When the worst recession in recent history strikes an already-poverty-stricken neighborhood, the loss of jobs may mean much more than a temporary setback. Losing the money to pay for regular meals can be devastating to a person with diabetes. In a moving article in the June 10 Journal of the American Medical Association, Anne Peters, director of USC Clinical Diabetes Programs, describes the special program within the LAC+USC Healthcare Network for patients with type I diabetes, the effects of economic downturns on those patients and their families, and the intensity with which she and her physician colleagues care about their patients.

The program “is among the things in which we (USC and LAC+USC) should take pride for the excellence and uniqueness of our services,” says Ed Crandall, chairman of the Department of Medicine.

To see the JAMA article, visit: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/301/22/2309.