Management Changes in Jefferson City

Jo Anderson resigned her position as the Manager of the Missouri Diabetes Prevention and Control Program (MDPCP) a few months ago.  The Department of Health and Senior Services named Victoria Warren, MS, as her successor.  She took office in early August.  While the SLDC will certainly miss Jo, we look forward to continuing our great relationship with the MDPCP through Victoria.  If you need to contact Victoria, send an email to Victoria.Warren@dhss.mo.gov.  

Schnucks Diabetes Education Centers Ready for 2007

Nicole M. (Peterson) Gattas, PharmD has informed us that Schnucks will be continuing group diabetes education classes at three locations next year: Hampton Village (Southwest City), Lindbergh & Manresa (North County) and Loughborough (South County).  Groups will begin every other month.  The Schnucks program is currently covered by Medicare and GHP.  For more information, contact Nicole at ngattas@stlcop.edu.  If you send her an email, be sure to congratulate her on her recent marriage.  (Note: In addition to her pharmacy practice and management position at Schnucks, Nicole is an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy.)

SLDC Joins Diabetes Access to Care Coalition

The St. Louis Diabetes Coalition has endorsed an initiative by Senators Talent (R-Missouri) and Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) who are urging Medicare to not implement a competitive bidding program that could dramatically limit beneficiary access to quality, clinically appropriate blood glucose monitors and equipment.  You can download the open letter here.

Is there a 1-pager Diabetes Care Guideline?

NO, but there is a 2-pager.  The SLDC and its members participated with stakeholders across the state to develop a consensus diabetes management guideline for adults.  Download the 2-pager.  For those with extra time on their hands, a larger document is available too at  http://www.dhss.mo.gov/diabetes/Guidelines.html.

City of St. Louis Employees Start Diabetes@Work

The SLDC’s Diabetes@Work program has started for the City of St. Louis employees.  More than 25 people with diabetes began the onsite, multi-week self-management training program during the second week of September.  The City is the 4th worksite for the Diabetes@Work program.  To date, the program has consistently demonstrated an ability to improve diabetes control.  With average A1C improvement of ~1%-point, I like to say it works as well as metformin.

New-Newsletter Format Launched

Diabetes Collaboratory is the new online newsletter for St. Louis Diabetes Coalition.  Powered by leading web applications such as FeedBlitz and WordPress, Diabetes Collaboratory makes posting information easier, sending update emails a breeze, and storing archives possible.  Diabetes Collaboratory is available from the SLDC homepage (www.diabetescoalition.org).  Please share your thoughts about the new format…. and information which others need to know.

Next Coalition Member Meeting

The next member meeting for the St. Louis Diabetes Coalition will be Tuesday, January 30, 2007 at the Hilton Frontenac, 5:30 – 7:30 PM.  RVSP to eric@diabetescoalition.org or 314-446-6486.