Test Your Blood Sugar – July 14th, 4:00 ET (USA Time)

Diabetes Hands Foundation I 2802 Tenth St, Berkeley, CA 94710 I Ph: 650.283.4862 I EIN: 26·2274537

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

14,000 People With Diabetes
Test Their Blood Sugar at the Same Time

BERKELEY, CA: July 8, 2009 – July 14, at 4:00 pm ET, 14,000 people worldwide will test their blood sugar simultaneously and share their results online through TuDiabetes.com (www.tudiabetes.com), a social network for people touched by Diabetes which originated in March 2007, as well as through its sister Spanish language social network, EsTuDiabetes.com (www.estudiabetes.com).

The idea for the test-in came from Kelly Rawlings, someone who has lived with type 1 diabetes for 35 years. Kelly is one of the nearly 10,000 members at TuDiabetes.com, which has been called the “Myspace on Insulin” and a “Facebook for Diabetes.”

“People with diabetes have to test their blood sugar as part of their daily routine: it’s like drinking water or brushing your teeth,” said Manny Hernandez, co-founder of TuDiabetes.com and a person with diabetes himself. “When Kelly mentioned having a collective test-in, I thought it would be a great way for thousands of us to connect and raise awareness about diabetes.”

Currently, more than 250 million people are afflicted with diabetes. In the month of July, TuDiabetes will pass 10,000 registered members, and EsTuDiabetes.com, the sister social network about diabetes in Spanish, passed 4,000 registered members touched by diabetes from Mexico, Spain, Venezuela, Argentina, the US and other countries. In both communities, initiatives to raise diabetes awareness are the primary focus, making the combined 14,000-member milestone yet another opportunity to shed light on this chronic condition.

Participating in this initiative to raise diabetes awareness is easy:

• If you are a member of TuDiabetes or EsTuDiabetes, click on the home page banner and share your reading.
• If you have a Twitter account, post your reading on Twitter (use the #14KPWD hashtag) and link back to: http://14kPWD.org.
• If you prefer, update your status on Facebook or your preferred social network, linking back to: http://14kPWD.org.

“We hope to see most readings posted at 4 pm ET on July 14. If you are a few minutes late, however, or are able to post your blood sugar reading earlier or later that day, it’s OK,” said Hernandez. “What really matters is that you test your blood sugar regularly. If you don’t have diabetes, just tell someone who does to test and share on July 14.”