You Make a Difference!
Approximately 180 guests gathered at Penn State for the 3rd Annual Diabetes Education Conference superbly orchestrated by Marilyn Clougherty. Advocacy issues were made applicable by Pat Adams and Martha Rinker JD, AADE Chief Advocacy Officer. Legislators must hear from their constituents. MOVE on ACTION ALERTS – they need immediate attention. Make an appointment with a local legislator (take a friend or colleague) like Kellie Antinori-Lent did just to make him/her aware of how you advocate for your patients daily. Tim Murphy had an aide call Kellie for her opinion on diabetes legislative issue because he had shared conversation with Kellie and valued her opinion. Legislators won’t know what we do day-to-day, improving lives and keeping the workforce engaged, unless we tell them! WE know WE make a difference every day with our patients. Tell them.
Gary Scheiner, our Diabetes Educator of the Year! guided us on how we can prescribe activity for our patients including thoughts about motivation within time and financial constraints. Exercise is an effective modality for treatment of diabetes – thanks for reminding us we would seldom prescribe a medication “three times a week”.
The International Diabetes Federation thinks sleep apnea is such an important issue that everyone diagnosed with T2DM ought to be screened. Dr. Luqi Chi entertained and convinced us with evidence based practice that CPAP is effective in correcting cardiovascular risks and reducing A1C. She will happily report back new RCT data as it emerges. She makes a difference – and wants to officially incorporate sleep medicine within diabetes education!
You make a difference in the way you approach a patient, asking permission to speak with them or asking if weight loss is something they are interested in discussing. You help families pragmatically incorporate yet another chronic illness – diabetes as a consequence of cystic fibrosis. Keeping “normalcy” and establishing family routine such as shared meals and outdoor activity creates a healthy family unit, community and culture. Planting just a few of these ideas cascades into positive outcomes.
You make a difference by promoting an excellent milieu before, during and after intense activity. Combine workout terminology into the jargon used for self-care behaviors. Athletes understand the warm-up and cool-down are essential elements of training.
Dana Rofey will soon be able to share her evidence based practices in helping adolescent girls modify behaviors to improve insulin resistance, a topic common throughout our sessions. You make a difference maintaining a person’s integrity whether they have PCOS, CF or have a visual impairment. Ann Williams taught many lessons and courtesies including something as simple as smelling our socks! That has saved a toe, a foot and extended life!
A coordinating body needs all of its members to function at peak efficiency. A volunteer team gathered together in monthly conference calls and two annual live meetings to facilitate and organize the efforts of the AADEinPA (our twitter handle).
How can you help? Go to twitter.com and open yourself an account– all you need is an email account to do so. Then follow us @AADEinPA and on May 20 we will send you requests to send a tweet to your Federal legislators to support licensing diabetes educators and to support recognizing diabetes educators as “Qualified Health Care Providers”. See the attached documents. Join us also on Facebook at Pennsylvania Diabetes Educators.
Most important of all, sign in at www.diabeteseducator.org. Here you can meet with your local networking group (LNG), your state CB, and your community of interest (COI) at no additional costs. Take some time and investigate the website – you will be glad you did.
After all, you make a difference.