Emmy Awarded for Broadcast Special: ‘Diabetes: A Guide For Hispanic Americans’.

At the recent 45th Annual Chicago/Midwest Emmy Awards ceremony, “Diabetes: A Guide for Hispanic Americans” was awarded with an Emmy for “Outstanding Achievement for Informational Programming for a Single Issue Public Affairs Program,” presented by the Chicago/Midwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) created the half-hour program through an educational grant provided by Novo Nordisk, a world leader in diabetes care. The video was co-produced by Conrad Productions and Alan Weiss Productions, and the Emmy was awarded to Executive Producers Tom Conrad, Gina Conrad, and Tania Wilk, and Senior Producer Douglas Wester.

One in four Latinos will be diagnosed with diabetes before they reach the age of 45. One of the leading causes is the high rate of obesity; 22 percent of Latino children today are overweight, a condition linked to type 2 diabetes. The video was created to educate this population about the risk of developing the disease as well as how to prevent diabetes with exercise, weight maintenance, and a healthy diet.

The 30-minute video was produced in both Spanish and English and featured U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes (TX-16th), Latino celebrities Gloria Araya-Quinlan and Jose Alberto, “El Canario,” as well as Latino endocrinologists Jaime Davidson and Pablo Mora. The video was broadcast in 2002 throughout the month of November, which is American Diabetes Month, on local CBS and Telemundo stations in Los Angeles, San Antonio, Chicago, and Miami. In addition to the video, AACE and Novo Nordisk created an accompanying guidebook, also called “Diabetes: A Guide for Hispanic Americans.” The guide was distributed to over 4,500 AACE members throughout the U.S.

“Currently, Hispanics are almost twice as likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites. We especially need to reach those who have a history of diabetes in the family or who have other risk factors,” said Donald A. Bergman, M.D., FACE, president of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

“Effective education is essential if people with diabetes are to live healthy lives in spite of their disease,” said Andrew Purcell, vice president of diabetes marketing at Novo Nordisk. “We’re proud to have partnered with the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists in sponsoring this education program because it addresses the diabetes education needs of the Hispanic community, a group that experiences a higher incidence of diabetes than the national average.”

“Most Latinos know someone who lives with this disease,” said Jaime Davidson, M.D., who appeared on the video discussing diabetes prevention and care. “Our population faces a great risk, but there are ways of preventing the disease. We cannot change heredity, but we can change our lifestyle. It is something that we can address with better education and access to better health care.”