Knox Community hospital offers a program called “Living with Diabetes” that helps educate and support patients as they manage the disease.
Patients are referred through their physicians, Alyson L. Pratt, a registered nurse and the hospital’s director of the specialty programming, told the Mount Vernon News. “Our team is comprised of Certified Diabetes Educators, including registered nurse-diabetes educators and a registered dietitian,” she said.
“The first appointment is a health assessment,” she said. “It’s a one-on-one appointment with our diabetes educator. We get to know the patient. We look at their background, any risk factors that may be contributing to diabetes, their medications, their exercise.”
The hospital then develops an individual plan for activities and classes to teach the patient more about diabetes.
“We can teach patients how to check their own blood sugar and how to administer insulin,” Pratt said. “We have classes on meal planning and learning how to count carbohydrates.”
In some cases, patients may eventually get off medication through diet and exercise, Pratt said.
“We always want the patient to be in control and make goals that are meaningful to them,” she said. “That’s why that first appointment is held before we start classes, so we can really hone in and see what the patient would like out of their diabetes education.”
The ultimate goal is to achieve the best life possible for each patient, Pratt said.
“We want the patient to be healthy and comfortable managing their diabetes,” she said. “Sometimes, down the road and adhering to physician’s guidance, they can end up living their diabetes journey through just diet and exercise, frequent monitoring and working with their physicians.”
As part of the program, the hospital provides patients with resources in the community where they get additional help in improving their health.
That includes the Silver Sneakers program, which is covered by many health insurance programs, providing members with access to use facilities such as the Connections Fitness Medical Center at KCH.
“We suggest they go to the local farmer’s markets,” Pratt said. “We try to connect them with local resources that can really further assist them.”
Patients sometimes call the hospital a year or two after going through the program to express their thanks, said Pratt.
