Coffee Regional Medical Center was recently granted a certification of accreditation for Diabetes Education Accreditation Program (DEAP) from the American Association of Diabetes Educators. Coffee Regional has long-been focused on the diagnosis and quality of care for chronic health conditions, such as diabetes, and this accreditation is one of many efforts CRMC has made to offer improved diabetes education to our community.
Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects the body’s ability to produce the hormone, insulin. There are 4 recognized types of diabetes: Type 1, Type 2, Gestational, and Pre-Diabetes. The symptoms of diabetes include frequent urination, excessive hunger, extreme thirst, blurred vision, fatigue and nausea. Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to complications including blindness, kidney disease, slow healing wounds, and even death.
According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, between 2000 and 2013, there were 223,924 diabetes-related hospitalizations in Georgia along. More than 1 in 10 adults in Georgia has diabetes. Many more have pre-diabetes, which is where preventative measures can make a big impact on preventing that person from developing diabetes. Making healthy food choices, being active, managing stress, monitoring blood glucose (sugar) levels, and using medications as directed are essential to staying healthy and preventing a person from developing certain types of diabetes.
Learning you have diabetes can be overwhelming. Both the potential serious side effects, mentioned above, and the management of the condition is a lot of information to take in and understand. DEAP offers excellent diabetes education resources that will enable our diabetes educators to offer the latest and best information to patients. Ensuring our community is as successful as possible with diabetes prevention and management requires support, compassion and understanding. That is where CRMC Diabetes Support Group comes in.
A monthly meeting is held for the CRMC Diabetes Support Group in the CRMC first floor classrooms, next to the cafeteria. The sessions are informative with valuable information for both diabetes patients and caregivers. The public is invited to attend this informative monthly session. For more information on upcoming sessions, please call Coffee Regional’s Education Department at 912-383-5670.