ADVISORY/Leading Advocacy And Medical Organizations Launch New Initiative To Help New York Residents With Diabetes Aim For, Believe In, And Achieve Optimal Blood Sugar Control

Business Wire, Nov 13, 2002

News/Assignment Editors & Health/Medical Writers

ADVISORY...for Thursday (Nov. 14)

--(BUSINESS WIRE)

    WHAT: Today in New York, and in 16 major cities nationwide, a new
          program called Aim. Believe. Achieve: The Diabetes A1C
          Initiative (TM) will educate people about A1C and help them
          understand that they can achieve a target of less than 7%.
          Representatives from leading advocacy and medical
          organizations join key policymakers to issue a call to
          action, urging New York residents to help the more than
          748,000 people in New York living with type 2 diabetes to
          achieve and maintain target blood sugar levels (an A1C<7%).

    WHO:  New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation President and
          Chief Executive Officer Benjamin K. Chu, M.D., MPH, will be
          joined by:

        -   Jerome Tolbert, M.D., Ph.D., Chair, NYC Leadership
            Council, American Diabetes Association

        -   Pat Linekin, President, Metro New York Association of
            Diabetes Educators

        -   Local area diabetes advocates: Ken Feldman (area resident
            with diabetes) and Jan Seley (certified diabetes educator)

    WHEN/WHERE: 2:00 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 14th, World Diabetes Day,
                Bellevue Hospital Center Rose Room (462 First Avenue
                at 27th Street) in Manhattan.

                Other proclamation events will be occurring
                simultaneously in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston,
                Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los
                Angeles, Madison, Miami, Minneapolis, Philadelphia,
                San Francisco, and Seattle. A national proclamation
                event will also take place in Washington, D.C.

Editor Note

A1C (also known as HbA1C or glycated hemoglobin) is the standard for measuring blood sugar, or glucose, control over a two-month period. A target of less than 7% is recommended by the American Diabetes Association for optimal blood sugar control. Yet despite the availability of treatments that can effectively help people reach this target, more than half of the 11 million Americans who have already been diagnosed with the disease are not achieving this goal. As a result, millions of people may be at risk for serious complications associated with diabetes such as heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney damage, and amputation.

This initiative is being sponsored by Aventis Pharmaceuticals. For more information on type 2 diabetes, Aim. Believe. Achieve: The Diabetes A1C Initiative(TM), or A1C testing visit www.diabeteswatch.com/A1C or call 1-800-922-5324.