THTC Earns Diabetes Education Accreditation

News Release—For Immediate Release with Photo                       November 4, 2015

PHOTO CAPTION INFO: LuAnn Beavers-Willis, Certified Diabetes Educator for Trinity Hospital Twin City, was chosen to give a poster presentation at the National American Association of Diabetes Educators National Conference. Pictured are Beavers-Willis (r) with Tamanna Patel of the Georgia Health Policy Center, at the poster presentation area of the conference.

Trinity Hospital Twin City becomes a Medicare Certified Diabetes Self-Management Education program through AADE-Accreditation

DENNISON — Trinity Hospital Twin City’s Diabetes Wellness Program was recently named an accredited diabetes education program by the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE), a National Accredited Organization (NAO), certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This will allow the people with Diabetes in and around the Tuscarawas County area to have increased access to high quality diabetes education services.

Diabetes education is a collaborative process through which people with or at risk for diabetes gain the knowledge and skills needed to modify behavior and successfully self-manage the disease and its related conditions. The program is comprehensive and taught by diabetes educators who have extensive training.

Trinity Hospital Twin City’s Diabetes Wellness Program, located at 819 N. First Street in Dennison, will be offers diabetes education classes at locations in the following towns on a regular basis: Coshocton, Dennison, Dover, and Newcomerstown. To register for a class or to get more information, please call (740) 922-7450, ext. 2177. As part of the hospital’s recognition of November as Diabetes Awareness Month, the hospital will provide a free educational seminar titled “Living Well with Diabetes” on Thursday, November 19^th at 6 pm. Call (740) 922-7450, ext. 2124 for more information about the seminar.

“We began offering diabetes education services in February of 2014 thanks to federal grant funding from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, and we’ve helped more than 400 area residents with diabetes so far,” explained LuAnn Beavers-Willis, THTC Certified Diabetes Educator. “Applying for and becoming accredited was the logical next step to build on the success of our program.”

“AADE’s accreditation assures that an accredited program meets the National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support. Programs that meet this criteria are considered high quality and have been shown to improve the health status of the individuals who embrace the education and help to modify sometimes unhealthy behaviors, or simply provide the education that the person with diabetes has not previously received” said Leslie E. Kolb, RN, BSN, MBA, Accreditation Director for the Diabetes Education Accreditation Program. “Trinity Hospital Twin City’s Diabetes Wellness Program is exactly the type of program we envisioned when we set up our accreditation in 2009.”

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under grant number G20RH26409 of the Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement Grant Program for $378,000 with approximately 35% of the costs paid by nongovernmental sources.

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