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Diabetes Intervention Programs

Diabetes intervention gives those suffering with the disease the information to combat it more successfully. In some cases, intervention is necessary because people simply do not take the problem seriously enough. Untreated diabetes causes many health and financial problems. ICAN, the intervention program for Improving Control with Activity and Nutrition, determined that diabetes sufferers who do nothing about their lifestyles and treatment lose up to 6.6 days of work per year. Diabetes intervention programs teach disease control through medication and lifestyle changes. They also investigate and suggest paths of treatment for diabetes-related depression.

  1. Project DIRECT

    • Project DIRECT is a diabetes intervention program located in Wake County, North Carolina. They believe that people with diabetes can enjoy a healthy live if they catch the problem early enough and manage it properly with an appropriate lifestyle that includes healthy meals and plenty of exercise. They share the potential dangers of untreated diabetes, which includes heart disease, leg amputations, kidney failure, blindness and stroke. For more information on Project DIRECT, contact:

      Project DIRECT

      219 S. East Street

      Raleigh, NC

      919-856-6540

      wakegov.com/humanservices/health/adults/diabetes.htm

    Winthrop University Hospital Cornerstone

    • This program is funded by a $100,000 grant from the Edward Smith Mineola Lions Club to help the Diabetes Education Center at the hospital provide a lifestyle program for individuals with pre-diabetes. Their hope is to help individuals take control of the disease before the problems start. They give patients a method of balancing their lifestyle with healthy food choices and exercise programs to facilitate weight control. It's the only pre-diabetes intervention program available in the entire New York area. For more information, contact:

      Winthrop University Hospital

      Diabetes Education Center

      286 Old Country Road

      2nd Floor

      Mineola, New York 11501

      516-663-2350

      winthrop.org/newsroom/publications/vol17_no1_2007/page9.cfm

    72 Block by Block

    • In Humbolt Park, Illinois, the National Institute of Health hopes to stem the flow of people who do not know they have active diabetes. The disease destroys and kills, but it can be a silent killer. Sometimes individuals don't know they have the disease until the most severe symptoms strike and treatment is many times more difficult—or impossible, as is the case with amputation. The Block by Block program is an intervention provided by a combined effort of Rush University Medical Center and Sinai Urban Health Institute, and it aims for awareness at the onstart of the disease. The program hopes that screening the nearly 13,000 adults living in the area will uncover as many as 1,700 people who didn't even realize they had diabetes. The screening includes waist measurements, blood pressure, and a census form. Help finding medical care is provided. For information contact:

      Sinai Urban Health Institute

      Mount Sinai Hospital

      1500 S. California Avenue, K435

      Chicago, IL 60608

      773-257-5960

      [email protected]

      or

      Rush University Medical Center

      1653 W. Congress Parkway

      Chicago, Illinois, 60612

      630-792-5636

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