Workgroup Overview

Chronic disease, and specifically diabetes, was identified in the 2015 Community Health Assessment as a health priority because Buncombe County's diabetes mortality rates have increased over the last 8 years. In addition, there is a large disparity in diabetes outcomes between White and African-American residents. Type 2 diabetes is largely preventable with healthy lifestyle choices and an environment that supports physical activity and access to healthy foods for all.

The Diabetes Workgroup first met in April of 2016 and completed a "Talk to Action" exercise, where the following path was outlined (action items table below will be updated regularly as the work evolves):

The Result this group is working to achieve:

• Everyone in Buncombe County is able to prevent diabetes or better self-manage their diabetes.

The Indicators this group is working to impact (when these change we know we are achieving our goals):

• Diabetes prevalence
• Diabetes mortality rate (Note the significant disparity rate for Diabetes Mortality between African Americans and Whites. This disparity will continue to be a major focus of the CHIP work)
• Diabetes-related hospitalizations
• Diabetes-related Emergency Department visits

Workgroup Strategies

1. Increase clinical referrals to community-based diabetes programs (reducing cost, transportation and other barriers and increasing social support as well as behavior change)
2. Create more trust and cross-referral among existing diabetes prevention & management education programs (reduce sense of "competition")
3. Create awareness and increase DEMAND for diabetes screening, testing, prevention and management among community members
4. Build respectful structure for partnerships with community members with diabetes (especially African-American) so that initiatives of this group will meet stated needs of those most directly affected.

Click here to see the regularly-updated DIABETES WORK PLAN spreadsheet with detailed actions and status.