No Sugar Coating It
The staff of KRH Diabetes Education and Prevention (from left to right) Aimee Duncan, Anna Militello, Brittany Schultz, Leslie Coates, Matt Larsen.
KRH Diabetes team marks 18 years of education and prevention The Diabetes Education and Prevention Program at Kalispell Regional Healthcare (KRH) was established in 2001 as a way to provide diabetes care and self-management education to people and those at risk for diabetes living in northwest Montana. Consisting of just two diabetes educators at the time and housed in a small room in the main hospital building at Kalispell Regional Medical Center, the program built a reputation of providing high quality, personalized diabetes care in a friendly, supportive environment. According to the State Department of Public Health and Human Services, 7.9% of Montana adults (about 77,000) have been diagnosed with diabetes. When a person has diabetes, the body either does not produce enough insulin or cannot use insulin correctly. An additional 7.4% of Montanans have prediabetes. Someone with prediabetes is diagnosed with a fasting blood glucose of 100-125 mg/dL, a random glucose of 140-199 mg/dL or a hemoglobin A1c of 5.76.4 percent. At these levels of blood glucose exposure, blood vessels start to become damaged
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oman.com
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and the long-term complications of diabetes may begin to develop.
Whether a patient is looking to manage their existing diabetes or prevent diabetes altogether, KRH Diabetes Education and Prevention offers a variety of services to help educate and guide patients at various different paces. Offering individual and group self-management classes, the team makes it their mission to build meaningful, trusting relationships with their patients. “We value being able to individualize patient self-care goals based on individually assessing each person’s needs,” says Matt Larsen, manager of KRH Diabetes Education and Prevention. “Our role as diabetes educators is to assist patients in identifying areas of their life that they need to change or skills they need to learn in order to achieve success with their diabetes self-management and provide that education and care in an environment that is compassionate and supportive.” There are currently a variety of self-management classes being offered to help patients with specific needs accomplish their goals. The Diabetes Prevention Program is a 12-month lifestyle
balance class for adults who are motivated to increase their activity and improve their eating habits to achieve weight loss and prevent both heart disease and diabetes. Led by a registered dietitian, this fun and informative program features supervised exercise sessions and group education to help participants develop healthy habits. For those who have diabetes, the Living Well with Diabetes program provides education on the skills necessary to take control of their diabetes. These skills include healthy eating, self-monitoring of blood glucose, safe use of medications, being active, healthy coping, problem solving and reducing risks of complications. The class includes four weekly two-hour sessions. Patients can also opt for an Individual Consultation, which allows a oneon-one session with a diabetes educator to assess individual needs, nutrition, medication, self-monitoring of blood glucose, goal setting, sick day management and follow-up support of lifestyle change. Insulin Pump Therapy is also offered to help patients achieve near-normal blood glucose