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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Chris Norwood, Executive Director of Health People, on Diabetes Reduction Plan and Peer Education Programs
5:35:33
ยท
130 sec
Chris Norwood, Executive Director of Health People, testifies about the city's failure to implement and fund a comprehensive diabetes reduction plan mandated by the council. She emphasizes the need for community self-management peer-delivered education for diabetes patients and highlights the alarming increase in diabetes complications, particularly amputations.
- Norwood requests a $3,500,000 allocation to start peer education programs for diabetes self-management.
- She points out that the Diabetes Self-management program has been shown to reduce depression by 50%.
- The testimony underscores the gap in peer education for diabetes compared to other health issues like HIV, COVID, and mental health.
Chris Norwood
5:35:33
Yes.
5:35:34
Good afternoon.
5:35:35
Thank you.
5:35:35
I'm Chris Norwood, executive director of Health People.
5:35:40
I have to remark on the continuing failure of the city administration to implement fund the comprehensive diabetes reduction plan mandated by the council.
5:35:50
Having worked on that extensively as community co chair with c Virginia Fields to produce that plan, I particularly find it incomprehensible that neither the health department or the city council has funded the community self management peer delivered education, which is a chief recommendation of that plan.
5:36:10
We have this kind of peer education for almost everything else, HIV, COVID, mental health, and yet to continue to fail, to put it in place for people with diabetes so they can, in their community, learn effective safe self management has left a staggering gap.
5:36:33
The figures that will soon come out from the city show horrifying increases in complications, particularly amputation, which went up a hundred percent between 02/2010 and two hundred and nineteen, and just in the two years since 2020 has gone up fifty two percent in The Bronx, 60 6 Percent in New York, and twenty five percent in Queens.
5:36:58
A huge portion of people with diabetes remain with very out of control blood sugar, which puts them at more risk for other complications.
5:37:07
And very importantly, as we talk about mental health, the Diabetes Self management program, which is a six session peer delivered program, is well evaluated to slash depression by fifty percent.
5:37:20
I am asking the city council to please finally address this, And we have asked for an allocation, from the speakers list of 3,500,000 to start peer education programs, teach other agencies how to do it so they can do it themselves and keep going and it's
Lynn Schulman
5:37:43
sustainable.