Diabetes grant to educate

People living in rural areas or Allegheny County, and U.S. Air Force veterans are all among… People living in rural areas or Allegheny County, and U.S. Air Force veterans are all among the possible beneficiaries of a new $10 million grant.

On Friday, Congressman John Murtha announced the appropriation of the funding to Pitt’s Diabetes Institute.

According to Jane Duffield, UPMC’s news bureau director, Western Pennsylvania has a higher-than-normal diabetes average.

In the entire state, there are about 1.1 million people with diabetes. And annually, 11,500 Pennsylvanians die from the disease. Diabetes is the leading cause of new blindness cases, end-stage renal disease and non-traumatic amputations in Pennsylvania, according to a UPMC press release.

The newly-allocated money will go toward increasing diabetes education. Duffield said that a lot of research has gone into learning how to take care of diabetes patients; however, that information has not funneled its way into many clinics and primary care doctors’ offices.

In particular, people living in rural areas are left without health care or information regarding diabetic care.

“The main focus is to take that knowledge and make it more accessible,” Duffield said.

Duffield added that the rate of diabetes among Air Force veterans and their families is considerably higher than the average. By increasing education, the program will help teach such high-risk groups how to prevent the disease and how to take care of themselves once contracting it.

Currently, UPMC works with the Air Force through its telemedicine programs. These programs allow information to be kept in computerized databases, which help with medical education, the transferring of medical records and allowing distant doctors to consult on various surgeries, she said.

In the aforementioned press release, Lt. Gen. George Peach Taylor, M.D., of the Air Force’s medical services said, “[The Air Force Medical Services] expects that the new initiative will significantly enhance our capability to provide comprehensive care to our 130,000 beneficiaries who have Type 2 diabetes.”