By Sara E. McGruder
Public affairs officer
Naval Hospital, Oak Harbor
November is American Diabetes Month, a month-long campaign dedicated to providing people with diabetes and their families the latest information.
“Diabetes education is a life-long process,” said LCDR (SEl) Catherine McNeal, nurse educator at Naval Hospital Oak Harbor. “People with diabetes who receive on-going education can learn to live well with diabetes.”
Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. The cause of diabetes continues to be a mystery, although both genetics and environmental factors such as obesity and lack of exercise appear to play roles, according to MacNeal.
Approximately 17 million people in the United States, or 6.2 percent of the population, have diabetes. While an estimated 11.1 million have been diagnosed, 5.9 million people — about one-third — are unaware that they have the disease.
Naval Hospital Oak Harbor is unique in that it has four Certified Diabetes Educators as a part of the diabetes management team: Lt. Cmdr. (sel) Catherine McNeal, registered nurse; Lt. Cmdr. Dave Hempfling, registered nurse; Jaci Bouchard, registered dietitian; and Charlotte Graham, family nurse practitioner.
Nurse educator McNeal said, “Diabetes is not curable and never goes away, but it can definitely be controlled with a person’s dedication and motivation to take on the life long commitment of self-managing this disease process.”
She adds that “each diabetic is part of “the team.” That team includes the medical provider (MD, nurse practitioners or physician assistant), nurse educator and the dietitian.
McNeal voiced excitement about spreading the news and educating people “on how small but significant lifestyle modifications can help control diabetes to prevent those long term and potentially debilitating complications, like kidney failure or blindness.”
People with diabetes are at high risk for a heart attack or a stroke. Their heart attacks tend to be more serious and can happen early in life. In fact, two out of three people with diabetes die from heart disease or stroke. Both women and men are at risk.
According to statistics presented by the American Heart Association in 2000, African Americans are almost twice as likely as white Americans to develop diabetes.
African American women are at particularly high risk, though they may not know it. Statistics suggest that almost 5 percent of African American women have undiagnosed diabetes, versus only about 2 percent of white women.
Researchers have suggested that the reason for this difference is that African Americans appear to have more risk factor associated with diabetes. These risk factors include a family history of diabetes and a gene that may increase the risk of diabetes. Specific risk factors for Type 2 diabetes include being overweight or obese, and not exercising.
Anyone who is concerned about developing diabetes is urged to eat a heart- healthy diet, to get regular exercise and to have their blood sugar checked regularly by a healthcare professional. According to Registered Dietitian Jaci Bouchard, “One of the important steps with self-managing diabetes is a healthy diet, even though we know blood sugars are affected most from carbohydrate rich foods, the goal is to eat a well balanced diet, low in saturated fats, high in fiber, with awareness of portion sizes.”
Fortunately, there is a lot you can do to reduce your risk for heart disease and stroke. Charlotte Graham, the Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) at Naval Hospital Oak Harbor, said, “Changes in diabetes management have occurred so rapidly in my eleven years as a certified diabetes educator that I have observed marked improvement in the ability of people to closely manage their diabetes in stride with their healthcare team. Many new medications have been developed that work through different mechanisms to address the defects of glucose metabolism.”
That’s the motivation for the annual diabetes seminars, to spread news of diabetes self-management and update the community on latest information from the American Diabetes Association.
All agree that if our parents and grandparents had access to this information, they may not have suffered so much from. McNeal said, “I think back to the late 70s, early 80s, I witnessed my grandmother die from complications of chronically elevated blood sugars. She never self-monitored her blood sugars, yet she injected a standard preset dose of insulin every single day. I always think if she knew what I know now as a certified diabetes educator, she possibly would have never suffered from blindness, extremity amputation, and stroke. Today, education provides tools to help prevent this kind of catastrophe.”
Remember education is the key to the successful outcome of diabetes self-management. Bouchard explains, “There are no forbidden foods or one diabetic diet. The goal is to enjoy the foods you eat and find the balance for optimal blood sugar control.”
Graham emphasized that the Nov. 22 Diabetic Seminar is open to both the civilian and the military community, to spread information to a wider population.
