Logan Regional Medical Center (LRMC) and the West Virginia Medical Institute (WVMI) are partnering to offer free diabetes education classes to the community.
Classes will be held in the Education Building of the LRMC every Thursday at 3 p.m. beginning on February 7. The classes are part of a program called Everyone with Diabetes Counts (EDC), which is funded by Medicare and coordinated by WVMI. The free classes are open to people with diabetes, their family members and caregivers.
Through a series of four classes, participants will learn about diabetes and its risks, weight management, nutrition, and medication management, just to name a few. Traci Gillispie and Gina Clark, both nurses with WVMI, will lead the classes.
“Our hospital is committed to improving the health of the people in the community, so this partnership and program makes perfect sense for us,” said Tim Harclerode, Chief Operating Officer at LRMC. “Diabetes is a health care challenge that doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon, so the topic is more relevant now than ever before.”
Diabetes is considered an epidemic in West Virginia with as many as one in six people being diagnosed with the disease with little to no education about their condition in certain parts of the state.
The EDC program seeks to educate 6,000 people with Medicare who have diabetes in the designated counties over the next 18 months.
“We are excited about this new partnership with Logan Regional,” said Beckey Cochran, WVMI’s Director of Health Care Quality Improvement. “To accomplish the EDC program goal of educating 6,000 people with diabetes in Southern West Virginia, it’s imperative that we work closely with communities and the health care system in those communities. Logan Regional answered the call to make this concept part of its community offering and we can only hope that other health care providers come on board like they did.”
In addition to Logan, EDC classes are being offered in 13 other counties in southern West Virginia. These include Jackson, Mason, Wayne, Lincoln, Boone, Wyoming, McDowell, Mercer, Summers, Monroe, Greenbrier and Nicholas. Program staff will be available to work with people and programs in surrounding counties.
The EDC program is currently looking for additional state and community partners willing to promote courses, offer additional locations for classes, and help find ways to make the project sustainable.
In addition to providing diabetes education and training, WVMI is also offering resources and assistance to health care providers seeking to become Diabetes Centers within their communities. By working in both the community setting and through health care providers, WVMI hopes to maximize project impact. At the end of the program, WVMI aims to have 50 trained community health workers who will add to the overall network of resources for diabetes education.
Visit www.wvdiabeteseducation.org for a schedule of additional classes or call 1-855-376-9382.
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About West Virginia Medical Institute
The West Virginia Medical Institute, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for West Virginia, is committed to partnering with health care providers across the state to bring about widespread, significant improvements in the quality of care they deliver. WVMI strongly supports the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services three-point aim of providing better health, better care and lower costs. To learn more about this non-profit organization, visit www.qiwv.org.
"The EDC program seeks to educate 6,000 people with Medicare who have diabetes in the designated counties over the next 18 months."
So I guess the ones that are not fortunate enough to have Medicare that are diabetic like I am are not invited?