District Cabinet Meeting - Sunday, October 6, 2024
Diabetes Committee Report

The diabetes committee has not officially met this FY but stay tuned for an upcoming meeting soon with November Diabetes Awareness month/day. That being said, if any of our new Cabinet members or any Lions in general are interested in stepping up their service by joining the diabetes committee, now is the time to reach out.

If any of these topics interest anyone and you would like to have me or someone from the committee come and speak at a local Lions meeting, please reach out so we can try to make that happen.

November is National Diabetes Month!
What is your club doing to promote diabetes awareness? You may recall a few years ago we had a contest to encourage clubs to have a service project (or 2 or 3) in November. These don't have to be huge events and can include social media posts. Any clubs that have events will have their names in a hat to pick a winner. The more events you have, the more entries. Clubs can get ideas in several places, and there will be multiple winners. Tell your club presidents and secretaries to watch for more information on this 27 D1 campaign.
Find ideas here:
https://www.lionsclubs.org/en/start-our-global-causes/diabetes
https://wlf.info/our-work/diabetes-awareness/ target
https://www.facebook.com/groups/lionsfightdiabetes/

Diabetes Advocacy I wanted to provide an update on the diabetes meetings with federal legislators/staff from August. I met with 2 staff members (Rep. Pocan and Sen. Johnson) with good support for diabetes initiatives that the American Diabetes Association is supporting: Appropriations (government identified funding of programs for research), insulin affordability, obesity treatments and amputations.

There is also significant progress being made in Wisconsin around Continuous Glucose Monitoring technology for WI Medicaid recipients. If you are interested in getting on the advocacy train, this is a GREAT opportunity for Lions and clubs. Especially if you are having an event or service project focusing on diabetes, you can reach to your state and federal representatives in case they can have someone join and support. Other organizations have their own advocacy teams, such as Beyond Type 1 (Formerly JDRF)

Diabetes Screening
Madison Lions clubs are partnering again with HyVee to offer diabetes screenings this year. Dates and specifics are being worked out, and the clubs will be requesting our cabinet support for $1500 to increase the number of tests that can be provided. Trollway Diabetes will also be donating $500 in order to hopefully get more people screened for diabetes/prediabetes. This will be spread across four Hy-Vee stores within our district.

Trollway Diabetes Inc:
Now an MDPP recognized provider of CDC's Diabetes Prevention Program, which means the program is covered once per lifetime for Medicare B recipients with a blood test within the past 12 months identifying prediabetes. Also now covered by Quartz insurance as well. Will continue to reach out to the district as needed for financial support for attendees who are not covered by insurance, at a continued rate of $200 per person. I have not needed to use funds for this at all last year with the help of this insurance coverage. For those that have been on the cabinet for a while, you have heard me talk about this very impactful program and I am going to continue to request support for this from our clubs because of the potential impact it can have. I will be sending out some email blasts coming up to club presidents/secretaries about upcoming Discovery Sessions in the Mt. Horeb area, as well as class information for November start of virtual cohort, as well as an in person cohort hopefully starting in December. Anyone can attend these sessions, and I actually encourage someone from each club diabetes committee attend a discovery session so they know what it is about and can promote it in their district. If YOU are at risk or know someone, you should enroll yourself!

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