Cooper University Hospital, in partnership with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) – South Jersey Chapter, is participating in the International Diabetes Federation’s global campaign to light iconic monuments and sites in blue to mark World Diabetes Day.
On Sunday, November 14, Cooper’s exterior lights and interior accent lighting in its lobby will shine blue to raise awareness about diabetes. Cooper is also marking World Diabetes Day by providing healthy snacks, nutritional information and diabetes educational materials to all hospitalized patients.
What is World Diabetes Day?
World Diabetes Day marks a call to action to raise awareness around the world about diabetes, to urge governments to implement national policies for the care and treatment of diabetes, and to encourage individuals to get involved.
Diabetes of all types continues to grow at an alarming rate – in the last 30 years, the number of people with diabetes has skyrocketed to about 24 million people in the United States alone, including as many as three million Americans affected by type 1 diabetes. The cost of diabetes is staggering – one out of every five health care dollars is spent caring for someone with diagnosed diabetes, and one out of every three Medicare dollars is attributed to diabetes. The national price tag for diabetes is at an astounding $174 billion per year and that cost is estimated to almost triple in the next 25 years.
Projected increases in U.S. diabetes prevalence also reflect the growth in the disease internationally. An estimated 285 million people worldwide had diabetes in 2010, according to the International Diabetes Federation. The federation predicts as many as 438 million will have diabetes by 2030.
Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in 2007, and is a leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke and amputation.