Alabama
Community Diabetes Support Group
The Poarch Creek Indian Community Diabetes Support Group (CDSG) has touched the lives of many Tribal members with diabetes and their families. Furthermore, the community response has been amazing: attendance grew from four (4) people to an average of 35 people. The CDSG meets quarterly and interest has continued to increase. CDSG members who are unable to attend often contact our office for information disseminated during the meeting. This is inspiring to the staff members because we know that the attendees sincerely want the educational materials. CDSG members share experiences and support each other in their efforts to make life changes due to the diagnosis of diabetes. Success is measured by the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. With this in mind, notifying Tribal members and the surrounding community by distributing letters and flyers, and advertising in the Tribal newsletter has helped. Our Diabetes Case Manager writes the Diabetes Beat, which informs our CDSG members of upcoming news and events. CDSG members spread the word about guest speakers, which instills interest about the various topics such as living with cancer as a diabetic, reading food labels, and the dangers of choosing sugar-free foods without reading nutritional labels. We offer light refreshments to sustain the attendees and make available recipes to add flavor or spice to their daily meals. We can tell by the responsiveness shown that there is a renewed awareness of the issues that were discussed during the meeting. When we see this we are conscious of our success.
We are fortunate to have a close-knit community and to see our CDSG members on many social occasions. The topics and issues presented at our support group meetings are discussed frequently at other functions or events. Positive word of mouth is often the best promotional tool for recruiting new members. With this in mind, we have created a survey to inquire if there are any ideas for improving the meetings or topics of which the participants would like to have information or discussion. Additionally, new CDSG members are very encouraging to the staff and a true sign of success.
Diabetes Program Participants
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Diabetes Care Providers
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