Bassett Launches Comprehensive Diabetes Program

Over 1.5 million people live with diabetes in New York State, and yet in a rural region like the one served by Bassett Healthcare Network, reaching these patients with the education and care that is critical to living well with diabetes is difficult. For that reason, Bassett has launched a Comprehensive Diabetes Program. 

“We developed the program to support our communities and patients living with diabetes and to support our network wide providers,” says Dr. Amy Freeth, medical director of Bassett’s diabetes program. “Diabetes education is a service that tends to be underutilized and not readily available depending on where people live. Furthermore, national statistics suggest there is a major shortage of certified diabetes educators. This is an enormous problem because unlike most other chronic health conditions, diabetes treatment deeply relies on education to enhance self management of the disease. We took the services that were limited in number and location, increased the working force and took them to where the patients and providers were.”

“Diabetes educators can teach classes, educate patients’ one on one and aid primary care providers with the highly technical elements involved with treating the disease,” continues Dr. Freeth. “Simultaneously, our work can also reduce the health care costs associated with the treatment of diabetes and its related complications.”

The Comprehensive Diabetes Program, seeking to serve patients with Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes or gestational diabetes, integrates a multidisciplinary approach to diabetes care. Three certified diabetes educators and two diabetes specialists travel throughout the eight county region serviced by Bassett to provide one on one diabetes education and diabetes group education classes.

“The program’s care is tailored to the individual needs of each patient,” notes Diane Cusworth, M.S., R.N., who oversees the Diabetes Program. “We are committed to getting patients the education and resources they need. We have more than 11,000 patients within Bassett Healthcare Network living with diabetes. By helping them understand how their lifestyle impacts the disease and what they can do to improve their health, we hope to prevent some of the common complications associated with diabetes such as heart attacks, kidney disease, amputations and blindness. We want our patients to have the best quality of life possible.”

Additional complications from diabetes include:
 Higher heart disease death rates
 Higher risk for stroke
 Blindness; diabetes is the leading cause of new cases among adults aged 20-74