On Saturday, September 13th, the staff and students from the Ross Medical Education Center campus in Taylor participated in Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes. The walk was approximately three miles and was sponsored by the American Diabetes Association. The venue was the Detroit Zoo, so it was a great time for children and families as well as individuals.
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is dedicated to stopping diabetes and providing support to those diagnosed with it. They are also active in funding research to prevent, cure, and manage diabetes. They provides services to many communities including objective and credible information and acting as an advocate to those denied rights because of their struggle with diabetes. The Step Out walk is just one of the many ways that the ADA helps out, but, according to the ADA website, it has raised more than $175,000,000 during its annual occurrence of over 20 years. Last year alone, over $24 million was raised by more than 120,000 participants at 120 walk events.
Ross was excited to participate in such a successful event in the fight to cure diabetes. Taylor’s Campus Director, Regina Newell, said, “I want to participate because it gives me an opportunity to give to the community. And I’m excited to walk through the zoo!” A couple of other staff members were glad to participate because their spouses suffer from diabetes and they wanted to do whatever they could to help raise funds for diabetes research. Petra, Assistant Director of Education, stated, “this cause is near and dear to our hearts and affects every day of our life at home.” Many others agreed, “research is important for the prevention and treatment of diabetes,” said Sam, Career Services Student Services Representative. She joined the walk with her husband and continues to seek out ways to support him in his daily struggle with the disease. Overall, the Taylor campus had 25 walkers join the team to raise awareness for diabetes.
The mission of the ADA, according to their website, is: “We fund research to prevent, cure and manage diabetes. We deliver services to hundreds of communities. We provide objective and credible information. We give voice to those denied their rights because of diabetes.” See if there is a walk in your area at http://stepout.diabetes.org/. Find out more about this organization and how you can help at www.diabetes.org.