SAS hosts American TV icon Jerry Mathers, now diabetes patient advocate

Former child actor announces innovative new therapies, holds lunch-and-learn session with SAS employees

CARY, NC  (May 20, 2009)  –  Jerry Mathers, best known as the mischievous Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver on the hit TV show Leave It to Beaver , visited SAS on Tuesday to describe innovative medicines under development for treating diabetes. Mathers, who has successfully managed his diabetes for more than a decade, encouraged SAS employees to take advantage of the many healthy-living programs that SAS offers workers and their dependents.

“When you have a company that involved, it's wonderful,” Mathers, still youthful at 60, said to a capacity crowd of SAS employees. "You need family and friends to support you. Companies are just realizing how many hours of productivity they're losing because of diabetes." He quipped: "Do you have any applications? I'd like to work here."

At a news conference before Mathers’ session with SAS employees, a prominent research scientist said that a record 183 potentially life-changing medicines for diabetes are being tested in human clinical trials or awaiting FDA approval. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association of America made the announcement in North Carolina because the state’s rising number of diabetes cases reflects a similar, disturbing trend nationwide. While 8 percent of people in the US have diabetes, 9.1 percent of North Carolinians battle this disease.

For more than three decades, SAS has made employee wellness a top priority, offering workers and their families a wide range of ways to be healthy. “Providing on-site healthcare and healthy-living programs, such as diabetes self-management, isn’t just the right thing to do. It also makes good business sense,” said Jenn Mann, Vice President of Human Resources at SAS. “We’ve done extensive analyses of our on-site healthcare. Even factoring in all the expenses, time and facilities, we still come out ahead, saving more than 4 million dollars a year.”

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