affected by diabetes.

Diabetes is a chronic disease for which there is presently no known cure. Year after year, day after day, diabetes is quietly, diligently hard at work forever changing the lives of people with the disease. Helping people with diabetes and their communities learn to control the disease is the only way to make a difference today.

However, there is good news. Scientific evidence now shows that treatment of diabetes with diet, physical activity, and new medicines can prevent or delay much of the illness and complications associated with diabetes.

The NDEP has a message for your community: by learning to take control of diabetes, there is hope in the battle against this disease.

You have the power to help your community win the fight against diabetes!

The NDEP invites you to use this guide to begin making a difference in the lives of people with diabetes and those who love them in your community.

Sincerely,

The NDEP Community Interventions Workgroup

Facts:

Source: The Lions Club

• Every year, 170,000 Americans die of diabetes or its complications.
• Every week, 12,000 people learn that they have diabetes.
• Every day, 144 people with diabetes go blind.
• Every hour, three people with diabetes must have a foot, ankle, or leg amputated to save their lives.
• Every minute, 20 people with diabetes undergo kidney dialysis.
• Today, someone with diabetes will die from its complications.

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Using This Guide

Who can use this guide? Everyone has a role to play:

• Individuals
• Organizations
• Diabetes experts
• Other health professionals

The NDEP has developed this guide to provide you with ideas, tools, and tips to help your community take action toward controlling diabetes. By using this guide to work with others in your community, you can help raise awareness and support people with diabetes in making and maintaining the changes necessary to become a community in control of diabetes.

For individuals and organizations

Do you need to have a health care background or be an expert in diabetes to participate? No. You might place diabetes information in local grocery stores or beauty shops. Maybe you’ll organize a community walk for health. You might develop a booklet of resources for people with diabetes in your community. These are just a few of the many ways one person can make a big difference in the lives of people with diabetes. In addition, by partnering with diabetes and other health professionals, you can gain expertise and increase resources to support your activities.

For organizations

Community diabetes control projects provide an excellent opportunity for neighbors, family members, worksites, places of worship, coalitions, professional associations, clubs, restaurants, and many others to become more involved in the communities in which they live and work.

For diabetes experts and other health professionals

Do you have a special role to play if you are an expert in diabetes or are some other health professional? Yes! As an expert in diabetes, you can be a valuable resource to your community in many ways. You can help to encourage involvement by nontraditional partners such as religious institutions, provide access to information and materials, provide training and leadership, and serve as a quality control specialist for others engaging in diabetes promotion or intervention activities.

Use this guide to bring together diverse organizations that are part of the community. Work with them to help them determine what they can do and provide the technical expertise to help them do it successfully.

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Organizations Making a Difference With 18 Easy Ideas

1. Employers, utility companies, and hospitals can
   • Use the NDEP brochures as paycheck or bill stuffers and include them in company paychecks or customer bills.
2. Utility companies, public health departments, libraries, and private business can
   • Display the NDEP posters in their lobbies, at their registration desks, or in their reception areas.
3. Hospitals, libraries, banks, supermarkets, and retailers can
   • Place a stack of NDEP brochures at their cashier desks, registration desks, or information centers.
4. Health clinics, private doctors, and banks can
   • Play the NDEP TV PSAs for patients or customers waiting in their lobby areas.
5. Minority organizations can
   • Distribute the NDEP “Many Faces of Diabetes” posters to their member organizations and throughout the communities they serve.
   • Include NDEP materials at special events such as annual family reunions, ethnic festivals, health fairs, and more.
   • Write letters to other businesses and organizations to ask them to join the effort to raise awareness of the impact of diabetes on minority communities.
   • Use existing services to help communities get the services they need to successfully control diabetes for life.
   • Send copies of the NDEP campaign PSAs to local media that serve minority populations, along with the NDEP fact sheet on diabetes in these populations. Include a letter encouraging the media to air the PSAs to help spread the word.
6. Pharmacies, grocery stores, clothing stores, and shoe stores can
   • Play the NDEP radio PSAs over their audio system for customers.
   • Place the NDEP Control Tips brochure in the shopping or prescription bags of each customer.
7. Beauty shops, barber shops, senior centers, and recreation departments can
   • Display the NDEP posters in their windows and provide space for the community to advertise upcoming health fairs.
8. Places of worship can
   • Include the NDEP message and telephone number in service programs.
   • Display the NDEP posters on bulletin boards.
9. The media can
   • Air the NDEP TV and radio PSAs, and tell viewers and listeners to call the NDEP for more information at 1-800-438-5383.
   • Run the NDEP print PSAs in the next issues of their newspapers, magazines, or community publications.
   • Schedule an interview with a member of the NDEP Community Interventions Subcommittee by calling 202-842-3600.
10. Businesses, professional associations and retailers can
    • Print the NDEP materials from the Web site and make a presentation on diabetes to staff and members at their next meeting or conference.
11. Hospitals, public health departments, and health insurers can
    • Include NDEP materials with their displays at a health fair or other community event.
12. Professional associations, community groups, and clubs can
    • Schedule a meeting to plan and dedicate their next fundraising activity to helping the community increase awareness about controlling diabetes.
    • Distribute NDEP community kits and campaign guides to all members at the next meeting.
    • Ask members to join the fight against diabetes.
13. Political officials and community leaders can
    • Send a note to area businesses and media using the NDEP campaign postcards.
    • Encourage area businesses and media to use the NDEP campaign materials to inform the community about diabetes.
14. Fire, police, and rescue departments can
    • Take NDEP materials with them when they participate in health and safety fairs.
    • Distribute NDEP bookmarks to residents when they conduct fire-safety or crime-risk home checks for community residents.
15. Movie theaters can
    • Show the NDEP logo and control message as one of the messages on the screen before the movie begins.
16. Video stores can
    • Hand out free NDEP bookmarks, the Control Tips brochure, and NDEP posters.
17. Fitness centers, gyms, dance studios, recreation centers, and social halls can
    • Distribute the NDEP Control Tips and HbA1c brochures and posters.
    • Recruit fitness directors, personal trainers, and dance instructors to become partners.
18. All organizations can
    • Make a commitment to join the fight against diabetes. Become an NDEP partner today. Call 1-800-438-5383.

