June 18, 2008
UNL Extension Education Program Teaches Techniques to Manage Diabetes
LINCOLN, Neb. — Phyllis Fouts had the shakes. Fouts, a 54-year-old bankruptcy counselor in Council Bluffs, Iowa, said her blood sugar was too low. But through her education in University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension diabetes sessions, she knew that all she had to do was eat some of her coworker's candy.
"I couldn't type at work I was shaking so bad," said Fouts, who was diagnosed with diabetes last year. "If I hadn't had that class, I would've been frantic."
Since 2006, UNL Extension has offered distance education on diabetes through the Control Diabetes For Life program. The program uses satellite broadcasting and the Internet to teach those diagnosed with diabetes techniques to help them manage their disease through life style changes including a healthy diet, exercise and medication.
The program began in 2001 in eight locations in northeast Nebraska. Under the recommendation of Carol Plate, extension educator emeritus in Ainsworth, the program eventually offered diabetes education statewide.
"There are people with diabetes all over the whole state," said Plate, who continues to volunteer for Control Diabetes For Life. "It was such an excellent program, I just thought more people should be able to take advantage of it."
The increase in diabetes education is comparable to an increase in Americans diagnosed with diabetes.
Debra Schroeder, extension educator in Cuming County, said diabetes is a chronic disease that will never go away once diagnosed. She said genetics, a rise in obesity and better diagnosis have all contributed to increasing numbers of diabetics.
"It's a growing issue and a growing epidemic," she said.
In addition to increasing mortality rates, in 2007 diabetes cost the U.S. $116 billion in excess medical expense and $58 billion in lost productivity, according to the American Diabetes Association Web site.
Distance diabetes education is offered in more than 28 locations in Nebraska in the form of group meetings or workshops. Schroeder said diabetes educators include two Certified Diabetes Educators, a registered dietician and an extension educator. They film teaching sessions at Wisner-Pilger High School in Wisner and then can use satellite technology to transmit it to other sites.
Schroeder said that though the education can be viewed privately, great benefits can be had when watching diabetes education with others.
"There's great value in being together with other people that have been diagnosed with the same disease," Schroeder said. "You gain strength from support groups."
County extension Web pages provide links to diabetes education videos at UNL's WebVideo Web site where they are available as streaming video.
Schroeder said Internet access to diabetes education is important to rural residents who may not live near certified diabetes educators.
And so far, the far-reaching scope of Control Diabetes For Life has yielded tangible results.
Schroeder said sessions in Alliance have 12 to 20 people who attend on a regular basis. The WebVideo diabetes education video page had 819 hits as of November 2007, according to impact data for the program.
Fouts said she saw immediate results after only one meeting about how to work toward an ideal blood sugar level. She went into the Control Diabetes For Life session with a high blood sugar level and she said she thought it would take ages before it lowered. But within 10 days, her blood sugar level was already lower on average.
"I knew what I had to do," Fouts said. "It really relieved me that I did. Nobody had really explained it to me before."
Though the number of those diagnosed with diabetes is increasing, Plate said, Control Diabetes For Life will continue helping them.
"There are so many people now with diabetes," she said. "I just feel that it's a really important program, and we need to educate everybody as much as we can."
UNL Extension is part of the university's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
6/18/08-AB Debra E. Schroeder
Extension - Cuming County Extension Educator (402) 372-6006
 
Sandi Alswager Karstens IANR News and Photography (402) 472-3030
Department:
Extension
|
