COVID has put a spotlight on public health, along with health disparities and the chronic conditions millions and millions of people in our country live with every day. Right at the top of those conditions are type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
The American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association have launched a campaign to educate communities across the US about prevention, management and treatment of type 2 diabetes.
Rec
ently in Baltimore, Dr. William Ashley, a volunteer expert for Know Diabetes by Heart and a neurosurgeon with LifeBridge Health was interview by radio host Ryan Da Lion of Magic 95.9 FM to discuss this initiative. The full interview is linked at the bottom of this article.
Two years ago, the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association got together to do something about the link between type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke because they knew they would be even stronger together.
People with diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease or stroke, but a survey revealed that only about half of people over age 44 living with type 2 diabetes understand their risk for cardiovascular disease or have talked about it with their health care providers. The risk for heart complications from diabetes is very real, but you can do something about it. In addition to the healthy choices we can make, advances in technology and medicine are on our side.
To increase awareness and give people actionable information right to their phones, the org
anizations created a fun, limited-time text program designed to help people living with type 2 diabetes keep their health game strong through the rest of 2020.With the holidays often being an especially challenging to health this program seeks to help people end the year on a high note. Join the Know Diabetes by Heart Take2 Holiday text program by texting the word
HOLIDAY to 22639. You’ll get useful information and even hear from Know Diabetes by Heart Ambassador Angela Bassett!
Learn more about the text program and the link
between type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke at KnowDiabetesbyHeart.org.
Listen to Dr. Ashley’s full interview here: