Diabetes institute brings Dakota, New Ulm together

Seminar brings Dakota culture, modern

technology to focus

on tackling diabetes

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- In August 1862, Dakota Indians and New Ulm residents were on opposite sides of barricades aiming guns at each other, bitter enemies in a violent clash of cultures.

This week the Dakota people and New Ulmites will be coming together in New Ulm to fight a common enemy -- diabetes.

Martin Luther College in New Ulm is the site of the Summer Institute "Reconciliation -- A Bridge to Diabetes and Language/Culture Education."

The institute is a unique combination of workshops on Dakota language, culture and history, and on diabetes, a disease that affects all Americans, but which strikes especially hard at Native Americans.

The institute begins at 8 a.m. Monday with a welcome featuring New Ulm Mayor Arnold Koelpin, Chief Ernest Wabasha and Master of Ceremonies Rev. Clifford Canku.

"We're so pleased to be able to host this event," Koelpin said. "This is special for us. It can be a springboard for better cross-cultural relations. If we can cooperate on diabetes, we can cooperate on other things."

New Ulm native Paul Wessel is one of the organizers of the institute.

Now living in Delano and operating his own medical technology company, Wessel has a 13-year-old boy, Luke, with type 1 diabetes and another boy, Alex, 11, that had brain damage but survived a SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) attack.

Wessel will play a big role in the event that will combine Native American culture and tribal members with modern technology, educators, health professionals, historians and the general public.

Luke Wessel was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was four years old during a family road trip. The first symptom was his frequent need to urinate. He also became very thirsty and became pale and weak.

Luke Wessel was taken to a hospital emergency room where many tests were performed. It was determined that his glucose level (the amount of sugar in his blood) was 480. Normal levels are 90-120.

Type 1 diabetes happens most often in children and young adults. The body produces no insulin, so insulin injections and blood tests are needed daily. A glucose monitor is a constant companion.

(Type 2 diabetes is more common and occurs most often in middle aged adults. Its victims produce some insulin but sometimes not enough, or they lack sensitivity to it. Glucose levels can often be controlled with diet, exercise and medication, but often Type 2 victims will develop the need for insulin injections. Whatever treatment they use, they also need to monitor their glucose levels.)

Paul Wessel soon learned of his child's need for an alternative to the glucose meter. He noticed its similarity to his Gameboy toy.

That led to Wessel's inventing Glucoboy, an electronic cartridge inserted in a Gameboy that replaces the glucose monitor and is integrated into the Gameboy system itself.

If glucose management is correct, ammunition will be issued to destroy sugar molecules floating on the Gameboy screen. If the child's glucose level is too high, there is no ammunition.

Luke Wessel himself came up with the idea of creating a wizard on the Gameboy screen that describes how to properly manage glucose and win the game.

On top of that, Glucoboy transmits information to a health care provider if need be with wireless technology. The device is expected to be available this summer.

Wessel made a recent trip to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in hopes of convincing tribal educators of the need to prevent diabetes, which kills four times as many Indians as whites.

During a dinner stop at Al's Oasis in Chamberlain, S.D. Wessel met Al Martin, Mona Miyasato of the Flandrau Santee Sioux Tribe and Lydia Whirlwind Soldier, a Rosebud Sioux.

Wessel explained his Glucoboy invention to Martin who introduced him to the women and learned that they were part of a five-person team that wrote a $3.5 million educational grant called TEC WEB.

The program's intention was to use technology to teach Indian children about their culture and language and improve school performance. It also included a summer educator's conference.

Thus, the Summer Institute in New Ulm was born.

"If you would have ever asked me a year ago to do something like this, I would have said you were nuts," Wessel said. "This is very heavy on my heart when you look at the diabetes rate in Native Americans. In some tribes, it hits half of them. It's time we reach across cultural differences, join together and help one another."

Check-in and registration for the institute will take place from 2-8 p.m. today at Martin Luther College. Native Americans will greet the morning at 6:30 a.m. Monday in the MLC auditorium.

Dr. Angela Wilson will give a slide presentation about 1862 events from 8:30-9:15 a.m.

After coffee, buses will load to to visit historical sites at the Lower Sioux Agency near Morton, Fort Ridgely State Park and Mankato. Spirits will be released through prayer and song.

Dinner will be held in the MLC cafeteria from 5-6 p.m. A celebration will be held from 7-10 p.m. in the gymnasium.

Wessel will moderate a children's panel on living with diabetes in room 166 as one of several Tuesday morning breakout sessions scheduled for 9:30-10:30 a.m. His keynote address will center on diabetes and high technology 1-2 p.m. Tuesday in the MLC auditorium.

A trip to the Jeffers Petroglyphs will take place Wednesday evening.

Following Thursday visits to ancient sacred sites, the local German Community will sponsor a 6-9 p.m. picnic and celebration at Flandrau State Park.

Joel Nelson of the International Diabetes Center will present a keynote address 1-2 p.m. Friday on "Living with Diabetes--Understanding the Psychological and Emotional Perspective," in the MLC auditorium.

Twenty-three Native American presenters from 19 tribal bands from Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Canada are scheduled this week. Children's dance and drum groups will perform.

History will play a big part of the event.

"It doesn't mean we're going to kiss and make up in one day but its got to start somewhere," Wessel said. "It's very humbling to be a part of this. Painful things have happened to people on both sides. I'm not immune from that."

A 1977 Martin Luther Academy graduate, Wessel has filed for patents for Glucoboy. Among his goals is to create a non-profit organization in New Ulm to distribute his new invention. He is married to the former Shelly Reinking, formerly of New Ulm.