October 2006

Dear SACDE Members,                                                                                     

Serving as your chapter president is an honor and a privilege. The year is going fast, and fall is already here. Our opportunities in diabetes education are countless. Nationally AADE offers a national leadership development series that AADE/SACDE members can participate in, National Diabetes Education Week in coming up in November, and locally SACDE is preparing a diabetes update to be held at the Windmill Inn in December. Our role as Diabetes Educators is becoming more and more critical. Rest assured that your efforts are making a difference in people with diabetes and their loved ones.

Your expertise and dedication to Diabetes Education now is urgently needed more than ever before. As a diabetes educator, everywhere you go, everywhere you turn, you see the obvious need for it. Every year, diabetes increases. From every corner, you hear that better management of blood pressure, glucose and lipids are urgently needed, most importantly because of the undeniable increased risk of bigger infarcts, congestive heart failure, and overall CVD in persons with diabetes.

In the recent journal issue, Endocrine Today relates how gaining weight in early adulthood could further increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in a person’s life. The research study that supports such a statement comes from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Potsdam Study (published in Am J Clin Nutr. 2006; 84:427-433.) We all are painfully aware that since the 1980’s the rate obesity has been increasing by 50% every decade, now more than two thirds of adults are either overweight or obese. Most alarming is that a significant increase over that same period of time has been among children and minority populations. The Endocrine Society believes that if this trend of obesity among children continues, the life expectancy will begin to decline. Sadly, this generation of children could very well become the first in modern history to live shorter and less healthy lives than their parents’ generation.

So, our work is cut out for all of us, and our SACDE chapter is here to further your professional development and to encourage and support you in your endeavors.

Thanks for all you do for people with diabetes and their loved ones.


Luz-Elena Shearer, MS, RD,CDE
SACDE President 2006-2007