American Diabetes Association® Convening Advocates, Researchers and Professional Football Players on Capitol Hill Thursday, March 30

ARLINGTON, Va., March 27, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Thursday, March 30, the American Diabetes Association (Association) will bring together people living with and affected by diabetes, the caregivers who support them, researchers, and more than 40 current and former professional football players to advocate for continued access to affordable healthcare, diabetes research funding, and help to ensure insulin is affordable during the Association's 2017 Call to Congress advocacy event.

Each of the professional football players in attendance is a part of the Association's Team Tackle, an initiative bringing together current and former professional football players to raise awareness about diabetes.

Who: Kevin L. Hagan, Chief Executive Officer, American Diabetes Association
William T. Cefalu, MD, Chief Scientific, Medical & Mission Officer, American Diabetes Association
LaShawn McIver, MD, MPH, Senior Vice President, Advocacy, American Diabetes Association
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Co-Chair of the Senate Diabetes Caucus
Senator Susan M. Collins, R-Maine, Co-Chair of the Senate Diabetes Caucus
George King, MD, Chief Scientific Officer, Joslin Diabetes Center at Harvard Medical School
Kyle Love, defensive tackle for the Carolina professional football team and Team Tackle member
Kathy Sego, advocate and mother
Liz Kennett, BSN, RN, CDE, certified diabetes nurse educator and advocate

What: The Association hosts a press conference featuring diabetes advocates, health care providers and two U.S. Senators to raise voice for the critical health care needs of people with diabetes. Immediately following the press conference, members of Team Tackle and advocates from around the country will meet with their members of Congress to discuss the dangerous consequences people with diabetes will face if the Affordable Care Act is repealed without a replacement that offers equal or great coverage and protections for people with diabetes; support for research into treatment and potential cures for diabetes; and help to ensure access to affordable insulin.

Where: Dirksen Senate Office Building – SD562

When: Thursday, March 30, 2017, 9:00 am to 10:00 am ET

More: Select Team Tackle players and Association advocates will be available for media interviews only upon request. Please send email interview requests to [email protected].

About the American Diabetes Association
More than 29 million Americans have diabetes, and every 23 seconds another person is diagnosed with diabetes. The American Diabetes Association (Association) is the global authority on diabetes and since 1940 has been committed to its mission to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. To tackle this global public health crisis, the Association drives discovery in research to treat, manage and prevent all types of diabetes, as well as to search for cures; raises voice to the urgency of the diabetes epidemic; and provides support and advocacy for people living with diabetes, those at risk of developing diabetes, and the health care professionals who serve them. For more information, please call the American Diabetes Association at 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383) or visit diabetes.org. Information from both of these sources is available in English and Spanish. Find us on Facebook (American Diabetes Association), Twitter (@AmDiabetesAssn) and Instagram (@AmDiabetesAssn). 

SOURCE American Diabetes Association

Related Links

http://www.diabetes.org