In 1976, President Gerald Ford started officially recognizing Black History Month during the celebration of the Bicentennial. Black History Month is now celebrated all across the country in educational institutions, centers of Black culture, and community centers, both great and small.

President Ford urged Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history”.

In light of celebrating the accomplishments of Black Americans, I would like to honor a role model and mentor that made an indelible impression on this diabetes nurse.

As a new, slightly goofy nurse working at UCLA Medical Center in the 1980s, I was developing my sense of who I wanted to become as a professional. My style was relaxed and informal and I was often arrived to work a few minutes late.

Later that year, I started graduate school and transferred to the night shift. That’s when I met Ms. Davis, who role-modeled the professional I wanted to become.

Ms. Davis was the only black nurse in our unit and she commanded respect. As a charge nurse, she arrived to work early and listened intently to the report, taking careful notes. Her crisp white uniform, sparkling white shoes, and nurse’s cap pinned proudly on her head inspired me to be better. As a matter of fact, I got my nurse’s cap down from it’s a shelf and started wearing it again, along with shining my shoes and arriving on time.

We never called Ms. Davis by her first name and we never questioned why. We understood that she had earned our deference and respect.

As a new nurse, I had plenty of questions, which Ms. Davis answered with kindness, never making me feel embarrassed or inferior. She was knowledgeable, hard-working, and a natural leader. I was excitable and known to overreact in crisis situations. Ms. Davis’s role modeled calm composure coupled with swift and deliberate action.

Once Ms. Davis found me crying in the break room.

One of my patients had a constricting trachea, gradually stopping airflow, that no surgery would repair. I was devastated and in despair. Ms. Davis wrapped her arms around me and patted my back. This moment might have lasted for seconds or minutes. It didn’t matter, her hug seemed to set my world right again.

Thank you Ms. Davis for showing me what I could become. You are one of my most influential role models as a professional nurse. Your presence, grace, and dignity are etched in my memory forever.

In gratitude,

Coach Beverly

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Accreditation: Diabetes Education Services is an approved provider by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider 12640, and Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR), Provider DI002. Since these programs are approved by the CDR it satisfies the CE requirements for the CDCES regardless of your profession.*  

The use of DES products does not guarantee the successful passage of the CDCES exam. CBDCE does not endorse any preparatory or review materials for the CDCES exam, except for those published by CBDCE.

This quote, by Martin Luther King Jr., reflects his conviction that justice for all includes access to health care.

People with diabetes are more likely to struggle with food insecurity and lack adequate resources to pay for medications and diabetes supplies.

As Diabetes Specialists, we honor Dr. King’s words by advocating for affordable diabetes care, medications, and access to nutritious foods.

During these challenging times, I am comforted by his resonant statement  “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

On this day of national celebration and service, we thank Dr. King for being a beacon of light and clarity. 

With Gratitude,
Coach Beverly

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This month we are celebrating our amazing sister organization, Just One Person.

Just One Person is a sustainable model program that prepares girls in rural Kenya for post-secondary opportunities, supporting their development towards economic independence. Diabetes Education Services donates the profit from the sale of the Pancreas Pillow to help fund school scholarships and seminars for other girls in rural Kenya.

A treadle sewing machine and cloth

Mwanaidi’s story:

Mwanaidi, of Just One Person, has hand-sewn hundreds of beautiful Pancreas Partners in her hometown in Kenya and shipped them to the Diabetes Education Services office in California, so we can share them with you.

While Mwanaidi was waiting for admission to college she began sewing the “pancreas pillows” that Diabetes Education Services sells in the US. She used a donated treadle sewing machine, a pattern designed by Just One Person (JOP) Executive Director, Emma Sisia, and traditional leso cloth.

Just One Person’s graduates are committed to sharing their knowledge and resources with their mothers, sisters, neighbors, and daughters for generations to come.

Mwanaidi joined the Just One Person (JOP) project in rural Kenya after her high school recognized her potential. Mwanaidi graduated from high school in 2010 and subsequently, became a certified chef. She uses the income from her job to help support her family of 7 siblings along with her mother and father.

All Pancreas Partner profits are donated to www.justoneperson.org.

After paying Mwanaidi for her beautiful work, Diabetes Education Services donates the profit from the sale of the Pancreas Pillow to help fund school scholarships and seminars for other girls in rural Kenya. Other alumnae of JOP have followed suit and are continuing to produce these wonderful pillows to help ensure the sustainability of our program.

Just One Person’s philosophy is that girls are members of our organization for life. They are committed to sharing their knowledge and resources with their mothers, sisters, neighbors, and daughters for generations to come.

