Strategies for Diabetes Management
Baptist Health Corbin: Strategies for Diabetes Management
Diabetes educator Linda Mills discusses how Baptist Health Corbin’s outpatient education class can help patients manage their blood sugar levels, keeping diabetes in check.
Strategies for Diabetes Management Health Talks Transcript
Linda Mills, RN, Diabetes Educator
Diabetes mellitus is a disease that affects the whole metabolism of the foods you eat. It’s a chronic disease, and it affects every living part of the body, so that’s the reason it’s a serious disease. Type 1 is when the pancreas does not produce insulin. Typically, they’re diagnosed when they’re children. Type 2 diabetes, that’s the one that we would really like to catch early enough to where we can make the changes with weight loss to decrease the devastating complications that go along with elevated blood sugars. At Baptist Health Corbin, we offer an outpatient education class. The way our class is set up, it is a six-hour program. I teach about the different pieces — managing, checking your blood sugars, and that type of thing. A dietician goes into detail about the food piece of diabetic management, and our pharmacist discusses the benefits of medications — the different medications. So, it’s a well-rounded program related to diabetes management. With Type 2 diabetes, exercise and eating healthy are the two biggest weapons we have. If you manage your diabetes, you can still live a normal, healthy life.
