Nonprofit focuses on all aspects of diabetes advocacy

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Nonprofit focuses on all aspects of diabetes advocacy
Friday, August 15, 2008
Nikki Bornhorst
Business First of Columbus

The Central Ohio field office of the national organization works on research, prevention and community outreach.

When Tony Rife had questions about medication for his Type 2 diabetes, he called the Central Ohio field office of the American Diabetes Association.

Armed with information from his doctor and the drug maker, Rife, 25, said a staff member offered up her own experience with the drug.

“The information I got was more personal. That was very useful,” Rife said.

The nonprofit American Diabetes Association, founded in 1940, differs itself from other organizations because it focuses on all types of the disease.

“We take care of all people with diabetes, from research to prevention to maintenance,” said Devorah Kermisch, executive director of the Central Ohio field office, which covers 26 counties.

Rife, a Lancaster resident, first came in contact with the association soon after his May 2007 diagnosis. For last year’s Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes, Rife set up a team with his family and friends that raised $1,400, he said.

The association offers programs throughout the U.S. Research dollars are used to find ways to prevent, treat and ultimately find a cure for the disease. In Ohio, 18 researchers are funded through the association, including two in Columbus – one at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and one at Ohio State University.

But, “What really makes us stand out is our advocacy efforts,” Kermisch said.

From public officials in Washington, D.C., to administrators in local school districts, the association advocates for the fair treatment of those with diabetes.

“It’s a discriminating disease,” Kermisch said.

She said in the 1990s, pilots and truck drivers could not work if they had diabetes, “but we worked and we fought for that, and now they can.”

Another advocacy effort that is getting much attention in Ohio is health insurance, Kermisch said. Ohio is one of only four states where the state-regulated health insurance companies are not required to provide coverage for basic diabetes education, equipment and supplies, she said. The passage of the Diabetes Cost Reduction Act would change that. Twin bills were introduced in the Ohio House of Representatives and the state Senate in 2007, though neither version has made it out of committee to be considered by the full chambers. Legislators have until Dec. 31 to consider the bill, or it will have to be reintroduced in the next General Assembly.

Keeping children with diabetes safe while at school and ensuring they are given appropriate opportunities to succeed is something near and dear to Powell resident Anita Clark. Her 10-year-old son, Tyler, was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes when he was 3.

She said she didn’t know what kinds of rights parents had when it came time for Tyler to start kindergarten. She was told the public school he would attend didn’t have a nurse, therefore no one would be able to administer his insulin shot. So Tyler was enrolled in a private school.

Since then, the family has become active with the association and much more familiar with their rights.

“We were ignorant. We didn’t know our rights,” Clark said. “If I would have known what I know now – that they were required to have someone help administer his shot – he would have gone to that school.”

Tyler’s family has become advocates for the cause, and he will be starting fifth grade at public school this year.

When not lobbying legislators or school districts, association staffers are out in the community.

“What we do in the field office is to try to understand what the community’s needs are,” Kermisch said.

A Columbus Health Department study found African-American men in Franklin County had one of the highest rates of death due to complications from diabetes in the country, Kermisch said. The population studied, on the Near East Side, has little education about the disease, and the men rarely visit a doctor, she said. The men grow up with diabetes symptoms they don’t recognize.

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