Harlem Week 2023. When I went to Harlem this past summer, I went back to my roots. Back to Westside High School, where I became who I am. Even more important, back to Mount Sinai St Luke’s Hospital, now known as Mount Sinai Morningside.
My baby Nia-Imani Lesane was born June 3rd, 1992 at 2:32 a.m. at St. Luke’s. I wanted to go to back to where it started and give back. The best way I could do that was sharing the story of a baby girl born at this hospital and what she has grown to become: A young Black girl who diagnosed herself with diabetes.
When I knew I was going back, I reached out to Mount Sinai Children’s Hospital and donated copies of Mommy, I Think I Have Diabetes. I wanted to help families like my own who struggled with a Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis. I was so glad when Brooke Wershaw, Senior Development Officer at Mount Sinai, invited me to guide me on a tour and visit the young patients and their families at the Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital.
It was a privilege to take the tour with Brooke, and with Dr. Meredith Wilkes, a pediatrician and instructor in the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes at the Jack and Lucy Clark department of pediatrics, at Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital. Dr Wilkes devotes her practice to the treatment of children with diabetes.
Brooke and Dr Meredith were so generous. They helped me understand how important it is for children to begin their healthcare education early. They introduced me to the backpack program of the juvenile diabetes research foundation, in which patients and their families receive gifts and educational materials when they go home from the hospital. I got to talk to the families and children too. They all are hungry for knowledge about the disease and how to take care of their children.
Brooke and Dr Meredith are helping me and my team work with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, so we can donate $1 for every book we sell. These two amazing women are also helping us donate more books to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, so the families can take “Mommy, I Think I Have Diabetes” home with them, and learn to teach each other about a lifetime of diabetes nutrition and treatment.
I look forward to continuing to work with my friends at Mount Sinai. I will never forget the lessons they keep teaching me, and their generosity in giving me so much of their precious time and expertise.
Going home to my first neighborhood changed me forever. I hope Jamala’s Block can be my way to keep giving back.
