A Rest Stop, A Disco Theme and A Moment That Mattered

What start­ed as a day of cheer­ing on cyclists and serv­ing snacks and drinks took an unex­pect­ed turn for #Duly­Good­er Araceli M.

On Sun­day, August 9, Araceli vol­un­teered at the Duly-spon­sored rest stop sup­port­ing cyclists in the ADA Tour de Cure – Chicagoland, the Amer­i­can Dia­betes Asso­ci­a­tion’s pre­mier cycling fundrais­er. Rid­ers rolled out of Pot­tawatomie Park in St. Charles at 7 a.m. on routes rang­ing from a fam­i­ly-friend­ly few miles to a 65-mile chal­lenge, with the day wrap­ping up in a Well­ness Vil­lage of food trucks, music, and celebration.

Then a rid­er went down at the rest stop, and Araceli’s train­ing as a Duly para­medic imme­di­ate­ly kicked in.

“Araceli stepped up, took care of the rid­er, and did a great job! She was calm, effi­cient, and pro­fes­sion­al. When the para­medics arrived, they were impressed with what she had done,” said fel­low #Duly­Good­er and rest stop vol­un­teer Lynn Pustelnik.

For Araceli, it was an oppor­tu­ni­ty to put her skills into action and pro­vide care when it mat­tered most. For the rid­er, it meant hav­ing a trained, com­pas­sion­ate pro­fes­sion­al there when help was needed.

Shout out to Araceli for ris­ing to the occa­sion and demon­strat­ing the com­pas­sion, dig­ni­ty, and pur­pose that define Duly care providers, on the job and in our community.

Dis­co Balls and a Whole Lot of Cowbell

Araceli and Lynn were joined by Duly col­leagues Christi­na and Michele, who brought the rest stop’s dis­co theme to life with play­ful appar­el and acces­sories. For Michele, the expe­ri­ence was a per­fect blend of cama­raderie and con­nec­tion: ​“It was a lot of fun, and I’ve met some nice peo­ple. I would love to do it again.”

Con­grat­u­la­tions to Team Duly

Our 30-mile rid­ers con­quered the hills along the course:

• Mike Stad­nic­ki (top team fundrais­er and Tour jer­sey winner)
• Becky Majernik
• Dr. Robert Mazurek
• Vanes­sa Treps

Anne May­nard and her daugh­ter com­plet­ed the 10-mile ride togeth­er, fin­ish­ing in time for Tea­gan to head to her babysit­ting shift.

Why We Ride

In addi­tion to the fun and fes­tiv­i­ties of the day, the ADA Red Rid­er Sto­ry Wall ground­ed every­one in the pur­pose of the event: raise aware­ness and funds to find a cure to end dia­betes. Red Rid­ers are Tour de Cure par­tic­i­pants who live with dia­betes, and they ride in bright red jer­seys so the crowd knows exact­ly who to cheer for. Read­ing their sto­ries on the wall was a reminder that behind every mile is a per­son man­ag­ing a con­di­tion that touch­es mil­lions of fam­i­lies across the coun­try, includ­ing thou­sands right here in the west­ern suburbs.

That work does not stop at the fin­ish line. Duly has been car­ing for patients with dia­betes since 1975, and the Amer­i­can Dia­betes Asso­ci­a­tion for Qual­i­ty Dia­betes Self-Man­age­ment Edu­ca­tion and Sup­port rec­og­nizes our Dia­betes Care and Edu­ca­tion pro­gram. Cer­ti­fied Dia­betes Care and Edu­ca­tion Spe­cial­ists work along­side endocrinol­o­gy, oph­thal­mol­o­gy, podi­a­try, neu­rol­o­gy, and car­di­ol­o­gy to build a plan around the whole per­son, not just the num­ber on a meter.

If you or some­one you love is liv­ing with dia­betes or has ques­tions about risk, sched­ule with a Duly provider and start the con­ver­sa­tion. >

A Day Worth Repeating

Team Duly was among the 395 rid­ers who raised near­ly $300,000 for dia­betes research. Ash­ley D. from ADA expressed her sin­cere grat­i­tude: ​“From spon­sor­ship and fundrais­ing to rid­ing and vol­un­teer­ing, Duly showed up for Tour de Cure and the dia­betes com­mu­ni­ty in so many ways. We’re so grate­ful to have Duly Health and Care as part of the Tour de Cure com­mu­ni­ty and can’t wait to con­tin­ue build­ing on this partnership!”

Want to show up like Araceli, Lynn, Christi­na, and Michele? Explore careers at Duly and join a team that brings care to the com­mu­ni­ty, not just the clin­ic. >