In 2015, the Beaufort County Public Health Department began the yearlong process of launching a Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME) program in our community. The mission of the DSME program is to empower Beaufort County citizens with the self-care management skills needed to improve their quality of life, using knowledge learned through diabetes education and disease-management strategies.

We are pleased to announce that we have completed the accreditation process and are now an accredited program through the American Diabetes Association, working under the North Carolina Diabetes Education Recognition Program (NCDERP) umbrella, to offer DSME Classes to those living with diabetes in Beaufort County. DSME will first be available to adults living with Type 2 diabetes with the goal to provide services over time to those with Type 1 diabetes, diabetes in pregnancy and families of children with diabetes as the needs arise. As we move forward on this path, we are aiming our focus toward Type 2 diabetes because research has shown that more than 90 percent of those living with diabetes are affected by Type 2.

Diabetes Self-Management Education is reported to decrease the start and advancement of diabetes complications, to improve quality of life and healthy behaviors, to increase a person’s ability to carry out healthy skills and behaviors and to decrease the amount of stress and depression surrounding diabetes. Those who have completed the DSME program have shown an improvement in hemoglobin A1c by as much as 1 percent.

The International Diabetes Federation has made the following statement: “Diabetes Self-Management Education is a critically important, fundamental and integral component of diabetes prevention and care and should be available and accessible to everyone.”

To be a participant in DSME classes, patients have to be referred to the program by their regular doctor. We were happy to have worked closely with one local doctor’s office to have created our “DSME Pilot Group,” our first group of participants to finish the class series. Those in our pilot group voiced nothing but compliments for the program. One participant shared that after learning how to monitor her food choices and make healthy substitutions, her blood sugars were the lowest they had been in years! This same participant experienced an impressive decrease in her hemoglobin A1c (from 9 percent before DSME, to 7 percent after attending classes and implementing her newly learned knowledge).  Another participant was able to improve her hemoglobin A1c from “borderline diabetic” to within normal range after actively applying her newfound knowledge around healthy eating and physical activity.

Diabetes Self-Management Education classes include a one-on-one initial assessment, four two-hour group classes, a follow-up phone call about a month after the last class, then a three-month follow-up. Educators lead the classes based on what is learned about the participants’ individual needs during the one-on-one assessments, following the curriculum of the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE). The curriculum is based on the AADE’s seven self-care behaviors which include healthy eating, being active, monitoring, taking medication, problem solving, healthy coping and risk reduction. Follow-up letters are faxed to the participant’s doctor asking if the client completed class, did not attend and why, if specific needs came up or if other issues occurred after the class series has ended. A “snapshot report” is faxed to the doctor who referred the patient after the three-month follow-up, showing trends in weight, blood pressure, hemoglobin A1c and client goals.

Beaufort County Public Health Department is now looking into a CDC-recognized Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) for people who are at high risk of developing diabetes, but are not yet diabetic. We are planning many more programs coming up. Look out for updates soon on our website, www.bchd.net and Facebook page, facebook.com/BeaufortCountyHealthDept. If you are interested in learning more about these programs, contact Michelle Linton, RN, community outreach and education nurse of the Beaufort County Health Department, at 252-940-5096.