NDEP News & Notes—As Kids Prepare to Head Back to School, Help Keep Students with Diabetes Safe and Healthy

As students prepare to head back to school this fall, it is important to remember that students with diabetes face unique challenges when it comes to managing their diabetes—and their parents, teachers, and health care teams need to be prepared to help. Share the following NDEP resources with your community to help students with diabetes stay healthy and reach their goals—every day and all year long:

NDEP’s updated guide, Helping the Student with Diabetes Succeed: A Guide for School Personnel, is a resource that can help school personnel and families of children with diabetes learn about diabetes, how it is managed, and how each member of the school staff can make the school safe for students with diabetes. Explore and promote NDEP’s School Guide to encourage healthy living for students!

Another unique challenge for students with diabetes is making the transition from teenage years to adulthood, particularly as they assume more responsibility for diabetes self-management and make more independent judgments about their health care needs. To help make the transition easier, share NDEP’s Transitions from Pediatric to Adult Care Tool and slide set materials that can help teens with diabetes, their families, and health care professionals meet this challenge.

For teens and their families, NDEP has Tips for Teens—a series of brochures that include tips about managing and preventing diabetes and taking action to live a long, healthy life. These tip sheets offer quick and easy information to help teens learn about diabetes, be active, stay at a healthy weight, make healthy food choices, and deal with the ups and downs of diabetes.

Diabetes doesn’t have to keep children, teens, and young adults from reaching their goals. For more diabetes resources for youth, visit NDEP’s teen page at www.YourDiabetesInfo.org/Teens.

Updated 4 Steps to Control Your Diabetes. For Life.
NDEP’s updated 4 Steps to Control Your Diabetes. For Life. booklet is now available. The booklet outlines four key steps that help people with diabetes understand, monitor, and manage their diabetes. This resource is designed for people newly diagnosed with diabetes or for those who wish to learn more about the disease. 4 Steps to Control Your Diabetes. For Life. has been updated using an easy-to-read format to help people with diabetes and their health care team take actions to better manage their diabetes and lower their risk for complications.

NDEP recently unveiled Diabetes HealthSense, an online library of resources to help people live well and achieve their goals—whether they have diabetes or are at risk for the disease. Diabetes HealthSense is designed to provide access to a variety of behavior change and coping resources. Each month, NDEP will explore a different resource to help familiarize you with what’s available in Diabetes HealthSense.

Even as summer winds down and the kids head back to school, playtime doesn’t have to end. Running around and being active can help children get on the path to being physically active throughout their lives. With the After School Physical Activity website from the San Diego County Office of Education, teachers, parents, and students alike can find ideas, instructions, and videos for fun activities and games appropriate for children in grades 4 through 8.

To view this and other resources for living well, visit Diabetes HealthSense at www.YourDiabetesInfo.org/HealthSense.

Still Time to Register for the 2011 Partnership Network Meeting in October!
Join us in Atlanta on October 2-3 at the Emory Conference Center and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Tom Harkin Global Communication Center to “Celebrate NDEP Success: Past, Present, and Future.” This exciting meeting will engage, energize, and equip partners to collaborate with NDEP to address the growing diabetes epidemic in this ever-changing environment and will bring together more than 150 of your colleagues, friends, and partners. Click here to learn more and to register online. Register by August 15 to pay the $75 early bird registration fee!

Partners Shine in NDEP’s Partner Spotlight
NDEP’s Partner Spotlight webpage is updated regularly to feature the great work that our partners are doing to promote NDEP. In August, the Spotlight is on the following partners:

• The New York State Health Foundation (NYSHealth) Diabetes Campaign, for promoting diabetes education to community health educators using NDEP’s Road to Health toolkit.
• The New Hampshire Diabetes Education Program (NHDEP), for collaborating with state agencies to promote NDEP and National Diabetes Awareness Month.

If your organization has recently promoted an NDEP campaign or resource in an innovative way, your organization could be featured in the next Partner Spotlight! If you would like to be featured, please complete the Partner Spotlight submission form and send the submission form along with any photos, media results, and contact information to Darise Deal at ddeal@hagersharp.com.

NIDDK’s Diabetes Research Strategic Plan Identifies Opportunities for Research on Diabetes and its Complications over the Next Decade
Advancements in diabetes prevention and treatment can only be achieved through the support of scientific research conducted through a multi-pronged effort that addresses the complex challenges posed by diabetes. Recognizing this, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) recently released a 2011 diabetes research strategic plan. Developed through a dynamic planning process involving multiple stakeholders in the diabetes research enterprise, Advances and Emerging Opportunities in Diabetes Research: A Strategic Planning Report of the Diabetes Mellitus Interagency Coordinating Committee (DMICC) is meant to serve as a guidepost for identifying compelling opportunities for research on diabetes and its complications over the next decade. Click here to download or order your free copy!

