Diabetes Management

Better Chronic Disease Management: Diabetes Center of Excellence

Update: The statewide Diabetes Centers for Excellence are now closed.
For more information, see the announcement. Despite this news, KET continues to support the general information about diabetes management presented in this segment.

The Diabetes Center of Excellence in Richmond, Ky., helps Medicaid participants and other patients with diabetes better manage their disease through a triangular partnership involving the patient, primary care physician, and local health department. One of six such sites in the state, the center helps individuals with diabetes learn how to live well with diabetes.

Many newly diagnosed adults with type 2 diabetes report leaving the doctor’s office with a prescription but very little useful information about how to manage the disease. Without proper management, diabetes can lead to complications such as eye and kidney problems, as well as nerve damage. In the worst cases, uncontrolled diabetes can lead to amputations and early death.

“When I left my doctor’s office after being diagnosed, I really didn’t know anything about my diabetes and how to take care of myself. I thought that if I took my medication, I’d be fine. I was eating anything I wanted. Little did I know that it was killing me by degrees,” John Elliott, a graduate of the program from Waco, Ky., says.

The Center provides clients with the ongoing support and education to make the comprehensive lifestyle changes necessary to manage diabetes.

“You can come here and talk about your problems and they talk to you. You really need attention when you have diabetes because it is a full-time job to really learn to take care of yourself,” says Georgia Goodloe, who receives services in Richmond.

For additional help, visit Kentucky Diabetes Prevention and Control Program and American Diabetes Association.

Remaking Rural Health: A KET Special Report is a KET production, Laura Krueger, producer, and is funded, in part, by a grant from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.