The Press · 1 May 2015

CP-2015-005

A long way to go to make a difference

Elmhurst teen spends spring break bringing diabetes supplies to Middle East clinic

By F. Amanda Tugade

Transcribed from the clipping

“ELMHURST — Seventeen-year-old Gabriella Stinsa spent her spring break doing something just a little bit different… Tony Stinsa, Gabriella’s father, said his daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when she was 7 years old… The teen said she looked to her grandfather, Isa Nasr, for direction in planning her trip. Her grandfather left the Middle East during the 1960s, and after settling in Illinois, he never had the chance to return to his home in the West Bank.… What sparked Gabriella’s interest in the organization is its Palestine Diabetes Institute, a clinic built in 2009 in Al-Bireh, a town near the center of the West Bank in Israel… Mohamed said diabetes is a serious problem in Palestine. He explained because of poverty, those affected are not able to afford the necessary supplies to help manage and treat the disease.… Gabriella and her father explained with insurance, it costs about $1 to $2 to purchase blood test strips, needles and insulin. Those with diabetes have to measure their blood sugar level about six to eight times a day… They were able to raise $3,000, which paid for least 2,000 blood test strips and about 20 blood glucose meters… ‘Even the smallest change can make a big difference.’”

Photograph caption

Gabriella Stinsa, 17, of Elmhurst visits the Palestine Diabetes Institute to donate diabetic medical supplies.

Context added by this archive

What it costs to stay alive with a chronic condition under occupation, counted in test strips: six to eight readings a day, at a dollar or two each, in a place the story itself says people cannot afford them. Three thousand dollars raised on a basketball bracket bought two thousand strips and twenty meters. The paper places Al-Bireh in Israel.

Cite this item

"A long way to go to make a difference," The Press, 1 May 2015. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2015-005. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2015-005

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