DC pictures

I had the privilege of visiting our nations capital this week.



Due to it being a work related trip I didn't have a lot of time for sight seeing. On Wednesday I attended the launch of a new curriculum developed by the National Institutes of Health titled "Health is Life in Balance." It was developed for American Indian kids K-12. It was a big event at the Smithsonian Museum - National Museum of the American Indian. We had a walk on the national mall in the afternoon. During the walk, a couple of friends and I skipped out and headed over the the Holocaust Museum. I don't have the words to describe the emotions and thoughts from viewing the horrific events filling these years. I don't think I ever really grasped the short amount of time it took for Hitler to warp people's minds. I want to go back when my kids are older to see this again. I would like to take more time going through next time. If I have time, and if I am able to gather my thoughts in a concise manner, I will try to post more about this later.

Thursday and Friday I attended meetings held in my hotel. I had the choice between attending Grant Management trainings that covered much of what I have been doing for the last 4 years or attending the Tribal Leaders Diabetes Committee meeting. I bounced back and forth between the rooms, but the TLDC meeting was by far the more interesting of the two. It was very interesting to watch the process the committee goes through to determine how our Special Diabetes Program for Indians grant money is divided. I developed a great deal of respect for the members of this committee and now have a greater understanding of what happens after congress appropriates our funding. The picture above is me with our poster displaying what our program has been doing here at Haskell. Just to brag for a minute about our program- we have about 94 participants who have graduated from our program in the last 3 years. Only 2 of those have gone on to develop type 2 diabetes. This is much better than statistics would suggest for people w/ prediabetes not attending a lifestyle change program. In fact, it is 5 times better than for those who were in the orginal DPP research study. Improving nutrition and increasing physical activity really DO work!!!

One evening we walked by the White House. I wish I could take better night pictures. This is pretty blurry, buy you can still tell that it is really pretty at night!