The Positive Power of the Press: New York Times Articles Spur $ 6 Million Donation to Diabetes Center — Challenge to Wealthy People, Foundations & More

This is a wonderful example of the potentially positive power of the press. I hope this story warms your heart but also fires you up to motivate and inspire more wealthy people and organizations to donate to worthwhile programs that provide valuable help to people with diabetes…

Jane Friedman, director of the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman New York Foundation for Medical Research, recently read the fabulously researched, eye-opening series of articles in The New York Times about the growing diabetes epidemic, which affects an estimated 800,000 adults in the city.

Friedman was so horrified by the Times articles that her foundation just made a $6 million donation to re-open and fund Beth Israel Medical Center’s special diabetics unit to offer largely preventive care and education to diabetics, the New York Times reported today.

Finally, some encouraging news on the diabetes front.

A little history is in order. Sadly, the Beth Israel diabetes center — intended to serve as a one-stop place for diabetes help — had opened in 1999 but had to shut down a year later due to financial problems.

Essentially, as Times reporter Marc Santora so aptly points out, the closure — and that of other failed diabetes centers in the city — "reflected imbalances in the financial structure of the American health care system, where acute care for the sick is reimbursed but almost nothing is devoted to preventive care."

But, now this generous donation — half of which goes to research on type 2 diabetes — could ultimately help prevent debilitating, life-threatening diabetic complications in its patients. That’s exciting.

Basically, here’s what this gift could mean: If diabetic patients advised and treated at the center pay attention to the nutrition education and blood sugar monitoring advice they’re given, they could potentially prevent such horrible outcomes as blindness, kidney disease, memory problems, heart disease, nerve damage, and amputations of one of their limbs.

Sadly, even with this substantial contribution, the hospital will probably lose about $15 a patient for every visit, Dr. Leonid Poretsky, the chief of endocrinology at Beth Israel who will head the new center, told The Times.

Times reporter Santora points out a huge flaw in health insurance, which is that "insurers will almost always pay the $375 for dialysis," but, on the other hand, "getting them to reimburse even $75 for a nutritionist can be a challenge."

That just makes no sense to me. Time and time again, I’ve heard of such insurance idiocy. If you’re really ill and your diabetes has advanced, then you can get insurance coverage, but if you’re newly diagnosed, you’ve got to jump through hoops to get your insurance company to cover you if you want to learn how to prevent getting diabetes-related kidney disease.

In my opinion, once a person finds out he or she has diabetes, one of the first appointments that patient should make (after seeing the doctor, of course) is with a diabetes educator or nutritionist.

Considerable research shows that making lifestyle changes — which you can learn about through education — is the key to both preventing getting diabetes in the first place and managing it successfully if you do get it.

Anyhow, Jane Friedman, whose uncle, Gerald, worked as a doctor at Beth Israel, told The Times that she hopes her foundation’s gift will help reinstitute a successful program and that it "will encourage other [diabetes] centers to open."

Wel, I’d like to do my part to make sure that valuable diabetes centers such a these thrive — not just survive.

Take the Diabetes Center Challenge!

Since America has nearly 21 million diabetics and since prevention and nutrition education is so important and since diabetes centers such as that at Beth Israel Medical Center seem the absolute ideal place to help recently diagnosed diabetics, I’d like to present a challenge to wealthy people, foundations, and governments across America.

Attention: You most wealthy people out there, both in and out of Manhattan!

Attention: Well-endowed foundations throughout the country!

Attention: Our New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and other mayors nationwide!

Given that considerable recent research shows how losing weight, improving one’s diet, exercising regularly, and properly managing blood sugar levels can help manage diabetes, I’d like to inviite you to allocate subsantial funds to Beth Israel Medical Center’s special diabetics unit and to other diabetes centers in Manhattan and around the country so that diabetics can learn what to do.

In particular, if you live in New York City, please join our efforts to get more funding for diabetes centers. For starters, here’s how to contact the mayor:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
PHONE 311 — or 212-NEW-YORK, if you’re outside NYC)
FAX (212) 788-2460

Alas, this e-mail link to the mayor wasn’t working today. (I tried it several times.)

Please spread the word!

FYI, I am NOT in any way affiliated with Beth Israel Medical Center’s special diabetics center. I am merely a concerned citiizen and author of the upcoming book, SUGAR SHOCK!, which has given me an incredible education about the horrifying, potentially deadly consequences of being obese or overweight, not exercising, eating what I call "culprit carbs," and not properly managing blood sugar levels. So please, I urge you, do your part to either prevent your own blood sugar problems or help others who already have them.