Former Surgeon General Dr. Jocelyn Elders called for “education, education, education.”… Former Surgeon General Dr. Jocelyn Elders called for “education, education, education.”

Speaking Wednesday at a UPMC sponsored luncheon held in Alumni Hall about diabetes awareness, Elders expressed the urgent need for diabetes education within communities across the United States.

Elders, who never visited a doctor before attending college, cited that the primary reason diabetes has become such a widespread issue in this country is the result of poverty and ignorance.

“You can’t keep a patient healthy who is ignorant,” Elders said.

Elders stressed that health education needs to become a concern among community leaders and needs to be taught within the schools.

Elders, who cited obesity as one of the primary causes of diabetes, said that 65 percent of the population is overweight, 25 percent of children are overweight and 40 to 50 percent of minority women are obese.

According to Elders this means, “Black women are far more likely to have diabetes because there is more obesity.”

She argued that the media has the resources to reach people but they do not do it.

“Other countries do it,” Elders said.

This is the reason diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in this country and the third leading cause of death in minority communities, according to Elders.

Elders asked the audience if they have seen the meals their children are receiving in school.

Elders said with 25 million children who have reduced or free lunches, the United States needs to reintroduce health education and exercise into the schools at the kindergarten through 12th grade level. By bringing this information into the schools, Elders said parents will learn, too.

Elders added that beyond health education, access to health care needs to improve. Approximately 44 million people in the country are living with no health care and, as a country, the United States is ranked 54th in the world when it comes to health care provisions, according to Elders.

Elders said that she once told former President Bill Clinton, when he was still governor of Arkansas, “It is a lot easier to train a bus driver than it is to train a doctor.”

By improving public transportation, the problem of health care accessibility is being dealt with, Elders explained.

Elders called out to doctors, business owners, educators, and leaders within the community to create change and to make the community healthier and combat the issue of diabetes.

She said those within the community must initiate change.

“You’ve got to be involved and knowledgeable about the community. You can’t teach those people if you do not know where they are coming from.”

She added that it is the responsibility of all kinds of community leaders to make change.

Elders said that once she went into a church to talk about sexual awareness and was told that sex was a sin and it was not an appropriate place to address the topic.

To this, Elders responded, “What’s a church for if it’s not to save sinners?”

Elders explained that process of educating the community about its health and the threat of diabetes is not a simple one. She described the process not as a sprint but a marathon.

She explained, “We’ve got to become a voice and a vision to the powerless.”

Elders added that in order to reduce the threat of diabetes, leaders need to be committed to the cause, involved in it, and willing to make an investment in their community.

“We are dealing with the urgency of now if we are going to make a difference,” she said.