Lions Clubs of California will be attending the annual Taking Control Of Your Diabetes Conference and Health Fair in San Diego October 12, 2019. Lions Clubs International, the world’s largest service organization has diabetes education and awareness as their top initiative. Lions clubs around the world have screened, educated and helped prevent diabetic blindness and complications for thousands of people globally. California Lions Clubs with over 700 clubs and 19,000 members have taken a pledge to fight diabetes.
One resource that California Lions are utilizing in educating their members is Taking Control of Your Diabetes. TCOYD is a 501(C)(3) Nonprofit Charitable Educational Organization that encourages people with diabetes to take a more active role in their health through education, motivation, empowerment and probably the most important…humor. Lions Club’s members throughout the state will be attending TCOYD conference on October 12 in San Diego. The conference is expecting over 2,000 attendees.
California Lions has 4 goals in their fight against diabetes:
Research: California Lions have a long relationship with City Of Hope regarding research. City of Hope has led the way with research in the diabetes community. It is nice to know that when diabetes is cured, Lions Clubs of California was part of that cure.
Education: Each day 3800 people in the United States are diagnosed a diabetic. These newly diagnosed diabetics are scared and do not know what to do. We are helping those in California. There are so many misconceptions about diabetes. We are educating people the truth about diabetes.
Screenings: There are about 7 million people in the United States and 2 million people in California that do not know they have diabetes. We are helping people by urging them to be screened at our health events we do. One of the top causes of blindness is diabetic retinopathy. Currently the California Lions do not screen for retinopathy, this includes our many California Lions Friends In Sight events. We will change that by raising funds to purchase Digital Retina Scanners to be used for Diabetic Retinopathy Screenings at our already ongoing sight screening events.
Advocacy: Some diabetics are rationing insulin because they cannot afford the rapidly rising cost of insulin. Diabetics are dying from rationing insulin. We have called upon our California Lions to contact our federal and state representatives in Sacramento and Washington D.C. to take action concerning this issue. Many people with diabetes are discriminated against in the workplace and schools. We are also advocating for them.
About Lions Clubs of California: Multiple District Four (MD-4) California Lions, represent over 730 clubs and 20,000 members united to support the needy in virtually every local community in the state. The Lions of California welcome, embrace, and partner in service projects with like-minded individuals, associations, and corporations. www.md4lions.org www.lionsdiabetes.org
Submitted By:
Brian Ballard
California Lions State Diabetes Chairperson
Lions Clubs Multi-District 4
Lions Clubs of California
