Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 69) recognizing the need to continue research into the causes, treatment, education, and an eventual cure for diabetes, and for other purposes. Mr. Speaker, I…
Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 69) recognizing the need to continue research into the causes, treatment, education, and an eventual cure for diabetes, and for other purposes.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
First, I would like to thank Majority Leader Hoyer, Chairman Waxman, Ranking Member Barton and Health Subcommittee Chair Pallone and, of course, my colleague from Louisiana, a good baseball player, for their support of this resolution. I also want to take the time to thank all my colleagues in the House of Representatives for their bipartisan support of this resolution.
I rise today in strong support of House Resolution 69, the Latino Diabetes Awareness Resolution. The resolution recognizes the need to continue research into the causes, treatment, education and an eventual cure for diabetes and commends those organizations that are working to increase awareness of diabetes and conducting research for methods to help patients and families in Latino communities suffering from diabetes.
It also congratulates the work of the Latino Diabetes Association for its great efforts to educate, support and provide hope for individuals and families who suffer from diabetes. The resolution also supports the designation of July 2009 as ``Latino Diabetes Awareness Month.'' It calls upon the people of the United States to observe the month with appropriate programs and activities.
It is critical for the long-term sustainability of any health care reform plan to make sure that steps for the prevention of diseases, like diabetes, are encouraged by Congress. This prevention of disease would do a great deal in helping keep costs down for current patients, as well as favorably changing the attitudes and behavior of diabetes patients and their families, thereby improving their quality of life.
We can take a good first step in achieving these goals by passing this resolution here today. Diabetes is a chronic disease of the pancreas and adversely affects its ability to produce and use insulin in the proper way.
Diabetes has no cure, treatment varies from patient to patient, and it is quite often very painful. Some side effects of treatment include weight gain, skin rash or itching, various stomach problems, tiredness and dizziness, and swelling in the leg and ankle.
The impact of diabetes is not focused solely on the patient; family members and immediate care takers also suffer greatly from the effects of diabetes on their loved ones. I say this from personal experience.
In the Latino community, diabetes can result in high prevalence of foot problems, kidney failure, renal disease, blindness, heart attacks, strokes and eventually death.
What's scariest is that diabetes patients who need to take one or more insulin shots daily, and for whatever reason do not, greatly increase their risk of stroke and heart attack.
One of the reasons I believe diabetes disproportionately affects the Latino community is the lack of sound health communication that speaks to those Hispanics who are most at risk of coming down with diabetes, or who already suffer from it. This means targeting communications efforts to both English- and Spanish-speaking communities and specifically referencing these efforts towards the area of our culture that puts us at risk the most: our diets.
Over 23.6 million Americans suffer from diabetes, and of these, 2 million are Latinos or of Latino descent; 8.6 of all Latinos over the age of 20 live with this disease. However, Latinos are almost twice as likely to have diabetes as non-Latino whites of similar age.
Individuals suffering from diabetes can reduce their risk for complications if they are educated about their disease and take the proper steps to care for themselves. This means learning and practicing the skills necessary to better control their blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. They must exercise and receive regular checkups, as well as maintain a healthy, balanced diet, as well as maintaining willingness to change these dangerous eating habits.
And that becomes very difficult for a lot of us because we like our frijoles, our tortillas, our tamales, our enchiladas, our menudo; but we have to put that aside. This could include eating meals prepared healthier, eating more moderate portions, or a combination of these.
Two people ought to be commended for their hard work in the attempts to educate the public about diabetes and treatments for patients, and that's actors Rita Torres and Edward Olmos. A few years ago, I worked with Rita Torres and Edward to help put together a short documentary highlighting the day-to-day lives of different diabetes patients, regardless of age or ethnicity, and they ought to be recognized for their tireless efforts to raise diabetes awareness.
I have been affected personally by diabetes through the loss of five members of my immediate family. My father was a proud, hardworking man, never missed a day of work for any reason until he was struck down by diabetes and ultimately needed to have a leg amputated. It originally started with a toe, half a leg, and then the leg itself.
My mother also was very strong, was never sick until she, too, came down with diabetes.
My two brothers, Abelio and Tanny, and my sister Annie fought with diabetes but ultimately lost their battle largely due to lack of education and awareness of how the disease would affect their lives and not willing to change their eating habits.
Tanny recently passed away due in part to the fact that he could no longer afford all the necessary treatment to keep his diabetes at bay. He is not only a victim of diabetes but of the high cost of health care as well.
