Educators play role in managing Diabetes

Submitted by Sharbot Lake Family Health Team | Nov 07, 2018

November is Diabetes Awareness Month and November 14 is World Diabetes Day. To raise awareness of diabetes and to provide information on best management, the Sharbot Family Health Team Diabetes Education Team (Cathy Fox, Certified Diabetes Educator, Registered Nurse and Saman Shaikh, Certified Diabetes Educator, Registered Dietitian) will be contributing weekly articles during the month of November

You’ve Been Diagnosed with Diabetes. Now What?

Managing diabetes care can seem like a complicated balancing act. Meeting with a Certified Diabetes Educator is a great way to get support and guidance and one of the first things a patient should do when faced with a new diabetes diagnosis.

What is a Certified Diabetes Educator?

A Certified Diabetes Educator is a licensed health care professional, who specializes in helping people with diabetes learn how to manage their condition. Diabetes Educators have passed a national exam that certifies them with the Canadian Diabetes Educator Certification Board. Re-certification is done every 5 years to maintain the status of “Certified” Diabetes Educator

What does a Certified Diabetes Educator do?

Certified Diabetes Educators (CDE) assist people with self-management of their diabetes by offering evidence-based guidance to diabetes care. The CDE is a member of your health care team and works closely with the physician or nurse practitioner using the 2018 Diabetes Canada Guidelines to follow you in such areas as monitoring of blood glucose, medications, risk reduction of complications, monitoring of blood pressure, weight, waist circumference, feet, eyes and exercise. A Diabetes Educator helps makes managing your diabetes easier, working with you to develop a plan to stay healthy, and giving you tools and ongoing support to make that plan a regular part of your life.

The CDE can also provide specific tracking tools to help you monitor your diabetes. In your diabetes visit, the CDE will discuss your needs and goals and answer any questions you may have.

Certified Diabetes Educators can:

Empower and assist patients to make positive changes in lifestyle and self-care behaviors

Educate patients and caregivers in using diabetes devices, such as blood glucose meters, insulin pens and pumps, and continuous glucose monitors

Teach problem-solving strategies and skills to help people with diabetes live healthy, active lifestyles

Provide nutrition education that is individualized for each person and supports people with diabetes to adopt a healthy diet

Work with physicians and other members of your health care team to help manage medication regimens

Help you develop emotional coping skills

The Sharbot Lake Family Health Team has hosted a Diabetes Education Program since 2006. Two on site full time Certified Diabetes Educators work closely with the other health care professionals to provide care to approximately 500 patients with diabetes or prediabetes in the community.

Cathy Fox, Registered Nurse and Saman Shaikh, Registered Dietitian are both Certified Diabetes Educators and can help you learn how to best manage your diabetes or pre-diabetes. Please call the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team at 613-279-2100 to book an appointment to discuss your diabetes.