Mon General Hospital Diabetes Self-Management Program receives ADA recognition

The Diabetes Learning Center of Mon General Hospital’s self-management education program has been awarded continued recognition from the American Diabetes Association (ADA).

The ADA Education Recognition effort, begun in 1986, is a voluntary process which assures that approved education programs have met the National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education Programs. Programs that achieve recognition status have a staff of knowledgeable health professionals who can provide state-of-the-art information about diabetes management.

“The recognition process gives professionals a national standard by which to measure the quality of the services they provide,” said Mon General Hospital Diabetes Education Coordinator Andrea McCarty, MS, RD, LD, CDE. “In addition, it helps consumers to identify these quality programs.”

Self-management education is an essential component of diabetes treatment. A participant in an ADA recognized program will be taught self-care skills that will promote better management of his or her diabetes treatment regimen. All approved education programs cover the diabetes disease process; nutritional management; physical activity; medications; monitoring; preventing, detecting and treating acute complications; preventing, detecting and treating chronic complications through risk education; goal setting and problem solving; psychological adjustment; and preconception care, management during pregnancy, and gestational management.

“Assuring high-quality education for patient self-care is one of the primary goals of the ADA’s Education Recognition Program,” McCarty said. “Through the support of the health care team and increased knowledge and awareness of diabetes, the patient can assume a major part of the responsibility for diabetes management. Unnecessary hospital admissions and some of the acute and chronic complications of diabetes many be prevented through self-management education.”

The Education Recognition status is verified by an official certificate from the ADA and awarded for three years.

Approximately 23.6 million people in the United States, 8% of the population, have diabetes, according to the ADA. While an estimated 17.9 million have been diagnosed, 5.7 million people are not aware that they have this disease. Many will first learn that they have diabetes when they are treated for one of its life-threatening complications – heart disease and stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and nerve disease and amputation. Since 1987, the death rate due to diabetes has increased by 45%, while the death rates due to heart disease, stroke, and cancer have declined.

The Diabetes Learning Center of Mon General Hospital is located at 200 Wedgewood Drive, Suite 107, in Morgantown. For more information, call 304-598-1805.