Press Release

Burgess Launches Faces of Diabetes Campaign

Printable Flyer

Burgess Health Center hopes to reach hundreds of area residents through “Faces of Diabetes,” an educational campaign inviting the public to libraries to attend programs and view new health materials on diabetes, a growing chronic disease in the area and across the nation.

As part of the campaign, seven area residents of all ages and backgrounds with type 1 and type 2 diabetes will speak at 13 area libraries along with Burgess certified diabetes educators. The local residents also will be featured in brochures and in large posters that highlight their efforts to live healthy.

Libraries in Onawa, Mapleton, Whiting, Sloan, Ute, Soldier, Moorhead, Danbury, Dunlap, Hornick, Logan, Mondamin and Schleswig are planning to host a program. Each library will set up displays and receive updated books, videos, magazines, resource kits and cookbooks.

Wellmark Foundation of Iowa awarded the Burgess Foundation an $8,371 grant to help fund the project that features real people with diabetes educating others about steps they take to live healthier.

Persons participating in the campaign who have diabetes are: Emily Moser, Matt Minnehan, Colton Henschen, Cheryl Hardersen and Charles Persinger all of Onawa, Paul Riffle, Mapleton; and Adair Kaehlar, Whiting, Iowa.

“We are so thrilled to work with great people who not only have worked to improve their health, but agreed to be a focal point of our campaign,” Sue McLaughlin, one of two certified diabetes educators at Burgess. “We would not be able to do this without them.”

McLaughlin says phone calls to libraries revealed that materials on the prevention, detection
and management of diabetes were old and outdated due to restricted budgets. The topic is more important today because type 2 diabetes is becoming an epidemic due largely to changing lifestyles.

“We are honored to receive a Wellmark Foundation grant to enable us to partner with libraries and purchase updated educational materials on diabetes to share with area residents,” McLaughlin says. “Libraries are visible and accessible facilities. We believe anyone will be interested in the materials and our programs. You don’t have to have diabetes to learn to live healthier.”

“It is a tribute to our library partnership that we were chosen for grant funding from an wide field of grant applications from other hospitals,” adds Michele Kirkendall, a registered dietitian and the other diabetes educator at Burgess. “The new materials will remain with the libraries to educate persons for years to come.”

Burgess is matching Wellmark’s grant funding with staff time, educational materials and supplies. The hospital will feature an educational diabetes display in its new lobby, and share materials with area extension offices, physician clinics, home health offices and pharmacies.

For more information on the dates and times of library programs, call the local library, the Burgess information desk at 423-2311 or visit the web site www.burgesshc.org.