Help us Fight Diabetes and help your organization, employees and their families.

Why should you do that and how can we help each other Fight Diabetes?

How you can help Fight Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented. The starting focus for prevention needs to be on Type 2 diabetes in youth but with equal attention to preventing diabetes-related complications for youth living with either type of diabetes.

  1. Raising awareness through education and employee engagement and encouraging early screening for Type 2 diabetes are the available practical actions.
  2. Ensuring that employees share the ‘message’ with their families is another very important action especially, since Type 2 diabetes is now occurring at ever-earlier ages, some as young as 8 or younger.
  3. Encouraging your employees to have their youthful family members take our online, self-scoring diabetes risk test and to do the same for themselves using similar questionnaires for adults.
  4. Sharing the Diabetes Risk information on this website with your employees.
  5. Enhancing your Workplace Wellness programs by including a focus on diabetes.

How SFBLF can help you Fight Diabetes

  1. We provide help for employees and their families:
  • Online risk assessment tools and access to e-Learning courses for youth and families designed to raise awareness and encourage early detection. Please explore the links to our programs and tutorials on this website.
  • Group Tours – an opportunity for organizations to see, explore, learn and enjoy the birthplace of Sir Frederick Banting. The venue provides an excellent alternative for organizations to vary their regular meeting venue or for companies to organize a relaxing ‘team building’ experience. Catering support can be arranged as required.
  • School Tours – a free, educational, inspirational visit to the historic birthplace of Sir Frederick Banting to learn about diabetes and related risk, how to protect oneself against developing Type 2 diabetes and complications for both Type 1 and Type 2, the discovery of insulin and the medical heroes who made that discovery, and the related Canadian history and heritage.
  • Diabetes Classes for Adults who are living with, or trying to prevent, diabetes.
  • Annual awards that include scholarships and bursaries for youth living with diabetes and recognition awards for adults who have achieved 50+ years on insulin.
  • Public Open Hours are available every Tuesday and the 1st & 3rd weekends of each month.
  • Annual Transition Symposium for healthcare providers, teachers, parents and other foundations may be of interest to internal wellness program team members.
  1. We can help you enhance your Workplace Wellness Program by adding a diabetes focus.
  2. For a very modest fee, we will ‘measure’ and report the access by your employees and their families to our online programs and tools. Our approach is non-intrusive and the level of detail is determined by you.
  3. We can prepare ‘custom’, informative handouts for your employees and their families
  4. We will collaborate with your internal wellness program teams to identify awareness raising approaches.

If you have an interest in measurement help or development of custom handouts or collaboration, please contact us at info@bantinglegacy.ca

Why should you contact us?

Workplace Wellness Programs

Many companies and organization have well established workplace wellness programs for their employees and their families. In addition to an employee benefit plan, programs might include a special focus on safety training and perhaps, participation in programs that place an emphasis on aspects such as mental health in the workplace.

Such programs address two fundamental objectives, helping your employees to live a quality life with increased productivity and helping your organization to reduce or avoid cost demands on your health benefit plans and general operations.

Do you have a Diabetes Awareness and Prevention program?

Do you know how many of your employees are living with diabetes or pre-diabetes or have immediate family members living with the condition?  If you do not have a focus on diabetes in your current workplace wellness program, it is in your organization’s interest to consider developing and implementing such a plan.

Why is such a plan important?

  1. Diabetes impact on productivity and health benefit plan costs
  • Diabetes costs for a family living with diabetes can reach $12,000 per year and more and bring on increased stress and depression as a result
  • Increased disability claims due to diabetes complications such as heart disease and depression
  • Increased drug costs due to diabetes medication
  • Higher rates of absenteeism resulting from the realities of living with diabetes
  1. The scale of the Diabetes Pandemic
  • As of November 2017, there are over 425 million adults (20 – 79) living with diabetes worldwide and the number is increasing at a rate of at least 5 million per year. Another 352 million adults are living with pre-diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance.
  • Diabetes prevalence varies widely by country. In Canada, it is estimated there are 3.5 million adults living with diabetes and another 8 million with prediabetes. The number of diagnosed cases in Canada is estimated to rise 41% by 2026
  • It is estimated also that there are over 30,000 Canadian youth age 18 and under living with Type 1 diabetes.
  • The number of children and youth living with Type 2 diabetes is not known but there is broad agreement the numbers are rising as is the case in many other countries. The rise in Type 2 diabetes in youth is strongly correlated with being over-weight or obese and an inactive life-style.
  1. The nature and severity of Type 2 Diabetes
  • Approximately 90% of diabetes cases in adults are Type 2.
  • It is estimated that 70% of Type 2 diabetes cases can be prevented or at least delayed by healthy eating, modest daily exercise, maintaining an appropriate body weight and not smoking.
  • 40% of those living with Type 2 diabetes do not know they have it
  • Type 2 diabetes is insidious and progressive and can remain invisible for years. At time of diagnosis, cell damage can be in progress thus hastening the onset of serious diabetes-related complications. Such complications include heart disease, eye disease, kidney disease, depression and nerve damage that can lead to amputations.
  1. The cost of diabetes
  • The general diabetes pandemic impacts not just the patients and their families but also school systems, healthcare systems, employers, countries and medical education curricula.
  • From 2006 to 2017, the estimated annual diabetes healthcare expenditure worldwide has grown from USD 232 billion to USD 727 billion.
  • The cost of diabetes to the Canadian economy is estimated at $14 billion annually and is expected to reach at least $17 billion by 2020.