November is National Diabetes Awareness Month. Older adults are disproportionately affected by diabetes, with 25.2% of Americans age 65+ experiencing the disease, compared to 9.4% of the general population (data from the American Diabetes Association).
The Administration for Community Living (ACL) supports the implementation of evidence-based disease prevention and health promotion programs across the country, including the Diabetes Self-Management Program (DSMP). This proven program highlights critical information such as techniques to deal with diabetes symptoms, appropriate exercise for improving strength and endurance, healthy eating, appropriate medication use, and working more effectively with health care providers.
Additionally, the ACL-funded National Chronic Disease Self-Management Education Resource Center provides a number of resources for supporting effective interventions like DSMP via Medicare’s Diabetes Self-Management Training benefit. To learn more, visit the Resource Center’s website and click on Diabetes Self-Management Training in the Make It Happen section.