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The Susan Laflesche Picotte Memorial Hospital
Walthill, Nebraska USA
Our Mission:
The Susan Laflesche Amputation Reduction Network will provide support offering resources, information, motivation, and services for people with diabetes.
Our Goals:
- To foster preventative health care mandates related to diabetes
- To prevent the unnecessary loss of limbs
- To educate children and families about healthy eating habits
- To promote exercise and a healthy life style
- Consultation
- Referral Service for Dr. Kham Vay Ung
- Amputation Reduction PowerPoint Presentation
- Seminars
- Diabetes Booth Display
The Problem:
- 16 million people affected
- Prevalence is 6% of the population
- 798 new cases annually
- 3 - 4% of patients with diabetes use 12 - 15% of the healthcare resources
- Over 54,000 major amputations are performed yearly in the United States
- The death rate for American Indians with diabetes is over two times higher than that of the general population
- In some age groups the rate is four times higher
- Before 1940, diabetes was a very rare occurrence among American Indian people
- Today 7 in 20 American Indians suffer from diabetes as compared ito 1 in 20 for the general U.S. population
- According to most health service organizations, diabetes among Amercian Indians has reached epidemic proportions and is still rising
History paints a colorful portrait of the American Indians who live today in the Gila River Indian Community. Their ancestors were among the first people to set foot in the Americas 30,000 years ago. They have lived in the Sonoron Desert near the Gila River in what is now southern Arizona for at least 2,000 years.
Called the Pima Indians by exploring Spaniards who first encountered them in the 1600s, these early Americans called themselves "O'Odham," the River people, and those with whom they intermarried, "Tohono O'Odham," the Desert people.
Archaeological finds suggest that the Pima Indians descended from the Hohokam, "those who have gone," a prehistoric people who originated in Mexico. Strong runners, the Pima Indians were also master weavers and farmers who could make the desert bloom. Once trusted scouts for the U.S. Cavalry, the Pima Indians are now pathfinders for health, helping scientists from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), learn the secrets of diabetes, obesity, and their complications.
Migrating from Mexico, the people settled the land up to where the Gila River and the Salt River meet, in what is now Arizona. They established a sophisticated system of irrigation that made the desert fruitful with wheat, beans, squash and cotton. The women of the community made exquisite baskets so intricately woven that they were watertight.
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GENETIC RESEARCH
Why do so many Pima Indians have diabetes? The question is simple, but the answers are not. They are part of a very complex puzzle that NIH researchers are trying to decode through genetic research.
There are approximately 100,000 genes packed into 23 pairs of chromosomes in each person. Within a gene, chemicals form individual codes, like words, which tell the cells of the body what to do. It is the code within a gene that directs the body to grow skin, and determines whether the skin is brown, yellow, black or white; to form hair and bone; to circulate blood and hormones such as adrenalin and insulin; and to perform every other biological process in the body.
Some diseases are caused by bacteria or viruses that infect the body and make it sick. Others, such as diabetes, occur because a gene's code causes it to function differently under some circumstances. For instance, if a person has a gene that makes that person likely to get diabetes, eating a lot of high fat food over time may increase that person's chance of getting sick. On the other hand, eating lower fat foods such as fruits and vegetables and exercising each day may help to prevent the disease. A person can't choose his or her genes, but can choose what to eat and whether or not to exercise.
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