Although Type 2 diabetes long has been our region’s No. 1 health crisis, the community has failed to find sustainable solutions to the epidemic. Meanwhile, one in six people have the disease and non-traumatic below-the-knee amputation rates are among the highest in the nation. The Corpus Christi Caller-Times embarked on a yearlong series, led by reporter Rhiannon Meyers, to answer the following questions: – Why do the rates of Type 2 diabetes, and more troubling, the rates of diabetes-related complications remain so persistently high here? – What effect has that had on the Coastal Bend’s residents, economy and health care? – What can be done to curb the rates? Beyond that, we hoped to better educate the community about the disease in an effort to help peopices about their health while sparking a conversation among policy makers and health practitioners about how to improve diabetes management and treatment in the community. With the support of a dozen reporters, editors, photographers and a graphic artist, the series included more than 40 stories and a dedicated website (www.caller.com/diabetes) where readers could learn more about the disease, find diabetes-friendly recipes, search for local self-management classes, watch taped interviews with others affected and share their own stories. The website also included data, maps, research papers and other documents used in reporting, making it the most comprehensive diabetes resource in our region. The series found that while deeply aware of the crisis, the community has not figured out how to begin addressing it. In Corpus Christi, several high-profile anti-diabetes and anti-obesity initiatives disappeared, fizzled or fell short of their promises. Diabetes education classes – the gold standard in diabetes prevention and management – were systematically stripped of their funding, scaled back or closed down. Policy solutions evade Corpus Christi where policy-makers have deep-rooted beliefs that personal responsibility – not the lack of policy solutions – is fundamentally responsible for the crisis. However, our reporting showed that other communities had successfully curbed their rates of diabetes and related complications – and saved money – through an array of policy solutions, raising doubts about whether Corpus Christi is doing enough to tackle its most pressing health problem.
