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.
- 30 -
News for
the week of Sept 12 –
Sept 17
