The Montana Diabetes Educators participated in the AADE Coordinating Body/Community of Interest networking session this year showcasing the MSU Football/Diabetes Awareness partnership project. We gave away tiny footballs and Montana Huckleberry fudge samples. Leslie Coates, Colleen Karper, Karrie Fairbrother, Christina Skinner and Deb Bjorsness helped at the table.
Congratulations to Marci Butcher, RD, CDE for receiving the 2016 AADE Diabetes Educator of the Year award. Marci has served as the Quality Diabetes Education Initiative Coordinator for the Montana Diabetes Prevention & Control Program for the past 16 years. She coordinates a self-study/peer-mentoring program that helps diabetes educators increase their skills in a way that meets the needs of both educators and clients. Marci stated “I’m so honored, but I truly view it as a team award because we have such amazing partnerships here in Montana. There are few of us, so we have to work together in order to get things done, and we’ve been able to accomplish a lot because we have such amazing diabetes educators here in Montana. And we have the support and promotion of so many others.”
Marci is on the committee that will revise the National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support. She also leads Montana Kids with Diabetes School Collaborative, which works on issues related to diabetes care in the school setting, and also works as a diabetes education consultant for Mountain-Pacific Quality Health of Montana, Wyoming, Alaska and Hawaii. Marci founded the AADE Diabetes Prevention Community of Interest in 2014 and continues to co-lead the group. She also led the Public Health COI in 2010-11 and was co-leader 2012-14. In 2015, she was part of the AADE Annual Meeting Planning Committee.
In addition, Marci was a panelist for the presentation “Strengthening Diabetes Prevention and Self-Management Education Programs”. Marci shared what Montanans are doing with diabetes education and diabetes prevention programs.
Carla Cox, PhD, RD, CDE with Providence Medical Group--Endocrinology, Diabetes and Nutrition Center in Missoula, was accepted as a Fellow of the American Association of Diabetes Educators. Carla has had more than 25 years of working with diabetes care through her career as an educator. For over 10 years, Carla has joined medical missions in countries such as Honduras, Africa and Nepal. She has spent the past decade volunteering, particularly at Camp Montana and Camp Colorado, the American Diabetes Association’s camps for children with type 1diabetes. She is the chair of the 2016 Montana Tour de Cure fundraising bike ride for diabetes. She is also an AADE blogger.
Other Montanans attending the conference (including some who used to live in Montana) were Brenda Bodnar, Ida Reighard, Therese Hrncirik, Joni Jensen, Jennifer Troupe, Becky Brundin, Matt Larson, Jess Emanuel, Chelsey Clark, Julie Shobe, Nancy Dettori, and Jackie Meyers.
Check out the AADE pictures on the Montana Diabetes Educator Facebook page.