Doctors Distribute 8,000 Diabetes Prevention Toolkits at the Gathering of Nations

ALBUQUERQUE—The Physicians Committee—a nonprofit representing more than 12,000 concerned physicians—distributed diabetes prevention information at the Gathering of Nations Pow-wow, a three-day event that started  Thursday, April 28.  

“Diabetes is an epidemic everywhere but especially within Indian country,” says Caroline Trapp, D.N.P., A.N.P.-BC, C.D.E., F.A.A.N.P., director of diabetes education and care at the Physicians Committee. “Our goal is to raise awareness that diabetes can be prevented and treated with food or, as my Navajo friends have taught me, ‘foods that come from Mother Earth.’”

Native Americans have a 2.2 times higher likelihood of diabetes compared with non-Hispanic whites. Ninety-five percent of American Indians with diabetes have type 2 diabetes, which has been scientifically proven to be reversed through a plant-based diet.

Over the years, the Physicians Committee has passed out more than 23,000 copies of The Power to Heal Diabetes: Food for Life in Indian Country, a DVD resource developed for Native Americans. This year, they distributed Power Plate tote bags containing the DVD and recipe booklet.  

The Gathering of Nations is in its 33rd year and was held at the Wise Pies Arena in Albuquerque, N.M., on April 28-30, 2016. The Physicians Committee booth was located at the Indian Trader’s Market, which offered shopping and exhibition of Native artifacts on April 29-30. Students at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe and nutritionists from the Navajo Nation volunteered their time to help Physicians Committee staff at the booth during the event. Chefs Lois Ellen Frank, Ph.D. (Kiowa) and Walter Whitewater (Navajo) encouraged attendees to try out plant-based recipes.