Title: Support for Eradicating Diabetes and for a Pilot Program through the Establishment of a Diabetes Center

 

WHEREAS, we, the members of the National Congress of American Indians of the United States, invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon our efforts and purposes, in order to preserve for ourselves and our descendants the inherent sovereign rights of our Indian nations, rights secured under Indian treaties and agreements with the United States, and all other rights and benefits to which we are entitled under the laws and Constitution of the United States to enlighten the public toward a better understanding of the Indian people, to preserve Indian cultural values, and otherwise promote the welfare of the Indian people, do hereby establish and submit the following resolution; and

WHEREAS, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is the oldest and largest national organization established in 1944 and comprised of representatives of and advocates for national, regional, and local Tribal concerns; and

WHEREAS, the health, safety, welfare, education, economic and employment opportunity, and preservation of cultural and natural resources are primary goals and objectives of NCAI; and,

WHEREAS, diabetes has been identified as an alarming epidemic that threatens Pimas and Maricopas of the Gila River Indian Community, (the "Community") beginning in the 1930’s, and Type II, or adult onset, diabetes, began to afflict Indian Country, most particularly Pima and Maricopa Indians; and

WHEREAS, the National Institute of Health (the "NIH") has conducted over 34 years of research on the Pima and Maricopa Indians of the Community and has watched the continuing spread of diabetes among Community members and in Indian Country without producing results toward a cure; and

WHEREAS, NIH has determined that over 50% of Pima adults over the age of 30 are diagnosed with Type II diabetes and over 80 % of Pima adults over the age of 55 are diagnosed with Type II diabetes and consequently Pimas are more likely to have limbs amputated due to the disease than the rest of the Nation; and

WHEREAS, most tragically, 53 Pima children are currently diagnosed with Type II diabetes and another 78 Pima children have been identified as borderline diabetic, and NIH has observed that Pimas are contracting the disease at an increasingly younger age;

WHEREAS, it is imperative to eradicate diabetes in our lifetimes, the proposed Gila River Diabetes Center is an innovative pilot program to provide quality care through the treatment and prevention of diabetes through culturally sensitive protocols in education, diet and exercise programs in order to curb the advance of diabetes among the Pima and Maricopa people; and

WHEREAS, NCAI strongly supports all American Indian and Alaska Native efforts by securing increased federal government funding to eradicate diabetes among American Indians in our lifetimes.

BE IT RESOLVED, that NCAI strongly supports the Community’s efforts by securing federal funding to build, staff, and supply a pilot program through the Gila River Diabetes Center as a critical step toward combating the deadly effects of diabetes.

The foregoing resolution was adopted at the 2000 Mid-Year Session of the National Congress of American Indians, held at the Centennial Hall in Juneau, Alaska on June 25-28, 2000 with a quorum present.

_____________________________

Susan Masten, President

Juana Majel, Recording Secretary

Adopted by the General Assembly during the 2000 Mid-Year Session of the National Congress of American Indians, held at the Centennial Hall in Juneau, Alaska on June 25-28, 2000.