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Date: 12/9/2016
SPRINGFIELD – November may have been Diabetes Awareness Month, but to Chet Galaska, founder of the Challenge Diabetes Program, one month is not enough attention for this growing health issue.
Galaska is, is working with the YMCA of Greater Springfield, Mercy Medical Center and Baystate Medical Center to spotlight this health issue and empower those with Type 2 and prediabetes to learn more about these conditions and proper self-care.
The Challenge Diabetes Program offers enrollees a free one-month membership at the Greater Springfield Y – including help setting up an exercise program – as well as a log book, step counter and a blood glucose monitor and test strips. Enrollees are asked to work out at the Y three times a week whenever it is convenient for them, to test their blood sugar before and after working out, and to keep a log book of their steps and blood glucose numbers. The program also explains what an A1C number is and why it is important to health, offers recommendations on which diabetes experts to see, and provides classes on nutrition, foot care and other health topics. Individuals can join Challenge Diabetes at any time.
Galaska, who has written a book about diabetes and is a Type 1 diabetic, is focusing on individuals with Type 2 diabetes because it is the most common, and fastest growing form of the condition in America today. According to the American Diabetes Association, 1.4 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes every year. The number of individuals diagnose with prediabetes (also know as insulin resistance) is also increasing; there were 79 million cases diagnosed in 2010. By 2012 that number had increased to 86 million.
In 2013, the cost of medical care for diabetes in America was $176 billion, with another $69 billion in lost productivity attributed to the condition.
In contrast, only 1.25 million Americans have Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease in which the body’s pancreas stops producing usable insulin. Those individuals must take daily injections of insulin to survive.
Galaska noted a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes carries a stigma that often causes individuals to ignore their illness, at great cost to their health.
“People think that if you’re overweight or sedentary or both, that you brought diabetes on yourself, and that is not the case. Neither one of those things causes diabetes. They are important in dealing with it once you have it, but they are not the cause,” Galaska explained. “What we need to do is to explain to people that insulin resistance is the underlying cause of Type 2 diabetes, and that is primarily a genetic [issue], and it does not have to do with your personal behavior.”
He said patient confusion and shame often stem from a misinterpretation of treatment advice – individuals are often initially advices to lose weight and exercise – as factors that led to developing diabetes.
“A lot of people feel guilty about diabetes because they think they brought it on themselves,” he said. “The fact is only about one in seven overweight people develop diabetes but many thin people do, so there’s something more at work here than just weight.”
He added that the stigma prevents some people from getting the care that they need. Often these individuals don’t want to burden their families with the things diabetics need to do, so they don’t take care of themselves properly.
For more information about the Challenge Diabetes program contact the downtown Springfield Family Center at the Greater Springfield YMCA at 739-6951 or visit the program’s website at www.challemgediabetes.us.