At Diabetes Education Services we are dedicated to supporting the growth and well-being of our future generations.

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Save your spot for our

Virtual DiabetesEd Specialist Conference | April 15-17, 2021

Whether you are new to diabetes or a seasoned expert, you’ll benefit from this virtual conference with the latest research plus critical content that you can immediately apply to your clinical practice. If you are interested in taking the CDCES or BC-ADM exam or are seeking a state-of-the-art review of current diabetes care, this course is for you.

DiabetesEd Virtual Conference Flyer 2021

Diabetes Ed Virtual 3-Day Schedule 2021

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Entire Program Fee: $399
Dates: April 15-17, 2021
3 Expert Speakers
CEs: 30+ CE hours
Live Webinar Schedule: All webinars start and end times are in Pacific Standard Time

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Come join our Virtual DiabetesEd Specialist Program.

Team of expert faculty includes:

• Diana Isaacs, PharmD, BCPS, BC-ADM, BCACP, CDCES – Educator of the Year, 2020
• Coach Beverly Thomassian, RN, MPH, CDCES, BC-ADM
• Ashley LaBrier, MS, RD, CDCES, Diabetes Program Coordinator

In addition to informative lectures, we also use group activities and case studies to highlight the essential knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to succeed in diabetes education today! 

Prepare for CDCES or BC-ADM certification or earn hours for renewal.

Your registrations include access to all the Online Sessions plus Bonus Courses through December 31^st, 2021.

This virtual program includes:

3 day live webinar courses from April 15th-17th (20 CEs) + enrollment in our Bonus Bundle (14.0+ CEs) from now through December 2021.

• Live Q & A Session with the instructor after each webinar
• Presentations by our team of experts
• Handouts and Resources for each session
• Post-test questions
• A sense of community
• If you can’t attend the live webinars, a recorded version will be posted later the same day for viewing.

View full Conference Schedule and Faculty.

DiabetesEd Virtual Conference Flyer 2021

Diabetes Ed Virtual 3-Day Schedule 2021

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Accreditation: Diabetes Education Services is an approved provider by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider 12640, and Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR), Provider DI002. Since these programs are approved by the CDR it satisfies the CE requirements for the CDCES regardless of your profession.*  

The use of DES products does not guarantee the successful passage of the CDCES exam. CBDCE does not endorse any preparatory or review materials for the CDCES exam, except for those published by CBDCE.

by Robert Frost

Have you ever taken the road less traveled? What did you learn about yourself and would you take that road again?

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Today, is Winter Solstice, when we experience the shortest day and longest night of the year. From here we will slowly gain more light each day, marking this as an astronomical shift from darkness to light.

For many cultures, winter solstice marks a day of rebirth, saying goodbye to the past year and a universal deep breath for the future.

Susan Cooper penned a beautiful poem about winter solstice that we are thrilled to share with you below. Given this incredibly difficult year, it seems especially poignant and I hope you enjoy the read.

Great conjunction this close last happened 400 years ago.

As a special bonus this year, Jupiter and Saturn will align in the night sky today, December 21st, in an event astronomers call the “great conjunction.”

The last time Jupiter and Saturn came this close was 1623, but that conjunction was too near the sun to be seen by Earthlings. 1226 is actually the most recent time such close conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn was visible to humans.

You can watch it online with webcasts from The Virtual Telescope Project, Slooh at NASA Telescope here.

The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died

And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world

Came people singing, dancing

To drive the dark away

They lighted candles in the winter trees

They hung their homes with evergreen

They burned beseeching fires all night long

To keep the year alive

And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake

They shouted, reveling

Through all the frosty ages you can hear them

Echoing behind us—listen!

All the long echoes, sing the same delight

This Shortest Day

As promise wakens in the sleeping land:

They carol, feast, give thanks

And dearly love their friends

And hope for peace.

And now so do we, here, now,

This year and every year.

Welcome, Yule!

This poem is available as a children’s hardcover with beautiful watercolor illustrations by Carson Ellis.

Today, November 14, is Dr. Banting’s Birthday

World Diabetes Day is celebrated in honor of Dr. Fredrick Banting, whose leadership, tenacity and belief led to the discovery of insulin.

The discovery of insulin has saved the lives of countless millions of people over the past hundred years and will continue to save millions of lives in the near future and beyond.

During a hot summer in 1921, Dr.Banting secured space to test out his theory at the University of Toronto. Along with his colleague, Charles Best, and a bare-bones lab, they conducted dozens of experiments on dogs, which ultimately led to the discovery of insulin. 

