World Diabetes Day.

On December 20, 2006, the United Nations (UN) passed a resolution to designate November 14 as World Diabetes Day. The occasion aimed to raise awareness of diabetes, its prevention and complications and the care that people with the condition need.

Yesterday a Bronx based CBO, (Health People) held a peaceful protect with their Executive Director Chris Norwood, staff member and peer leaders. Outside the greater New York Hospital Association at 555 West 57th Street from 11 am. to 1 pm..

Here we are over a decade later at New York Metropolitan Hospital the area's largest  " nonprofit " hospitals who have reaped profits of 1.43 billion in 2016, according to Crain's New York Business.  A new study from Health People; Community Preventive Health Institute, leader of the Coalition, shows that even one-quarter of their profits could fund widespread, evidence-based preventive education that would preclude more than 200,000 new diabetes cases developing in the low-income communities where diabetes is concentrated. 

Without serious an effective prevention, New York State will add another 1.35 million diabetes to its existing caseload of 5.4 million patients within five years, while New York City will add another 325, 000 new cases to its own current caseload of 1.3 million diabetes," said Chris Norwood.  "We will go on and on with the horror of widespread amputation, blindness and thousands more people on dialysis."

"Why?  When we know this is stoppable.  The best researched prevention education, from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention- recognized National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP), is shown to slash by almost  60 percent the risk that pre-diabetics have of developing full brown diabetes very important outcome. "

The Health People study , "Educate--Don't Amputate: Hospital Profits versus Diabetes Prevention," projects that even using one quarter of reported hospital profits to enable  community groups to bring the NDPP to the neighborhoods where pre-diabetes is concentrated would save New Yonkers from a minimum of $200,000 new diabetes cases. 

With lifetime costs of diabetes having reached $150,000 to $200,000 per patient, preventing 200,000 cases would, over time, save public and private direct medical cost of some $30 billion.

"The profits that many "nonprofit" hospitals are now making are unprecedented. " said Norwood.  It is also unprecedented for the health industry to watch an epidemic, like that of diabetes, to go absolutely unchecked and to ignore effective prevention for years. Bringing these two diabetes, to go absolutely unchecked and to ignore effective prevention for years.  Bringing these two diabetes, to go absolutely unchecked and to signore effective prevention for years.  Bringing these two unprecedented situations together can finally place us on the path to successfully confronting diabetes."

For more information: Please visit www.healthpeople.org