Campaign To Fight Diabetes In Detroit Goes High Tech

DETROIT (WWJ) - In Michigan, diabetes is a leading cause of illness and death. The U.S. Surgeon General is visiting the motor city this week for the kick-off of a new Fighting D in the D campaign in an effort to help save lives.

Scott Turske of the Southeast Michigan Beacon Community, a partner in this effort, says the campaign kick-off will feature a new mobile educational tool called Text-4-Health.

"They simply text the word "health" to 300400. Then, they go through a process in which they do a risk assessment. Then, based on their risk assessment, they receive they receive targeted, personalized messages over a 14-week period that gives them helpful hints on how to lead a healthier life," said Turske.

Listen to the full interview below:

The U.S. Surgeon General, Regina M. Benjamin, MD, will be addressing the epidemic of type 2 diabetes in Detroit at a private luncheon on Wednesday.

Type 2 is the most common form of diabetes, accounting for about 90-95 percent of all diagnosed diabetes cases in the United States and can lead to heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, blindness, kidney and nervous system disease, and amputation.

According to the Michigan Department of Community Health, an estimated 700,000 Michigan adults have been diagnosed with diabetes, and another 365,000 have undiagnosed diabetes.

This means more than 1 million adults in Michigan are directly affected by this ever-growing epidemic.

Text-4-Health could potentially get diabetes control messages out to millions of people. Turske says the free service is already active. But standard text rates will apply.