Corporate Walk
Each year, HMSA participates in a different charity walk to raise money to help
others and encourage community members to get up, get out and get active.
In November 2008, HMSA supported the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)
Walk for a Cure at Kapiolani Park. More than 100 HMSA employees, family and friends
participated in the walk. HMSA’s corporate giving program contributed $10,000 to
the JDRF.
Diabetes affects more than 24 million adults and children in the United States or
8 percent of the population. And it is one of the leading causes of death in the
U.S. One of every three Americans born in the year 2000 is predicted to develop
some form of diabetes during their lifetime.
Type 1 diabetes (formerly called juvenile diabetes) results when the body’s immune
system attacks and destroys its own insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.
Type 1 diabetes accounts for 5 percent-10 percent of all diagnosed cases. Type 2
diabetes (formerly called adult-onset diabetes) occurs when the body does not make
enough insulin or cannot use the insulin it makes effectively. Type 2 diabetes accounts
for about 90 percent to 95 percent of all diagnosed cases. In Hawaii, Asians, Native Hawaiians, and
other Pacific Islanders ages 20 years and older are more than twice as likely to
have diagnosed diabetes as Caucasian residents of similar age.
Care Connection, HMSA’s disease management program, helps members who have diabetes
types 1 and 2. Care Connection services are available at no cost to HMSA members
with diabetes. The program matches members with specialized clinical case managers
who can help them obtain appropriate care and services. Care Connection also provides
information, resources and tools to help them manage their condition more effectively.