November 14th marks World Diabetes Day. As you can imagine, here at mySugr, this is an important day for us. This year, we thought it was important to highlight some quick facts about World Diabetes Day as well as some suggestions on how you can encourage your employees to get involved and show their support for those living with diabetes.
Fact #1: World Diabetes Day is celebrated on November 14th to pay tribute to Frederick Banting who discovered insulin in 1922. This date commemorates Frederick’s birthdate.
Fact #2: World Diabetes Day was created in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation and World Health Organization in response to the growing health threat of diabetes and became an official United Nations Day in 2006.
Fact #3: World Diabetes Day is the largest diabetes awareness campaign reaching over 1 billion people across 160 countries.
Fact #4: World Diabetes Day is represented by a blue circle logo that is the global symbol for diabetes awareness. It signifies the unity of the global diabetes community in response to the diabetes epidemic.
Fact #5: Every year World Diabetes Day focuses on a dedicated theme. For both 2018 & 2019 the theme is Family & Diabetes.
Family & Diabetes Theme
The fact that the IDF has selected Family & Diabetes as the theme for two years running is not surprising. Research has shown that there is a direct correlation between social support and treatment adherence in patients living with type 2 diabetes. In addition, most diabetes management takes place in the home — glucose management, healthy cooking and exercise — are all key factors in diabetes management, so having your family, friends and co-workers on board can help make many if not all of these tasks easier and/or more enjoyable. So as an employer, how can you help?
3 easy ways to get your employees involved:
1. Get your employees in on the action. Whether they have diabetes themselves or want to show their support for those who do — encourage all your employees to show their support for World Diabetes Day by downloading the blue circle app and sharing across company channels or by taking their own type 2 diabetes risk assessment and helping the IDF reach their goal of having 1 million people screened for their diabetes type 2 risk.
2. Encourage healthy food and food options around the office.
This is simple; for one day -- November 14th -- swap out the sugery and high carb snacks for some healthy options such as fruits, veggies and nuts. Place signs near the snacks stating that in honor of World Diabetes Day, you are making a commitment to support the cause.
3. Plan a walk. Encourage your employees to get up and moving for a 15-20 minute walk on November 14th to support the cause. Schedule the walk for the mid-afternoon 2 or 3 o’clock hour when people are typically hitting the mid-afternoon slump and tend to wander over to the coffee machine.
The IDF has done a tremendous job of making it easy to get involved and help get others involved in supporting World Diabetes Day. If you are looking for an easy to use toolkit to pull together any of the three ideas we suggested above, then have a look at their resources page here and get started.
If you are ready to take things a step further and looking for an integrated diabetes management solution for your employees, contact us here today and make our World Diabetes Day just a little bit happier!
The mySugr website does not provide medical or legal advice. mySugr blog articles are not scientific articles, but intended for informational purposes only.
Medical or nutritional information on the mySugr website is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always consult a physician or health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
