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Certified diabetes educators teach self care, better control by Dick Peterson Public Relations Diabetes can damage eyes, heart, kidneys and feet. It can kill, but usually its effects can be held at bay.  Probably the best ally in a person’s fight to fend off the devastating effects of the disease is the certified diabetes educator—a health professional who specializes in helping people with diabetes learn to live healthier, more productive lives. “We assess patients’ needs and teach them how to manage their diabetes on their own,” said MUSC diabetes educator Lisa Kozlowski.  “For most it means a change of lifestyle, learning how to reduce portions—especially carbohydrates which affect blood sugar the most—and learning how to monitor their blood sugar, take care of the disease when ill, when to call the doctor, and know the kind of care that can be expected from a health care team.” Diabetes has no cure.  The body needs the hormone insulin to metabolize sugar, but with diabetes the body either fails to produce insulin or fails to properly use the insulin it produces. The failure to metabolize sugar translates into high blood sugar levels leading to poor circulation. This leaves the person with diabetes in danger of blindness, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, kidney disease, nervous system disease, amputations, dental disease, complications of pregnancy and a host of other complications related to biochemical imbalances that could lead to a coma. Also people with diabetes are more likely to die of pneumonia or influenza than people who do not have diabetes. But managing diabetes can be complicated and full of uncertainties for a person desperately wanting to do all the right things but not knowing how. Since 1986, health care professionals with specialized training in treating people with diabetes have been able to certify as diabetes educators. Prior to that time, those treating people with diabetes lacked definitive information and treatment standards with which to prepare their patients for life outside the hospital. Certified diabetes educators must meet specific criteria in their professional education and their professional practice experience. And they must apply for and pass their certification examination. “We have certified diabetes educators now who work in the hospital both at the bedside and with outpatients to help them understand the complications of their disease, how to test their blood sugar levels and to know when and how to administer their own insulin,” Kozlowski said. “There’s a lot a person with diabetes needs to know to live a healthy, productive life, even to monitoring food intake and exercise.” Diabetes educators in the community also fill a critical need working in doctors’ offices, nursing homes and neighborhood clinics. Registered dietitian Amanda Bailey, a certified diabetes educator who works in MUSC’s Pediatric Endocrinology Clinic, likes to help families with newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetes. Type 1 is the kind that results from the body’s failure to produce insulin. Without insulin, cells of the body cannot receive the glucose, or sugar, they need for fuel to function. “I help them transition through the diagnosis and ease their concerns,” she said.   “It’s wonderful to see them coming back, coming together as a family and becoming very confident about managing the disease. I like the really difficult teenagers who see no reason why they should take care of themselves.  It’s a big challenge to find a way to sell them on getting the best control of their diabetes possible.” James Sterrett, Pharm.D., a certified diabetes educator in the Department of Family Medicine, said that diabetes is best managed when the patient buys into the concept of self care and is independently capable of making changes that lead to better control.  “My role as an educator is to equip the patient with the tools necessary to achieve that goal,” he said.   Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.