Last week the Montana Diabetes Education Conference was held in Bozeman. This annual gathering is one of my favorite conferences of the year. Montana is what I fondly refer to as the biggest, small state. Attending this conference always feels a bit like a reunion. I look forward to reconnecting with colleagues who began as classmates at MT State University 25 years ago as well as those who I have met along the way.
While only a day in length, the conference as usual was jam-packed with timely sessions on the latest in diabetes education, care, and management of the disease. So many of the sessions provided immediate take a ways that I can apply to my practice. Some of the highlights:
· Dr. Eden Miller kicked the day off with her keynote on the core defects of hyperglycemia. Miller’s engaging presentation and humorous style made a difficult topic easy to understand and left me hungry to learn more about the latest research regarding pancreatic beta cells.
· MDEN board member Leslie Coates, a self-professed “diet junkie” gave and informative and fascinating presentation on some of the most popular diets throughout American history. Coates loves studying the different diets and has tried several in order to understand their allure to her clients. Coates presentation was an informative and contained a visual representation of some of today’s strangest diets (anyone up for swallowing a tape worm?), and a look at the best and worst of the available diets.
· Billings Clinic diabetes educator, Jan Hollingworth, shared her approach for glycemic pattern management. The hour was filled with tips, tricks, and resources she uses in her practice.
· The pace of medications entering the market to treat diabetes has not slowed and pharmacist Jimmy Bennett gave an incredible update on this important topic. Bennett took what is often times a confusing and overwhelming topic and made it accessible to everyone in the audience.
· Our own 2016 AADE Diabetes Educator of the Year, Marci Butcher led the closing session. It was an hour spent in celebration and discussion of the accomplishments and challenges for MT diabetes educators.
Montana’s size and rural nature makes it essential that diabetes educator’s work together to provide the best outcomes for people with diabetes. We are a tight-knit group but there’s always room for more! Montana’s diabetes educators are some of the most caring and generous professionals. The seasoned give generously of their time to mentor new CDE’s and those that want to obtain the certification. This year over 10 new educators joined the ranks and 50% of these came from the state’s mentoring program.
Plan on attending next year’s conference on Oct. 25 at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort. The conference will be going green in 2018 and all printed handouts will be discontinued. Watch our and Facebook page for more information.