Senator Dorgan Talks Diabetes Funding for Native American Programs with UND Center for Rural Health

Jul 8, 2008

GRAND FORKS, ND –- Senator Byron Dorgan visited with staff and students from the University of North Dakota Center for Rural Health in Grand Forks July 2 regarding the importance of continued federal funding of diabetes research, prevention, treatment and education.

Twyla Baker-Demaray, Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, Dr. Jacque Gray, Choctaw and Cherokee, Sierra Abe, Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, Erin Martin, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, and Dr. Alana Knudson thanked Senator Dorgan for his support of diabetes-related funding and expressed the importance of funding to several of the Center’s projects affiliated with Native American health.

Senator Dorgan was in Grand Forks to receive the 2008 Congressional Leadership Award for his leadership on extending the Special Diabetes Program (SDP) in Congress from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, the American Diabetes Association and the National Indian Health Board (NIHB).

The SDP includes two programs – the Special Statutory Funding Program for Type 1 Diabetes Research which funds type 1 diabetes research through the NIH, and the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) which funds prevention, treatment and education programs for Native Americans with type 2 diabetes through the Indian Health Service. Both programs have demonstrated a significant return on the federal investment and are transforming the lives of people with diabetes.

"Diabetes is a serious problem for our tribal communities," said Dr. Jacque Gray, assistant professor at the Center for Rural Health. "Funding is essential for continued improvement of Native American health. The federal diabetes programs are making a positive impact, as are the Center's.

Senator Dorgan has authored legislation to extend the SDP for an additional five years, and the bill currently has 48 co-sponsors in the Senate. As Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, he has also worked to raise awareness about the significant progress that has been made in tribal communities struggling with diabetes.

"I plan to keep pushing for policies that will support innovative ways to deal with this disease," Dorgan said. "Diabetes is a serious problem that hits our American Indian communities particularly hard. It's important that we find ways to educate the public about how to prevent diabetes and how to treat it effectively once they have been diagnosed."

Last year, Congress renewed the Special Diabetes Program for an additional year as part of the Medicare bill, and this year Senator Dorgan is working to ensure that Congress renews the program for an additional two years as part of the Medicare bill.

Contact: Wendy Opsahl, Communications Coordinator, Center for Rural Health
701-777-0871, wopsahl@medicine.nodak.edu