Southcoast Diabetes Management Program: Empowering Our Community to Live Well
Diabetes management is often a vital part of diabetes care. In fact, Medicare and most health insurance plans cover this service because it has been proven to reduce the need for hospitalizations, while improving overall longterm patient outcomes.
Southcoast Diabetes Management Program is an American Diabetes Association certified program that allows us to offer a comprehensive series of classes designed to give adults and their families the knowledge they need to live confidently with diabetes.
At Southcoast Health, education is offered in small group sessions or individually. The program addresses all aspects of diabetes self management, including meal planning, medication management, complications of diabetes and much more.
What Our Diabetes Management at Southcoast Health Offers
We offer our patients the following tools and education for diabetes management in MA and RI:
- Group and individual education
- Understanding diabetes
- Nutrition
- Exercise
- Measuring blood glucose
- Medication management
- Diabetes and pregnancy
- Insulin pump education
- Beginning pump therapy
- Learning advanced pumping skills
- Community education
- Current topics in diabetes
- Professional education
- Resources regarding current trends in diabetes treatment
- Southcoast Cares About My Diabetes
- A program to support you with education and resources in support of treatment and prevention for people who have type 2 diabetes or are at risk for developing it.
Why Diabetes Management Is Important
Diabetes education and management can be helpful for the following reasons:
- Diabetes is a complex chronic condition that requires care and education to prevent the potential complications this disease can cause.
- With the education you receive, you are empowered to manage your diabetes more effectively.
- The team approach used at Southcoast Health provides you with education and skills that can assist you in maintaining your health.
Although diabetes cannot be cured, our educational series will provide you with the knowledge you need to help you live a healthier life and prevent the complications that can arise from not controlling your diabetes.
Join a Diabetes Support Group in MA or RI
The Southcoast Diabetes Management Program offers monthly support groups for adults who are learning to live with diabetes. Our diabetes support groups in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island are a great way to meet people who share similar experiences and offer each other support. Practical advice and tips will help guide each member to feel more confident about living with diabetes.
Our team of Certified Diabetes Educators, nurses and dietitians is committed to help you live a healthier life. Contact us at (877) 212-9135 or speak to your physician about a referral to our Diabetes Management Program in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Southcoast Health Diabetes Management Program helps patients across the South Coast in MA and RI live well with diabetes.
Southcoast Cares About My Diabetes Program
Southcoast Health received a grant from BCBSMA to establish a collaborative, system-wide program for our patients with diabetes (Southcoast Cares About My Diabetes) and pre-diabetes (Diabetes Prevention Program). Both programs are of no cost to patients and utilize interpreters to provide extensive education in patients’ preferred language.
Southcoast Cares About My Diabetes Program: Diabetes Patients may qualify if they are age 18 and older with an A1c over 7.0 and can benefit from reinforcement of diabetes education or need strengthening of their knowledge on self-managing their diabetes.
Our goal for this program is to educate and empower patients to better self-manage their diabetes and allow for more meaningful interactions during visits with their health care team. This program is of no cost to patients, completely FREE! Patients will receive:
• Group visits led by Certified Diabetes Educators CDCES (with interpreters) to provide extensive diabetes education
• Binder which includes educational material that is easy to understand and, in the patients’ preferred language (English, Spanish, Portuguese).
• Variety of FREE tools and resources to enable patients to self-manage their diabetes
• Access to multi-disciplinary team including: Diabetes Nurse Educators (provide diabetes education) ; Community Health Workers (help identify and address any social determinants of health such as transportation issues or food insecurity); Pharmacist/tech (address medication access/cost issues, adverse reactions, optimize medication therapy)
Diabetes Prevention Program: Pre-diabetes (in collaboration with YMCA) Patients qualify if they are age 18 and older and are at risk for diabetes for reasons including A1c (5.7%-6.4%), at-risk fasting plasma glucose (100-125 mg/dL) or 2-hour (75 gm OGTT) plasma glucose (140 – 199 mg/dL), family and personal health history, and other risk factors.
YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) is a year-long program providing 26 sessions and focusing on small lifestyle changes with group support and instruction from Lifestyle Coaches. As part of this program, participants also get a year-long membership to the YMCA! It is our hope the Diabetes Prevention Program can help reduce a patient’s risk for type 2 diabetes. By participating through this grant, joining this program is no cost to patient, completely FREE! For questions about eligibility, please reach out to SouthcoastCaresDiabetes@southcoast.org or 508-973-5287.