Ellen
11-30-2007, 07:40 PM
http://www.collegenews.org/x7616.xml
Lewis & Clark Student Helps Create First U.N. World Diabetes Day
by Ellisa Valohttp://www.collegenews.org/images/display/blank.gifPORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 28, 2007 - On Nov. 14, the United Nations observed the first annual U.N. World Diabetes Day, as established last year by U.N. Resolution A/61/225. People living with diabetes all over the world have Clare Rosenfeld, a senior at Lewis & Clark College, to thank for that.
http://www.collegenews.org/Images/clare_rosenfeld.jpgClare Rosenfeld was 7 1⁄2 years old when she gave her first speech on diabetes. As she stood before the postal workers who had gathered to hear her talk at the local post office, she recalls, "I was terrified. I was just this little kid, surrounded by all these gigantic grownups." One man in particular made her nervous. "He was huge, and really intimidating." But Clare mustered her courage and explained to the group what it was like to live with diabetes--the constant blood sugar monitoring, the daily insulin injections, the frustrating food restrictions.
At the end of her speech, Clare brought out a needle to demonstrate how she tested her blood sugar six times a day. Pricking her finger, she drew a tiny bead of blood.
The huge, intimidating man fainted.
"That was a big moment for me," says Clare. Here she was, just a tiny little girl with a chronic disease, but at that moment, she realized she had the power to make an impact on people. She felt strong....
Early Activism
Clare's life as a diabetes activist started the moment she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 7. Hospitalized to gain control over her symptoms, Clare was told only that she had a disease that was not going away. "My only prior experience with anything like that was my grandfather's struggle with cancer," Clare recalls. "So for a full week, I didn't know whether I was going to live or die, or to spend the rest of my life in the hospital. No one really thought to explain the disease to a 7-year-old."
Toward the end of her hospital stay, a young girl named Anne--not much older than Clare--walked into her room. "She changed everything for me," says Clare. Sent by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), Anne explained to Clare how she tested her blood sugar, and what it meant to have diabetes. "She was the first person to tell me I was going to be OK."
Acting Locally
Almost immediately, Clare started volunteering at her local ADA office in Eugene, stuffing envelopes and doing whatever she could to contribute. "When you are diagnosed with a chronic illness, you feel utterly powerless," says Clare. "Doing something to help others enabled me to regain a sense of control in my own life."
Within a few years, Clare was traveling and speaking all over Oregon, and ADA staff members began to call her their Oregon state youth ambassador. "The title started as kind of a joke," says Clare, "but I took it very seriously."
Clare was growing up, starting to think about the bigger issues of diabetes, like the needs for research funding and more youth programs. At 13, she decided to share her thoughts in a letter to the national CEO of the ADA.
"Here in Oregon, we have this great youth ambassador program," she wrote. "I don't see anything like this in other states. I think that there should be a national voice for young people--a council or a person who can grow these youth advocacy programs and coordinate them on a national level."
Months passed, and then one day, Clare got a call. "The ADA leaders thought it was a good idea. They said, 'We don't know how to do it or what it is, but we will give you the support and resources to figure it out.' ""Doing something to help others enabled me to regain a sense of control in my own life." So, at 14, Clare became the ADA's first national youth advocate. Tasked with defining what that meant, she spent a year and a half working with the ADA's national headquarters by e-mail. She also traveled all over the country, visited diabetes summer camps, testified before the U.S. Congress and the FDA, and lobbied for research funding. By the end of that time, she had not only established a network of thousands of youth advocates across the United States, but she had also established firmly, in her own mind, the value of involving youth.
"We have to involve young people in this cause, because they are ultimately going to pay the price of the disease, in terms of lives and dollars," says Clare. "The greatest burden of diabetes is going to fall on my generation. We'll be the ones with the highest incidence of the disease. We'll be the ones who will have to support baby boomers with diabetes. And we'll be the ones who foot the bill for decisions being made now about how we structure our health care system and address this public health issue."
Thinking Globally
During her time as the ADA's national youth advocate, Clare received e-mail messages from young people not only in the United States, but all over the world. "Kids would write, 'It's great that you have these programs in the U.S., but what can we do? We have very different problems here.' "
After handing off her national title, Clare took her experience to the global level, founding International Diabetes Youth Ambassadors (IDYA), an online community hosted by the website ChildrenWithDiabetes.com. IDYA helps young people all over the world connect with each other to share ideas and support. Clare estimates that more than 400 kids from about 30 countries participate today.
Her work with IDYA attracted the attention of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the umbrella organization for national diabetes associations around the world. In the summer of 2003, the organization invited Clare to give a presentation about her experiences with youth advocacy at its World Congress in Paris. Thousands of delegates attended; as far as Clare could see, she was the only teenager.
