November Update: Gathering Information from Key Partners

At the September 29th meeting, two system-change objectives were identified for immediate work:

1. Increasing clinical referrals to community-based diabetes prevention and management education programs
2. Creating one user-friendly platform (or improving/promoting existing platform such as 211) for clinicians and community members to find diabetes-related services easily

In October and continuing into early November, meetings are being held with clinicians and referral specialists at WNCCHS and at MAHEC Family Medicine to identify 1) the information they need to make referrals to community diabetes programs and 2) the ideal platform(s) for accessing that information (paper, website, phone, etc.). These discussions are also addressing how these types of referrals to evidence-based community programs can be best institutionalized throughout the practices. After these needs and referral protocols are mapped, the community's six diabetes program providers will work together to create clinic-friendly tools and protocols.

The resources and referral protocols that come out of this work will also be integrated into the Care Process Model for Preconception Health, which will be rolled out to all Mission Health primary care providers in 2017.

For more information about this workgroup, its goals, action items, etc., please click "Workgroup Overview" on the right sidebar. You can also click here to see the Community Scorecard--local diabetes data, active partners, current initiatives and community strategies.

October Update: Gaining Momentum

The CHIP Diabetes Work Group met Thursday, September 29th at MAHEC's Biltmore Campus, and there was a wonderful mix of clinical and community service providers in attendance, representing WNCCHS, YMCA, YWCA, ABIPA, NC Cooperative Extension, MAHEC, Mission Health, and the Minority Health Equity Grant. We shared updates and successes in our own work, discussed at length what the diabetes community will be losing with the end of the Minority Health Equity Grant and Alma Atkins' coordination (ending September 30), and recommitted to working on two immediate priorities:

1. Increasing clinical referrals to community-based diabetes prevention and management education programs
2. Creating one user-friendly platform (or improving/promoting existing platform such as 211) for clinicians and community members to find diabetes-related services easily

For more information about this workgroup, its goals, action items, etc., please click "Workgroup Overview" on the right sidebar. You can also click here to see the Community Scorecard--local diabetes data, active partners, current initiatives and community strategies.

September Update

The full CHIP Diabetes Workgroup will be meeting September 29th at 9:00 to review the progress we've made on the Clinical Referral Tool, share feedback on the Diabetes Service Map and accompanying documents we created at the last meeting, and to begin discussing strategies to increase consumer demand for diabetes screening, testing, prevention and self-management support in the community. 

One highlight from August is the CHIP Diabetes Workgroup's presence at the

Management of Diabetes Through the Lifespan forum August 22nd at MAHEC. Partners came together to create a display about community-based prevention and management programs and update the clinical referral tool to showcase for providers attending the event. Melissa Baker (MAHEC) and Je'Wana Grier-McEachin (ABIPA) presented about the initial development and pilot testing of the referral tool. Several providers have since contacted me to get copies of the referral tool, and someone even heard a provider say, "this is the most useful information I've gotten today--this tool alone was worth coming!" 

For more information about this workgroup, its goals, action items, etc., please click "Workgroup Overview" to the right. You can also click here to see the Community Scorecard--local diabetes data, active partners, current initiatives and future tasks.

August Update

The Diabetes work group met on July 7th. A Diabetes Self-Management Program sub-group will be meeting August 10 to update their referral tool and strategize how to increase referrals from health care providers to these evidence-based community programs. Another sub-group is forming around how to increase screening, identification and interventions for people who may have pre-diabetes in our community.