It’s hard to believe that National Diabetes Awareness Month has come and gone! Lots of impactful events took place as well as lots of learning. We like to highlight people and organizations that are making a difference in the diabetes community, so this month we’re highlighting DiabetesSisters, a national nonprofit that strives to improve the health and quality of life of women with diabetes and to advocate on their behalf. We spoke with a DiabetesSisters PODS leader in a previous post on travel with diabetes you can read here. (disclosure: Deb serves on the board of directors for DiabetesSisters)
Thank you to Anna Norton, Karen Graffeo and Sara Mart for sharing the initiatives they’ve been focusing on to support the community during National Diabetes Awareness Month (#NDAM) and beyond.
FROM DIABETES SISTERS…….
National Diabetes Awareness Month Activities
This month alone, our Minority Initiative Program hosted events for women in underserved populations, with presenter Lorena Drago, MS, RDN, CDN, CDE sharing information, dispelling myths, and answering questions about diabetes. Two of these events, held in Miami on November 13th and 14th focused on culturally relevant information for Latina women and were conducted entirely in Spanish. On November 15th, we teamed up with Hip Hop Fit with Gene Hicks in the Chicago area, where Lorena discussed myths and misconceptions about diabetes. Then attendees participated in a fun Hip Hop Fit class. These events were open to community members, thanks to our sponsors.
We also completed our third installment of our Facebook Live Series on November 15th. With partners The National Kidney Foundation and WomenHeart, we focused on the connection between diabetes, heart disease, and chronic kidney disease. It was hosted by Anne Dalin, who lives with diabetes and is a leader of our Bridgewater PODS Meetup group.
PODS Meetups
Our PODS Meetups are a signature program of DiabetesSisters and are peer-led support groups for women living with all types of diabetes and pre-diabetes. Held throughout the country all year long, volunteers lead Meetups in more than 40 locations! During National Diabetes Awareness month, thirty PODS groups met, with several of them focusing on conversations about diabetes and heart health. Earlier this year, many of our leaders also spent time in Chicago for our 5th Annual Leadership Institute, where they enhanced their skills in facilitating conversations and creating an open, welcoming atmosphere that encourages honest discussions. They brainstormed ways to promote, recruit, maintain, and grow PODS Meetups and shared with PODS Leaders from around the nation. DiabetesSisters also supports our volunteers with PODS Site Visits, where members of our staff travel to and attend PODS Meetups. Our staff spent time on the road this year to visit with groups in North Carolina, Minnesota, Texas, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.
Between the Lines Project
At the beginning of the year, we launched Between the Lines, a digital page on our website sharing real stories of women living real lives with diabetes. Each story focuses on a different life event and discusses the challenges posed to managing blood glucose levels and the effects on quality of life. It is important to share these real stories that show examples of how life events can impact our ability to stay between the lines of our desired blood sugar range, and we are thankful for every woman who has shared her personal story with us. This on-going project welcomes new stories continuously and we invite any woman living with diabetes or pre-diabetes who is interested in sharing her story to email us at info@diabetessisters.org
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