KINGSTON,
Nov. 4, 2015 — HealthAlliance Hospital is set to recognize 18 people with Type 1 diabetes who have managed their disease with insulin for 10, 25 and 50 years.
The hospital's Diabetes Education Center will present Lilly Diabetes Journey Awards medals in a ceremony held in conjunction with drug maker Eli Lilly and Co. in the HealthAlliance Hospital Administrative Services Building Auditorium, 75 Mary's Ave. in Kingston, from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday.
The Ulster County honorees range in age from 13 to more than 75. They include six 10-year-award recipients, 10 25-year awardees and two 50-year medalists.
Light refreshments, sponsored by the Benedictine Health Foundation, will be served.
"We are thrilled to honor these wonderful award recipients," said Diabetes Education Center Program Coordinator Miranda Aitken.
The center, under Medical Director Dr. Eugene Heslin, has been nationally recognized by the American Diabetes Association since 2001 for meeting its high educational standards and for offering quality self-management diabetes education. The center offers education, training and support to children starting at age 10, teens, adults and seniors with Type 1, Type 2 or gestational diabetes or prediabetes.
Among the slated speakers at Friday's event are Type 1 diabetes patients Lucas Ballard, 13 years old, and Richard Vaughn, 76.
Ballard, of Greenville, in northern Greene County, is an animated speaker who received his diagnosis when he was 3 and later found out he also had Graves' disease, which resulted in hyperthyroidism.
Vaughn, of Kingston, is a national hero in diabetes circles. He learned he had diabetes in September 1945, a few days after he turned 6, and has managed the disease with nearly no complications for 70 years. A retired SUNY Ulster mathematics professor, Vaughn also wrote an inspiring 2010 book about his diabetes journey, "Beating the Odds."
"Healthy living does not happen by chance; it happens by intention and commitment," said Aitken, a certified diabetes educator. "This is especially true in the case of Type 1 diabetes, where countless calculations involving grams of carbohydrates and units of insulin must be juggled amidst all the other challenges of life. We are filled with admiration and respect for these people who have successfully and for so many years managed their Type 1 diabetes with insulin."
Insulin is a hormone normally made by the pancreas that helps unlock the body's cells so sugar, or glucose, from food can be used by the cells for energy. It helps keep people's blood-sugar levels from getting too high or too low.
With Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas doesn't produce insulin. So those people must give themselves insulin daily — a therapy that typically doesn't hurt normal activities.
In 1923, Lilly became the first drug company to make insulin commercially available.
The Lilly Diabetes Journey Awards program honors people who successfully manage their diabetes for milestone years. It's also meant to inspire others to believe they can do it too.
"Those who receive Lilly Diabetes Journey Awards are a testament to all people with diabetes that learning how to manage their health and adapting to the ever-changing technology of diabetes care can lead to a long and successful diabetes journey," Lilly says on its website.
Recipients — who may take insulin of any brand for 10, 25, 50 or more years to qualify — receive elegant medals engraved with their name, along with a letter signed by Lilly President and CEO Dr. John Lechleiter encouraging their continued success.
For more information about the Diabetes Education Center, call 845.334.4249.
###
About HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley®
HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley® is the alignment of HealthAlliance Hospital: Mary's Avenue Campus and Broadway Campus, as well as Margaretville Hospital, Mountainside Residential Care Center and Woodland Pond at New Paltz. As the parent organization with a unified governance structure, the goal of HealthAlliance is to strengthen the quality of care and bring forward enhanced technology to serve the present and future healthcare needs in the Hudson Valley. HealthAlliance and its affiliate facilities are committed to providing compassionate, patient-centered care and ensuring patient safety, privacy and dignity to all. For further information about HealthAlliance, visit our website at www.hahv.org.