by Jennifer Kowalewski

Diabetics can help health-care providers better understand the obstacles to proper care facing them, say physicians and researchers at Ohio University who are holding a seminar this week.

The seminar, “Diabetes Management from Childhood to Geriatrics,” takes center stage in Grosvenor West 111 Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 9:30 a.m. The Diabetes Educators Coalition Seminar provides a quarterly forum for health-care providers from across Athens County who are seeking to improve diabetes care and is sponsored by university’s Appalachian Rural Health Institute (ARHI). The institute was founded by the COM and the College of Health and Human Services.

“This seminar brings together diabetes educators who provide direct care for people with diabetes in southern Ohio and West Virginia. We hope by coordinating our efforts, we can offer a more useful and better quality education to help people manage their diabetes,” says Jay Shubrook, D.O. (’96), ARHI diabetologist and director of the diabetes fellowship.

“Our goal is to provide a uniform set of policies and procedures for the treatment of diabetes in the region,” says Frank Schwartz, M.D., director of the ARHI Diabetes/Endocrine Center and COM associate professor of endocrinology.

The seminar will focus on diabetes care projects taking shape in Southeastern Ohio.

Shubrook will discuss the Diabetes Surveillance Study II, which introduces the Nursing Home Diabetes Project.

“There are major organizations that have recommendations and standards of care for people with diabetes, but guidelines have been lacking for the elderly and for people in extended-care facilities,” says Shubrook. “I will be introducing a new guideline from the American Geriatric Society that addresses this. I also will be introducing a study I am doing that examines how diabetes is managed in Appalachian extended-care facilities.”

Andrew Wapner, D.O., OU-COM assistant professor of pediatrics, will present “Building the Bridge between Children with Diabetes and Their Communities.” Wapner will investigate the degree of discrimination children feel in schools while living with diabetes, Schwartz says.

Jane Hamel-Lambert, Ph.D., director of interdisciplinary mental health education for ARHI, will conduct a survey (“Caring for Diabetes”) for diabetes educators and care providers during the seminar that examines the external and cognitive barriers to proper diabetes care. After the seminar, the educators will make a similar survey available county-wide to their diabetes patients.

The survey, says Hamel-Lambert, “is the first step of developing a patient navigator program. Patient navigators coordinate health-care services and provider referrals, facilitate the involvement of community organizations that can help with access to services, and notify patients of and facilitate enrollment in clinical trials.”

“They assist patients in overcoming barriers within the health-care system to ensure prompt diagnosis and treatment.”

The seminar includes a luncheon and ends at 3 p.m. University and area professionals are invited. For more information, please contact Suzanne Vazzano at (740) 593-2333.

The ARHI Diabetes/Endocrine Center’s ongoing mission is research and educational programs that further diabetes research, improve patient care and clinical training, and promote diabetes education. The seminar has been submitted for 2.4 contact hours for nurses and two hours of continuing professional education credit for dietitians.