Today is the day – World Diabetes Day (WDD), which also happens to be the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who co-discovered insulin along with Charles Best one hundred years ago.
Today is the day to wear blue, the official color of diabetes awareness, and use the blue circle as a symbol of unity within the global diabetes community.
I’m one of the 537 million adults living with diabetes in the world. (Statistic pulled from IDF Diabetes Atlas)
Today, and every day, I (as well as millions of others) do my best to live a life uninhibited by diabetes. It isn’t always easy, but the resilience, knowledge, and support it has unwittingly introduced to me has shaped me into a person who has diabetes, as opposed to a person who is controlled by diabetes.
Today, I celebrate my own strength as well as that of our community, and take time to reflect on this year’s theme: access to diabetes care. I acknowledge my privilege in having an abundance of that, and I am angered when I think about the millions of people around the world who lack it. As I look to tomorrow, and all the days after WDD and NDAM, I greatly look forward to and anticipate the day when medicine, technology, support, and care are all made available to the people with diabetes who need them.
One thing that hasn’t changed in 2020 is the significance of tomorrow’s date: November 14th is internationally recognized as World Diabetes Day, a day specially reserved for diabetes awareness and advocacy.
Several weeks ago, when I realized this date was rapidly approaching, I was unenthused about it, to put it mildly. My life has been super-duper busy lately…I’ve dealt with high stress and anxiety levels, an overloaded schedule, and not enough time for self-care. So when it hit me that diabetes awareness month was just around the corner, and with that it would bring World Diabetes Day, I just felt “meh” about it. This year has been so sucky that celebrating didn’t feel right or something that I could muster up the energy to do.
However, that was before I realized that there’s a theme for this particular World Diabetes Day…promoting the role of nurses in the prevention and management of diabetes.
World Diabetes Day is tomorrow…what will you do to celebrate?
Nurses are heroes under normal circumstances. But in the context of 2020? They’re more important than ever. I read more about the reasoning behind the World Diabetes Day theme on the International Diabetes Federation website and immediately understood why nurses deserve recognition on 11/14:
Nurses currently account for over half of the global health workforce. They do outstanding work to support people living with a wide range of health concerns. People who either live with diabetes or are at risk of developing the condition need their support too.
People living with diabetes face a number of challenges, and education is vital to equip nurses with the skills to support them.
As the number of people with diabetes continues to rise across the world, the role of nurses and other health professional support staff becomes increasingly important in managing the impact of the condition.
Healthcare providers and governments must recognise the importance of investing in education and training. With the right expertise, nurses can make the difference for people affected by diabetes.
The International Diabetes Federation, 2020
So tomorrow, on World Diabetes Day 2020, I’m going to express my gratitude for all nurses, especially the ones who work specifically with people with diabetes. They deserve all the recognition and support in the world, and in a year in which the world is faced with a pandemic, the work that they do (along with other healthcare workers and essential employees) for people with and without diabetes is invaluable.
Thank you to all nurses and healthcare workers…and Happy World Diabetes Day to my fellow people living with diabetes. Wishing a wonderful day for you all filled with good blood sugars, education, and positive advocacy experiences!
Hugging the Cactus 