The St. Louis Diabetes Coalition tweets.  You can follow the Coalition on Twitter now (@stldiabetes).  Click here.

The Coalition just set an enrollment record for the Diabetes@Work program that is getting started for the City of St. Louis employees.  29 have registered.  This is at capacity… if not a little over.  Joan McGinnis is leading the onsite program which begins in a few weeks.

There was a slide show featuring the major milestones and accomplishments of the St. Louis Diabetes Coalition at the 10th Anniversary Meeting on Dec 4.  In response to a couple requests and for the sake of posterity, the slides are being distributed via Diabetes Collaboratory.  The St. Louis Diabetes Coalition has accomplished more than what is presented therein… especially in terms of connecting people who have a strong commitment, personally and professionally, to improve diabetes awareness, education and quality of care across the region. Download the file here: sldc-history-highlight-reel-recap-v2.  Thanks for 10 great years!

I am forwarding an invitation that the St. Louis Diabetes Coalition received from our junior US Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) yesterday… She wrote:

Right now, as our nation struggles amidst these tough times, it is more important than ever to hear from constituents and learn how I can help. For this reason, I will be hosting a Kitchen Table Talk in your area on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 from 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM in the Performing Arts Theater at Saint Louis Community College – Forest Park which is located on 5600 Oakland Avenue in St. Louis.. These meetings are so important to me, as I work hard everyday to represent Missouri’s best interests. There is no need to RSVP; please feel free to stop by, meet with me and my staff, and express your thoughts and concerns. Please see the attached press release if you have any questions, or contact my St. Louis Regional Office at (314) 367-1364.

HOLD THE DATE:  Joseph R. Betancourt, MD, MPH  will be presenting Culturally Competent Care:  A Critical Approach in Health Care on January 14, 2009 at 5:30PM at the Eric P Newman Center at WashU
School of Med.  His talk will describe the impact of culturally competent care on the clinical encounter and continuum of  cultural competence.  This event is co-sponsored by Merck & Co., Inc. and The Center for Diversity and Cultural Competence at Barnes Jewish Hospital.  You can RSVP to Melanie Williams, RN
via Melanie_Williams@Merck.com or 1-800-737-2088  ID# 94954.  

About the Speaker: Dr. Joseph Betancourt is Director of The Disparities Solutions Center and Senior Scientist at the Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital.  Dr. Betancourt’s primary interests include cross-cultural medicine, minority recruitment into the health professions, and minority health/health policy research. Dr. Betancourt has served on several Institute of Medicine committees, including those that produced Unequal Treatment: Confronting acial/Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, Guidance for a National Health Care Disparities Report, and In the Nation’s Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity in the Health Care Workforce. He also sat on the Physicians for Human Rights Blue Ribbon Panel on Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health.

It’s just a few days before the 10th Anniversary Meeting of the St. Louis Diabetes Coalition (Thursday, Dec 4)  at the newly-remodeled Renaissance St. Louis Hotel Airport.  Author and economist Dr. Eric Finkelstein will be delivering a thought-provoking presentation based on his 2008 book: The Fattening of America : How the economy makes us fat, if it matters, and what to do about it.  You will not want to miss his talk… especially while enjoying a fine meal.  The meeting will also include an open discussion about the future of the Diabetes Coalition.  Space is limited.  No fee, but reservations are required.  Register today at www.diabetescoalition.org.  You can download an official invitation right here: SLDC Meeting Invite Dec 4 2008.  If you do not have time to logon and register, just leave a voicemail message at 314-446-6485.  We need your RSVP… as we need a pretty accurate headcount for dinner.

If you are not familiar with the website dLife.com, take a look.  There are a number of resources for patients and diabetes educators, including video spots known as dLifeTV. www.dlife.com

On July 22, the St. Louis Diabetes Coalition hosted a training program for 26 health care professionals to learn about and discuss the Conversation Map approach to diabetes education. The Coalition thanks Merck for sponsoring the event and SLADE member Kathy Little, RN, CDE for being the facilitator. Ms. Little has been to 30 states and 95 cities to provide 100 training a programs. It must have been nice to do one so close to home. Thank you to everyone who attended… especially one nurse who traveled from the Bootheel to join us.  For more information about Conversation Maps, goto www.healthyi.com.

The St. Louis Diabetes Coalition is co-sponsoring a training program for health care professionals interested in learning about the Conversation Map method of diabetes education.  We expanded the number of available slots to accomodate the interest…and there are a few slots left.  Download the invitation. The program will be held on Tues, July 22 at 5 PM at the St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition, a very central location near the intersection of US-170 and Ladue Road (just a few blocks west of downtown Clayton).  You must register online.  Click here to register.

On July 2, the St. Louis Post Dispatch (Business Section) featured a story about about the business of diabetes education in the St. Louis region.  The reporter Mary Jo Feldstein wrote… “Although more Americans are being diagnosed with diabetes, some local hospitals are scaling back or eliminating their dia­betes education programs, which advocates say can prevent a lifetime of unnecessary complications and cost.” Eric Armbrecht, PhD (St. Louis Diabetes Coalition) and Mary Overstreet, RN (Christian Hospital Diabetes Institute) are quoted in the article… as well as one James Wells, an 86 year old man with diabetes who wished that he had received diabetes education services sooner. The article is a must-read for diabetes advocates. You can access the article from StLToday. Click here.