My brother-in-law, Ted Dominguez, was also a victim of diabetes. Ted was a great athlete back in his day, always in great physical shape. His lesson to us is that anyone, regardless of age, weight or physical condition, can get diabetes. He eventually went through dialysis and ultimately ended up losing his life.
Also, a former staff member of mine who has been a close friend for many years, Daniel Hernandez, is a testament to us and to many other folks. He worked for me because he needed coverage for diabetes. He left my office after 2 years and became an independent consultant. He came back, however, and approached me one day and told me that the only reason he was willing to come back to work was to qualify for health care benefits that he would not be able to receive otherwise.
It was their fight and their example that opened my eyes to the horrid realities and difficulties of this disease and the need for education and awareness about diabetes and ultimately to introduce this resolution.
However, a great diabetes success story and a perfect example to prove that diabetes can be beat is Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Judge Sotomayor was diagnosed and has lived with type 1 diabetes since the age of 8 years of age. Due to carefully monitoring her condition, she fought the disease head-on and continues to be a great example of someone who can live with diabetes. She will soon not only be the first Latina to become a Justice on the Supreme Court, but also the first Latina with type 1 diabetes.
Another example of a remarkable type 1 diabetes patient is Sara Rodriguez. Sara is a constituent of mine, a rising junior at Rancho Cucamonga High School, a straight A student, and letter winner in basketball, volleyball, and track. In order for Sara to lead as normal a teenage life as possible, she must test her blood sugar levels eight to 20 times per day, every day. She will never outgrow her disease and will require care and medication for the rest of her life. She is a very brave and courageous young woman whose fight and determination should not only be an example to diabetes patients everywhere, but to anyone facing adversity.
On behalf of all of the other young people like Sara Rodriguez, Congress recently reauthorized the special diabetes program. This is a wonderful example of the government's commitment to cure diabetes for people like Sara and the millions of others who live with the disease and its complications. This program funds $150 million a year in type 1 diabetes research and is aligned with the goals of this resolution to keep us on the path towards a cure for diabetes.
Yet another great example of a person living a healthy life with diabetes is Roque Martin, the grandfather of Matt Gomez, one of my interns, who has been instrumental in assisting with this resolution. Roque was diagnosed with diabetes over 25 years ago and continues to live a healthy life even at the age of 78. He eats rights and checks his blood sugar level three times a day and is a great example, along with Sara and Judge Sotomayor, for all diabetes patients that with proper care, diet and exercise, one can survive with diabetes.
That is why it's so important to pass this resolution, which I introduced in the hopes of bringing awareness to those lucky enough to not have to face the disease firsthand, or through the fight of a loved one.
It takes a small, but a critical, first step to help raise awareness about diabetes for not only the Latino community, but for all Americans and all individuals impacted with diabetes.
But, also, it's a giant step for those individuals that have suffered from diabetes for many years and lack the ability to tell their stories firsthand, along with families and immediate caretakers of diabetes patients, who oftentimes suffer the impacts of the disease more so than the patient themselves.
Diabetes is a disease that can, and does, affect anyone: Democrats, Republicans, black or white, Latinos, Asians, American Indians, all nationalities. The alarming statistics regarding diabetes are on the rise. With the greater scope of the health care debate, there is no better time to raise the awareness for a preventable disease than right now. And there is no better time than right now to stress that no diabetes patient should be denied health care coverage because of their preexisting condition.
For these reasons, I ask you to stand with me and fight against diabetes and pass this resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my good friend from Houston, Texas (Mr. Gene Green), also an outstanding basketball player.
I yield the gentleman 30 additional seconds.
First of all, I appreciate some of the comments that my colleague, the doctor from Georgia, ended up making. And it is about knowledge, education, and awareness, and it's about preventive, because preventive is really the key to saving money. Once you do the early detection, early prevention, then we could save a lot of lives on account of treatment, because in his statement he indicated many of the people that he treated--those are people that I recognize in terms of my own personal family that lack that kind of knowledge, that kind of awareness, and did not follow the doctor's orders in terms of what they should have been doing to preserve their life. That's why it's very important that we create this kind of legislation to recognize diabetes awareness for all America, because it impacts all of us.
With that, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, again, I want to thank both sides for bipartisan support on this resolution. I look forward to the strong support.
I yield back the balance of my time.