During the event, the IDF announced its new president-elect, a professor of pediatric endocrinology named Martin Silink. "I decided I should talk to this guy," says Clare. She had been mulling over an idea and thought she might run it by him. "So I strolled up to Professor Silink, introduced myself and said, 'Don't you think there should be a U.N. resolution for diabetes?' He gave me this stunned look and said, 'Why, yes, I do think so.' "
Thus began the campaign for a U.N. resolution--and what was to become a golden friendship between Clare and Silink. The IDF appointed Clare to the Consultative Section on Childhood and Adolescent Diabetes, and she began an ongoing dialogue with Silink and the IDF about how to proceed with a resolution."Don't you think there should be a U.N. resolution for diabetes? He gave me this stunned look and said, 'Why, yes, I do think so.'" (Click the link to read the rest of the story: http://www.collegenews.org/x7616.xml)
Lewis & Clark Student Helps Create First U.N. World Diabetes Day
by Ellisa Valohttp://www.collegenews.org/images/display/blank.gifPORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 28, 2007 - On Nov. 14, the United Nations observed the first annual U.N. World Diabetes Day, as established last year by U.N. Resolution A/61/225. People living with diabetes all over the world have Clare Rosenfeld, a senior at Lewis & Clark College, to thank for that.
http://www.collegenews.org/Images/clare_rosenfeld.jpgClare Rosenfeld was 7 1⁄2 years old when she gave her first speech on diabetes. As she stood before the postal workers who had gathered to hear her talk at the local post office, she recalls, "I was terrified. I was just this little kid, surrounded by all these gigantic grownups." One man in particular made her nervous. "He was huge, and really intimidating." But Clare mustered her courage and explained to the group what it was like to live with diabetes--the constant blood sugar monitoring, the daily insulin injections, the frustrating food restrictions.
At the end of her speech, Clare brought out a needle to demonstrate how she tested her blood sugar six times a day. Pricking her finger, she drew a tiny bead of blood.
The huge, intimidating man fainted.
"That was a big moment for me," says Clare. Here she was, just a tiny little girl with a chronic disease, but at that moment, she realized she had the power to make an impact on people. She felt strong....
Early Activism
Clare's life as a diabetes activist started the moment she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 7. Hospitalized to gain control over her symptoms, Clare was told only that she had a disease that was not going away. "My only prior experience with anything like that was my grandfather's struggle with cancer," Clare recalls. "So for a full week, I didn't know whether I was going to live or die, or to spend the rest of my life in the hospital. No one really thought to explain the disease to a 7-year-old."
Toward the end of her hospital stay, a young girl named Anne--not much older than Clare--walked into her room. "She changed everything for me," says Clare. Sent by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), Anne explained to Clare how she tested her blood sugar, and what it meant to have diabetes. "She was the first person to tell me I was going to be OK."
Acting Locally
Almost immediately, Clare started volunteering at her local ADA office in Eugene, stuffing envelopes and doing whatever she could to contribute. "When you are diagnosed with a chronic illness, you feel utterly powerless," says Clare. "Doing something to help others enabled me to regain a sense of control in my own life."
Within a few years, Clare was traveling and speaking all over Oregon, and ADA staff members began to call her their Oregon state youth ambassador. "The title started as kind of a joke," says Clare, "but I took it very seriously."
Clare was growing up, starting to think about the bigger issues of diabetes, like the needs for research funding and more youth programs. At 13, she decided to share her thoughts in a letter to the national CEO of the ADA.
"Here in Oregon, we have this great youth ambassador program," she wrote. "I don't see anything like this in other states. I think that there should be a national voice for young people--a council or a person who can grow these youth advocacy programs and coordinate them on a national level."
Months passed, and then one day, Clare got a call. "The ADA leaders thought it was a good idea. They said, 'We don't know how to do it or what it is, but we will give you the support and resources to figure it out.' ""Doing something to help others enabled me to regain a sense of control in my own life." So, at 14, Clare became the ADA's first national youth advocate. Tasked with defining what that meant, she spent a year and a half working with the ADA's national headquarters by e-mail. She also traveled all over the country, visited diabetes summer camps, testified before the U.S. Congress and the FDA, and lobbied for research funding. By the end of that time, she had not only established a network of thousands of youth advocates across the United States, but she had also established firmly, in her own mind, the value of involving youth.
"We have to involve young people in this cause, because they are ultimately going to pay the price of the disease, in terms of lives and dollars," says Clare. "The greatest burden of diabetes is going to fall on my generation. We'll be the ones with the highest incidence of the disease. We'll be the ones who will have to support baby boomers with diabetes. And we'll be the ones who foot the bill for decisions being made now about how we structure our health care system and address this public health issue."
Thinking Globally
During her time as the ADA's national youth advocate, Clare received e-mail messages from young people not only in the United States, but all over the world. "Kids would write, 'It's great that you have these programs in the U.S., but what can we do? We have very different problems here.' "
After handing off her national title, Clare took her experience to the global level, founding International Diabetes Youth Ambassadors (IDYA), an online community hosted by the website ChildrenWithDiabetes.com. IDYA helps young people all over the world connect with each other to share ideas and support. Clare estimates that more than 400 kids from about 30 countries participate today.
Her work with IDYA attracted the attention of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the umbrella organization for national diabetes associations around the world. In the summer of 2003, the organization invited Clare to give a presentation about her experiences with youth advocacy at its World Congress in Paris. Thousands of delegates attended; as far as Clare could see, she was the only teenager.
During the event, the IDF announced its new president-elect, a professor of pediatric endocrinology named Martin Silink. "I decided I should talk to this guy," says Clare. She had been mulling over an idea and thought she might run it by him. "So I strolled up to Professor Silink, introduced myself and said, 'Don't you think there should be a U.N. resolution for diabetes?' He gave me this stunned look and said, 'Why, yes, I do think so.' "
Thus began the campaign for a U.N. resolution--and what was to become a golden friendship between Clare and Silink. The IDF appointed Clare to the Consultative Section on Childhood and Adolescent Diabetes, and she began an ongoing dialogue with Silink and the IDF about how to proceed with a resolution."Don't you think there should be a U.N. resolution for diabetes? He gave me this stunned look and said, 'Why, yes, I do think so.'" (Click the link to read the rest of the story: http://www.collegenews.org/x7616.xml)