October 2004 (Raleigh/Fayette Counties)

Focus Area: Healthy People 2010 - Diabetes

• Objective 5.3: Reduce the frequency of lower extremity amputations to 15 per 1,000 persons with diabetes.
• Objective 5.5: Increase to at least 90% the proportion of patients with diabetes who annually obtain lipid assessment (total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglyceride).
• Objective 5.6: FLAGSHIP OBJECTIVE: Increase to 85% the proportion of persons with diabetes who have a glycosylated hemoglobin measurement at least once a year.
• Objective 5.7: Increase to 73% the proportion of persons with diabetes who have an annual dilated eye exam.
• Objective 5.9: Increase to 52% the proportion of persons with diabetes who have received diabetes education in the past year from someone other than their physician, such as a registered dietician or certified diabetes educator.

PowerPoint Show - Diabetes
Case Study - Diabetes (pdf)
Team Report (pdf)

The team planned to increase diabetic awareness and education for diabetic support groups and throughout the community.

The team researched, planned, developed, designed, and implemented a diabetic awareness and educational program consisting of a comprehensive automated power point presentation with voice-over to be used for diabetic education for diabetic patients and their family members, individually or within a diabetic support group. The presentation was presented to 16 diabetic patients during a diabetic support group at the Veterans Administration Center of Beckley and additional resources were distributed to each patient.

The team acquired 500 "America's Diabetes Health Record" booklets from the West Virginia Diabetes Prevention & Control Program of the Bureau of Public Health in Charleston, WV. The diabetic booklet is a comprehensive monitoring tool used by the diabetic patient to review, record, and track family history, personal habits, diabetes tests (lipid: LDL, HDL, total cholesterol, and triglycerides; urine protein, HbA1C, sugar) and exams (dilated eye, foot, blood pressure, weight, nutrition plan, physical activity plan, tobacco/alcohol use, and self-monitoring of blood glucose) for up to 17 doctor visits. The team distributed a portion of the booklets to diabetic patients at the VAMC in Beckley, while the remaining booklets were distributed to Dr. Thymius and Colony Drug to be used as an educational resource tool for diabetic patients.

An article entitled, "What Is Your A1C Number?" was written and submitted by the team to be published in the Register-Herald during the month of November in recognition of National Diabetes Month.