The Strategic Plan for NIH Obesity Research and the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research
To combat the obesity epidemic, the National Institutes of Health is encouraging diverse scientific investigations through a new Strategic Plan for NIH Obesity Research. This plan will serve as a guide to accelerate a broad spectrum of research toward developing new and more effective approaches to address the tremendous burden of obesity, so that people can look forward to healthier lives. Click here to download the full version of the report or a nontechnical summary.

To advance and accelerate progress in addressing childhood obesity in America, the NIH, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) formed the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR). NCCOR’s mission is to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and application of childhood obesity research through enhanced coordination and collaboration. NCCOR is developing tools for obesity researchers. Released earlier this year, the Catalogue of Surveillance Systems www.nccor.org/css provides an online directory of over 75 surveillance systems containing data relevant to obesity research. Click here for additional information.

CDC Releases Issue Brief on The State of Vision, Aging, and Public Health in America
The CDC Division of Diabetes Translation recently released an issue brief called The State of Vision, Aging, and Public Health, which summarizes the prevalence of vision loss and eye diseases reported by people aged 65 or older, collected from data supplied by the Vision Impairment and Access to Eye Care Module of CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) during 2006–2008. The issue brief also provides information about access to eye care, health status, and comorbid conditions among older adults. These data can enhance public health surveillance and guide programs and policies in important ways.

CDC Launches Enhancements to Funding Profiles Tool
CDC is increasing its efforts to proactively provide partners and the public with agency-wide funding and other grants data of interest to you and your constituencies. CDC has launched the first enhancements to the existing CDC FY2010 Grant Funding Profiles tool. The tool now contains a “Query View” that offers the ability to view and download the detailed grants information behind the state and territorial summaries available through the “Map View.” The query function offers details about each grant, such as grantee name, address, congressional district, and more. Users can view and download the full data set or the results of their specific searches.

NDEP has many resources that you can share at health fairs, conferences, educational sessions, or as part of your organization’s educational and social media outreach efforts. Check out the NDEP 2011 Outreach and Promotional Plan: At-a-Glance for more resources.

In future issues of News & Notes, look for NDEP promotional tools that are available for you to customize and distribute. For example, use our printer-ready public service announcements to make diabetes posters for upcoming events, health fairs, or your office. Use our customizable campaign resources and toolkits to promote diabetes awareness in your community. Add your organization’s logo to NDEP’s feature articles, press releases, media advisories, and public service announcements.

Using social media? So are we! Don’t forget to follow NDEP on Twitter @NDEP, “like” our page on Facebook, and look for our videos on YouTube. Feel free to “re-tweet” and share NDEP posts with your social media friends! Don’t wait for your monthly issue of News & Notes to learn what’s new and exciting from NDEP. Click on the RSS icon on the NDEP homepage to subscribe!

By using our promotional tools, everybody wins. Your constituents receive important health information, your organization receives good publicity, and you help NDEP continue to be the nation’s No. 1 resource for free information and materials on diabetes control and prevention. News & Notes features resources that tie into quarterly promotions and can help us promote NDEP together.

If you have any questions about NDEP’s resources, promotions efforts, and how you might help promote NDEP, please contact Diane Tuncer at diane.tuncer@nih.gov.

Stop by and visit NDEP at the following upcoming presentations and exhibits:

• American Association of Diabetes Educators’ 11 Annual Meeting and Exhibition
  August 3-6, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nev.
• National Association of Community Health Centers’ 2011 Convention & Community Health Institute
  August 26-30, 2011 in San Diego, Calif.
• American Academy of Family Physicians' 2011 AAFP Scientific Assembly
  September 14-17, 2011, Orlando, Fla.
• Healthier Federal Workers 2011
  September 14-16, 2011, Washington, D.C.
  Pam Allweiss, M.D., M.P.H., will present a session on worksite wellness and resources such as NDEP’s DiabetesAtWork.org web site. Other NDEP products will be displayed in the exhibit area.
• American Dietetic Association
  Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo
  September 24-27, 2011, San Diego, Calif.
  Martha Funnell, M.S., R.N., C.D.E., NDEP Chair, and Joanne Gallivan, M.S., R.D., NDEP Director at NIH, will be presenting a session entitled, Self-Directed Behavior Change: Resources to Improve Health Outcomes. The session will address the challenges and opportunities facing Registered Dietitians and other health care professionals in working with patients, families, and communities to make positive, long-lasting lifestyle changes to improve health.
• American Academy of Pediatrics
  Energize 2011 National Conference & Exhibition
  October 15-18, 2011, Boston, Mass.

NDEP’s Symposium from ADA is Available Online
If you missed the NDEP symposium, Addressing the New Diabetes Demographics in the U.S., at the American Diabetes Association meeting in June, it’s not too late! The presentations are available to view for free on the American Diabetes Association website. Click here to view the presentations online.