'MOM' recognized for diabetes education
A Montgomery ministry that provides medical care to the under-served received certification for having a quality diabetes self-management education program.
The diabetes self-management education (DSME) program at Medical Outreach Ministries is the only Alabama Diabetes Association-recognized program in the country that is volunteer-staffed, and exists solely to serve low-income, uninsured individuals with diabetes.(Photo: Contributed.)
Medical Outreach Ministries – which provides free quality healthcare to the uninsured and medically underserved in Autauga, Elmore and Montgomery counties – received the American Diabetes Association Education Recognition Certificate for the education it provides.
The diabetes self-management education (DSME) program at MOM started in 2013. There, a person with diabetes can see the diabetes educator in one-on-one sessions every two to six months depending on the needs and desires of patient.
The MOM DSME program is the only ADA-recognized program in the country that is volunteer-staffed, and exists solely to serve low-income, uninsured individuals with diabetes, said Chris Anderson, diabetes self-management education program manager/educator at MOM.
Advertisement
“Sometimes I meet individuals who have had diabetes for 20 years or more and have never had anyone explain what diabetes is and how it effects their body ... and more importantly, how they can manage diabetes to live healthily," she said. "This is very rewarding work to help folks find within themselves the power to impact their own health."
MOM is a faith-based nonprofit primary healthcare medical facility with about 70 volunteers that help operate the office, including 13 physicians, six registered pharmacists and two mental health counselors.
At MOM, a monthly DISH class (Diabetes Information Support and Help) is held at MOM, and is open to any patient and family and friends of the individual with diabetes.
The certificate assures that educational programs meet the National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education Programs, standards that were developed under the auspices of the National Diabetes Advisory Board in 1983 and were revised by the diabetes community in 1994, 2000, 2007 and 2012.
There are 29.1 million people – or 9.3 percent – of the population in the United States who have diabetes, according to the ADA. While an estimated 21 million have been diagnosed, 8.1 million people are not aware that they have the disease.
Each day, approximately 4,657 people are diagnosed with diabetes. Many will first learn that they have diabetes when they are treated for one of its life-threatening complications – heart disease and stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and nerve disease and amputation. About 1.7 million new cases of diabetes were diagnosed in people aged 20 years or older in 2012 in the US.
Diabetes contributed to 234,051 deaths in 2010, making it the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. Overall, the risk for death among people with diabetes is about twice that of people of similar age but without diabetes.
Adv
