People who have diabetes continue to benefit

McCook, Neb. -- The American Diabetes Association (ADA) has recertified Community Hospital through December 2008, for participating in a program that brings high-quality outpatient diabetes education to communities throughout the state.

Community Hospital and 15 other members of the Heartland Health Alliance received ADA recertification in conjunction with the Diabetes Center at BryanLGH Medical Center in Lincoln. ADA recognition signifies that the hospitals meet national standards for diabetes patient education and can help people manage their diabetes more effectively, in many cases avoiding the complications of the disease.

“The commitment from professionals throughout Nebraska, to standardize diabetes education, lead to our successful recertification,” notes BryanLGH Diabetes Center program manager Paulette Kuhlman, RN. “Our country is facing an epidemic of diabetes and its complications, such as heart disease — and that’s why BryanLGH and our Heartland Health Alliance partners work together to provide a diabetes education program that has locations throughout the state.”

Monica Wacker, Certified Diabetes Educator at Community Hospital, says the program focuses on teaching people how to live successfully with diabetes.

“Rather than teaching patients how to live their lives to adapt to diabetes, we offer ways to fit diabetes into their individual lifestyles,” says Wacker. “For instance, we no longer tell people that they cannot eat sugar or that some foods are bad. Now we say eating a little bit of everything is okay, but we must eat things at the right time and in appropriate portions.”

Wacker and Kuhlman point out that the ADA recognition also is important because it gives facilities like Community Hospital access to the latest research and treatments.

The program benefits patients by standardizing diabetes assessments and patient education throughout the Heartland Health Alliance network. Instructors at the hospitals work toward becoming certified diabetes educators, so that they will be able to provide the same level of expertise in their community hospitals that patients would find at larger facilities.

Achieving ADA recognition also is valuable in helping patients receive Medicare and insurance company reimbursement for diabetes education.

A Program Advisory Committee includes a representative from every site, and communication among the hospitals and BryanLGH staff expands through a fiber optic interactive video distance learning system that is used for educating patients and staff members.

Alliance member hospitals in Albion, Beatrice, Broken Bow, Cambridge, Crete, David City, Fairbury, Friend, Holdrege, Lexington, Lincoln, McCook, North Platte, Saint Paul, Seward, Superior and Tecumseh received the ADA recertification.

From February 1 through August 1, 2005, 614 patients received diabetes education at these hospitals.