Diabetes - Learning to Live with the Disease

by Tenlee Lund
Our lifestyles—sedentary and filled with calorie- and fat-laden foods—are harming our bodies and seriously affecting our health. One result is the increase in the number of Americans with diabetes. The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse estimated in 2007 that 7.8 percent of the American population, 23.6 million people, had diabetes.

The good news is that Mille Lacs Health System (MLHS) has a new program to help those who suffer with diabetes. Several staff members have been working for more than eight months to seek official recognition for the program through the American Diabetes Association (ADA). They include Laurie Richards, RN, Diabetic Educator (shown in photo); Rita Iverson, RN, Director of Community Health Information; Angela Berndt, Registered and Licensed Dietician; Sue Lucken, Clinic Manager and Program Coordinator; Jeff Mutz, Vice President of Clinic Services / Human Resource; and Patti Hook, MD, the program’s medical advisor.

“It’s amazing how many people have had diabetes for years and really don’t know how to define diabetes or understand their own treatment,” says Richards. “When you’re living with high blood glucose that is uncontrolled, it’s going to have long-term complications.”

Those can include blindness, loss of limbs, kidney damage or failure, and increased risks of stroke and heart disease. The new diabetes education program aims to help MLHS patients avoid such dire prognoses. Patient education starts with a one-on-one visit with a diabetic educator and dietician, followed by four group classes (or continued individual sessions, if the patient prefers).

Classes focus on topics such as the disease and its process, nutritional management, physical activity, complications, medications and lifestyle changes. The goal is to get the latest information to people so they learn to monitor and manage their diabetes.

“Diabetes cannot be cured but it can be controlled,” Richards says. “So far, our program has been very well received and we’re pretty excited about that. I’m so proud of many of the people who have come to see me. They’re doing so well.”

This unique program from the ADA teaches people the importance of monitoring their blood sugars, counting carbohydrates in their diets and incorporating exercise into their lives. “People learn that they’re in control of their diabetes rather than diabetes being in control of them,” says Iverson.

“They learn that diabetes can be controlled and they won’t have to take medication if they can control it through diet and exercise.

“People used to say, ‘I have sugar diabetes and I can’t eat sugar.’ Now we teach carb counting,” she adds. “You can eat basically everything when you have diabetes now, you just have to count what you eat. It’s portion control.”

Information regarding diabetes changes frequently, so MLHS is focusing on ways to keep patients up-to-date with the latest advice. In addition to the four classes, Iverson also facilitates an ongoing diabetes support group that will meet monthly. This group is designed to offer continuing education and support to patients following the ADA classes.

“My thought is that I will bring an educational offering each month and then open it up for people to ask questions and discuss things.
However they want to do it, formal or informal, that will be entirely up to the group. I will bring in speakers occasionally but it will really be their group. I’ll be there to coordinate.”

The goal of the entire diabetes program is to reach out to people and “have a healthier diabetic community,” says Richards. “We have a large population of patients with diabetes and there are many diabetes patients out there who don’t get the help they need. Even one visit with us and I know they would benefit.”

That is why MLHS is working to achieve recognition for this program. “It’s a big commitment on the part of the whole health system,” says Iverson. “We’re putting a lot of effort into this. It’s mission-driven to keep our patients and community healthy.

“It’s a big job. You have to collect data for six months before you can even turn in an application, and you have to be actively seeing patients during that time. The ADA program is outcome-based, so we have to show improvement over the last six months just to qualify.”

Lucken explained that MLHS formed a task force comprised of staff people, the diabetic educators, the medical advisor, the coordinator and Mutz, which meets once a month to keep the recognition effort on track.

There is also an advisory committee that meets quarterly and is made up of community members, some of whom have diabetes, and representatives from the MLHS lab, pharmacy and long-term care departments.

“The purpose of the ongoing data collection and review between the task force and advisory committee is so we can assure that our program is helping the patients and we’re meeting the needs of our patients and the community,” says Lucken.

For more information or schedules for the new MLHS diabetes education program, please call the main MLHS switchboard, (320) 532-3154, and ask for either Richards, Iverson or Berndt. You can also read the latest information about diabetes by visiting the ADA Web site, www.diabetes.org.