[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4639-4640]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      AMERICAN DIABETES ALERT DAY

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this week, the National Medical Association 
sponsored American Diabetes Alert Day, with the purpose of bringing the 
public's attention to this distressingly prevalent disease.
  Approximately 20.8 million people in the United States have diabetes; 
6.2 million, or about a third of that number, are unaware that they 
suffer from the disease, although they have it.
  Among African Americans, approximately 3.2 million people, age 20 or 
older, have diabetes, with as many as one-third of that number 
remaining undiagnosed. Yet the ravages of that disease, which can be 
quite silent at first, continue.
  These disparities also mean higher rates of heart disease, 
amputations, loss of eyesight, and a host of other serious 
complications caused by diabetes.
  African Americans are over two times as likely as non-Hispanic Whites 
to die from the disease. Today, nobody knows exactly why, and it needs 
to be explored and it needs to be eliminated.
  I strongly believe that the troubling persistence of health 
disparities, these gaps and differences that are based on race, and 
even where you live at times, based on socioeconomic status--diabetes 
being one example--is a national issue that almost by definition 
affects us all.
  I congratulate the National Medical Association, a very active 
organization, a tremendous organization, for their outreach, which they 
have explored through conferences and through e-mail and direct mail, 
for raising this awareness. A third of the people don't know they have 
diabetes.
  All this is an issue of our common humanity, our oneness, and our 
commitment to one another as deserving, equal, and comparable citizens. 
Yet these disparities exist. Even if a person disagrees with my 
reasons, as others have pointed out, we all suffer the economic 
consequences in higher insurance rates and a compromised health system.
  As a doctor, I have had the opportunity to interact with hundreds, 
actually thousands, of patients with a whole variety of health 
problems. Oftentimes, these patients have heart problems, 
cardiovascular problems, as a result of diabetic complications. Some of 
our patients with diabetes had to have heart transplants, developing a 
diabetes cardiomyopathy. That was in medicine, but today in the Senate, 
as the majority leader, working with my colleagues, I have had the 
opportunity to address this issue through legislative remedies.
  Two years ago, in 2004, I joined a number of our colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle to cosponsor legislation that I have written called 
Closing The Health Care Gap. It was bipartisan and it addressed the 
issue of disparities. Our work has been ongoing, and I look forward, in 
the coming weeks, to addressing another bipartisan bill with the help 
of, again, many of the same colleagues, including Senators Kennedy, 
Enzi, and many others, that addresses these health care disparities, 
including diabetes.
  Together we are working to craft the very best possible strategies to 
eliminate health care disparities all across the country. With the 
great work of groups such as the National Medical Association, we are 
able to explore and educate at the grassroots level, building support 
for not just this legislation but for the policies in this legislation 
that can eliminate these gaps over time.
  Speaking of grassroots, in Nashville, TN, my hometown, on April 8, 
citizens will go out to the location at our Nashville Zoo for the 15th 
annual ``Walk on the Wild Side.'' It is also known as ``America's Walk 
for Diabetes.'' This is

[[Page 4640]]

a nationwide walk, and it is the American Diabetes Association's 
signature special event.
  With strong support from the business community, including 
sponsorship and corporate teams, the walk raises nearly $20 million 
nationwide to find a cure for diabetes and to support the overall 
mission. I encourage those listening to sign up and throw their support 
behind those worthy efforts.
  Dr. James Galvin, III, a close friend of mine, president of Morehouse 
School of Medicine, someone who has been a colleague, somebody I admire 
tremendously in his work at Morehouse, has said:

       Diabetes is a disease about which we can do a great deal, 
     but only when those affected are informed and empowered to 
     take the kind of control of this disease that is now 
     possible.

  I agree. I wholeheartedly agree. I look forward to the day when all 
of our citizens around the country have access to quality care, no 
matter what location they live in, who they are, or where they are 
from.

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