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Social Media Campaign Raises Type 1 Diabetes Awareness

DENVER (CBS4) – All of November is Diabetes Awareness Month and more specifically Saturday, November 14th is World Diabetes Day. There are several ways to show your support of the diabetes community.

"Well, you wear blue, and especially on Saturday the 14th, you wear blue. We have four different landmarks that are turning blue, so you can do a little tour.

We have the DeVita building, Ball Arena, which is the former Pepsi Center, Empower Field, and Union Station are all turning blue. And if you take a picture of it, and  you tag it #T1Determined or the childrensdiabetesfoundation.org, it's just great ways to let people know that they're out there and showing love to the Type 1 community," said Dana Davis, Executive Director of the Children's Diabetes Foundation.

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The Children's Diabetes Foundation is promoting a social media campaign called #T1Determined. The campaign is asking anyone with a Type 1 diabetes story to post it on social media with the hashtag T1Determined, so that more people can understand what it is like to live with this disease.

"You can do anything if you're diabetic. They just recently allowed commercial pilots to be Type 1 diabetics as well, so that's a really exciting thing," Davis told CBS4.

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One of the key goals of the month and the day is to help people understand diabetes.

"Type 1 diabetes is actually an autoimmune disease that you cannot prevent, and you don't cause. I think there's a lot of confusion between Type 1 and Type 2," Davis explained.

There is also knowing the symptoms which allows people who are suffering to get medical care sooner. The symptoms include a change in vision, thirst, frequent urination, and irritability.

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The Children's Diabetes Foundation is the funding arm for the Barbara Davis Center which is known around the world for its care of  Type 1 diabetes patients.

"It's incredible. So 95-percent of the diabetics in Colorado come to the Center. But, I think, we have about 50 different countries, and 40 different states that people actually come to the Center here because it's the number 1 Center. It treats the entire family and it gives them the most amazing care, and makes sure that people get care no matter their ability to pay," Davis said.

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Diabetes care has come a long way in the last 50-years. Patients have gone from having no treatment at all, to having some of the best tech on the market to track their sugar levels and distribute lifesaving insulin. CBS4 asked Davis about what the future in diabetes care might look like.

"It's about the care. Of course, we all want a cure, but a cure can look like a bunch of different things. And in this case, it's about giving the best care to Type 1's so they won't have complications, they won't have problems. There's devices like I'm wearing, which is a meter that is amazing and can tell you  what your blood sugars are at all times. And in the next five  years, all the devices that will come on the market have been tested through the Barbara Davis Center, so we're really proud of them. They do an amazing job," Davis said.

LINKS: Children's Diabetes Foundation | Barbara Davis Center

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