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Host a Work-Site Lunch Seminar on Diabetes

Why?

Everyone is busy, and lunchtime is a great opportunity to reach people, if you can make it easy. Brown-bag lunches, which feature seminars or other helpful information at work, are a popular way to reach people with diabetes and their families.

How?

Invite speakers from your State diabetes control program or local hospital to talk about diabetes and ways to control it. Call the NDEP for a copy of the NDEP PSAs, which you can show during lunch. In addition, the NDEP can help you talk to your employer about how your company can join other businesses in making diabetes control a companywide effort.

Tips

A demonstration of diabetes-healthy recipes during lunch will make the presentation more interesting and useful. Talk to the chefs at the restaurants your co-workers visit for lunch each week. They can help by preparing a special diabetes-healthy recipe.

Where to start?

Talk to your company’s health benefits manager or wellness coordinator in human resources.

What will you need?

NDEP materials:

• Control Tips and HbA1c brochures
• NDEP PSAs
• Information on company and community health fairs, physical activity, nutrition, and related services for individuals with diabetes

Who else can help?

• Local health professionals
• Diabetes educators
• American Association of Diabetes Educators
• Staff from YMCA/YWCA

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Start a Mall-Walkers Program for Senior Citizens

Why?

Shopping malls are excellent, safe places for senior members of the community to become more physically active.

How?

Identify the enclosed shopping centers in your area. Is there an existing mall-walkers program you can let the community know about? If not, talk to mall management to see if it is willing to host a mall-walkers program. Create signs and flyers announcing the new program. Be sure the flyer lists hours the mall will be open for walkers, suggestions for dress (tennis shoes, sweat pants, etc.), and any other special features (music, free orange juice, etc.). Place the flyers at the information desk and in the food court, and distribute them at area dry cleaners, laundromats, senior centers, and pharmacies.

Tips

In the flyer and press releases, remember to thank mall management for their support as a community partner fighting diabetes.

Where to start?

Contact your local recreation department, senior center, or YMCA.

What will you need?

• Maps of mall routes and distances
• A place for everyone to meet, ideally a restaurant
• Promotional items, like T-shirts or pedometers

Who else can help?

• Get people moving—The local recreation department, gym, YMCA, or hospital wellness program.
• Spread the word—The mall management staff, minority organizations, local media, libraries, senior centers, Kiwanis and Lions clubs, places of worship, beauty and barber shops, dry cleaners, pharmacies, and laundromats, to name a few.
• Provide refreshments—Mall food merchants.

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Get Pharmacists Involved: Organize an “Ask the Pharmacist” Day on Diabetes

Why?

People with diabetes have to see the pharmacist regularly for their medications and test strips. Many seek the pharmacist for advice on their medications and other related concerns. An “Ask the Pharmacist” day will help attract customers to the store and provide customers with an opportunity to ask questions about diabetes.

How?

Contact area pharmacies to see if they are willing to host a question-and-answer session for customers on controlling diabetes and medication. On flyers advertising the event, ask customers to bring with them all the medications they are currently taking, including over-the-counter medicines. Develop generic posters to announce the event. The NDEP brochures and bookmarks can be distributed to customers. Many pharmacies can print a message about diabetes with the NDEP logo on the labels or bags of each prescription filled.

Tips

Provide pharmacists with a copy of the NDEP logo. They can include the store name with the logo as a partner with the NDEP in this effort.

Where to start?

Call and ask for the pharmacy or store manager. If the pharmacy is part of a chain, you will need to call its corporate office.

What will you need?

• A separate area to discuss each person’s medicines with him or her
• Tables and chairs
• Tip sheets on taking medications properly

Who else can help?

Large stores may be willing to host the event in all of their regional stores.

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Control Diabetes with Healthy Foods and Fun: Encourage Restaurants to Add a Diabetes-Healthy Selection to the Menu.

How?

Talk to area restaurant owners about adding a diabetes-healthy selection to the menu. The American Dietetic Association and the American Association of Diabetes Educators can provide expert advice and guidance on developing a special selection for the menu or adapting an existing menu item so that it is suitable for a person with diabetes.

This can be a one-time activity, or restaurants may be willing to tie it to a diabetes-related health theme (e.g., February is heart month; people with diabetes have a higher risk of heart disease) or to ethnic fairs and special events (e.g., September is the annual Hispanic festival). Ethnic restaurants can promote the new menu addition to show that ethnic dishes can be prepared in a way that is healthy and still tastes great.

NDEP posters can be displayed in the window of the restaurant or a special insert announcing the healthy menu selection can be printed and clipped to the menu.

Tips

Fast-food restaurants with healthy menu selections like salads can also join the effort. They can help spread the word on their tray place mats. Contact their corporate offices for details.

Where to start?

• Contact the owners or managers of local restaurants.
• Many cities have an association of restaurant owners listed in the telephone book.
• Also contact your local American Dietetic Association and AADE. Contact information is listed at the end of this guide.

What will you need?

• Nutrient analysis
• Flyers
• Recipe cards

Who else can help?

• The American Diabetes Association
• Local media
• Local health care providers

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