When the JDRF Georgia Chapter partners with Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) and Memorial Health, great things happen.

For the first time, these organizations collaborated on what was a daunting undertaking – to successfully educate all 40,000 students in SCCPSS about type 1 diabetes while raising money for research. Each day during Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Week (November 16th – 20th), students, teachers, and administrators in all 53 schools learned about the differences between type 1 diabetes (T1D) and type 2 diabetes, how to recognize symptoms of T1D, the effect blood-sugars can have on the body, and ways to support friends and family living with T1D.

The week kicked off on Monday, November 16th with a press conference at Beach High School in Savannah and culminated on Friday, November 20th with a Crazy Sneaker/Dress Down Day. Each student donated at least $1 to JDRF for the opportunity to dress out of uniform for the day.

The JDRF Georgia Chapter thanks everyone who made Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Week in SCCPSS possible: Mary Chatman, Ph.D., R.N. (COO and Chief Nursing Officer, Memorial Health), Maggie Gill, MBA (President & CEO, Memorial Health), M. Ann Levett, Ed.D. (Chief Academic Officer, SCCPSS), Dr. Angie Lewis (Interim Senior Director, The Office of College & Career Readiness, SCCPSS), and the entire SCCPSS school staff.