Dr. Banting and Charles Best began their experiments ligating the pancreases of dogs, thinking this would prevent destruction by the digestive pancreatic juices, and then isolating the extract from the islet cells. They then processed the extract from the islet cells and injected this extract they called “insulin” into diabetic dogs.  According to an audio interview with Dr. Best, by July 1921, they had 75 positive examples of insulin lowering blood glucose levels in dogs. 

In February 1922, doctor Frederick Banting and biochemist John Macleod published their paper on the successful use of an alcohol-based pancreatic extract for normalizing blood glucose levels in a human patient.

Here are some photos of the first insulin bottles produced by the University of Toronto and Eli Lilly.

Soon, word of their discovery got out and the race was on to produce enough insulin to treat the flood of type 1 patients arriving in Toronto to receive this miracle injection.

But, as with any amazing discovery, there is always more to the story. 

One of the biggest barriers to Banting was the simple fact that he was not involved in the field of diabetes research. The idea leading to the discovery of insulin came to him after preparing a lecture on the pancreas and diabetes, a subject he knew little about. He wasn’t a trained researcher and thus securing support for the project was initially difficult.

First Children to Receive Insulin

The first patient to receive insulin was a ‘welfare’ case at Toronto General Hospital – no clinical trial structure to say the least. People from Canada/US flooded into Toronto to receive treatment. Banting struggled with the lack of accessibility of insulin – volume needed issues of purification.

The earliest patients were “selected”, some youths from Canada/US, some soldiers with diabetes (probably because of Banting’s service in the First World War), and then later some select private patients. During this time they were working hard to increase the volume and continue to improve the purification process. Insulin was available for testing in the US, namely through Dr. Elliot Joslin in the late summer of 1922.

Takes a Team

While Best played a critical and important role, credit must also go to Professor Macleod, from the University of Toronto, who provided the lab space, showed Dr. Banting how to operate on dogs, provided his student Best and suggested they switch from saline to alcohol to purify the ‘extract’. Dr. Macleod also secured the support of JB Collip, the 4th man on the team, and the first person to purify insulin for human use. Best is also known for pushing Banting to return to the research during a particularly dark period of failure.

Dr. Banting – Fun and Interesting Facts

• Sold insulin patent for $1
• Was wounded during the First World War and received the Military Cross
• Youngest Nobel Laureate in Medicine
• First Canadian on the cover of Time Magazine
• Among the last Canadians to receive a knighthood and have the title, Sir Frederick Banting
• One of only two “non-Americans” to have a Second World War Liberty Ship named after him (USS Frederick Banting)
• Has as a crater on the Moon named after him (between Apollo 15 & 17 landing sites).

Want to Learn More About Dr. Banting?

  Visit Banting House FaceBook Page

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Our October 27th Question of the week quizzed test takers on person-centered language. We are happy to report that 88% of respondents chose the correct answer. We thought that this was an important topic to discuss further, so we can pass on correct info to people living with diabetes.

Before we start though, if you don’t want any spoilers and haven’t tried the question yet, you can answer below: Answer Question

Question: Language use while interviewing someone with diabetes can have a profound impact on the meaningfulness of the interaction. 

Which of the following comments uses a person-centered approach and exemplifies the use of updated diabetes language?

Answer Choices:

1. We don’t recommend avoiding breakfast
2. Tell me more about skipping your afternoon insulin
3. I notice you haven’t tested your blood sugars daily 
4. Exercise is important because it helps control your glucose levels

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As shown above, the most common choice was option 2, the second most common answer was option 3, then option 3, and finally option 1.

Getting to the Best Answer

If you are thinking about taking the certification exam, this practice test question will set you up for success. Test writers anticipate possible answers based on the details in the question. They will wave those “juicy answers” right under your nose. Your job is to weed through the particulars, pluck out the most important elements and choose the BEST answer.

Most of you chose the correct answer, which is really terrific.  I have noticed an increased awareness of the new language paradigm when coaching people with diabetes. I am confident this person-centered approach will strengthen the meaningfulness of our interactions and improve quality of life for people living with diabetes.

Answer 1 is incorrect. 1.44% chose this answer. “We don’t recommend avoiding breakfast”

The fact that this sentence starts with the word “we”, gives us the first clue it is not person-centered. This approach and language align more with the out-dated compliance model, which simply gives people direction without seeking input or collaboration.

Answer 2 is correct. 87.77% of you chose this answer. “Tell me more about skipping your afternoon insulin”

This is an example of the preferred curiosity-based approach that is free of judgment.  It simply acknowledges the fact that the person is skipping their afternoon insulin and requests more information about the circumstances.  It represents a person-centered and collaborative approach.

Answer 3 is incorrect. About 5.76% of respondents chose this. “I notice you haven’t tested your blood sugars daily”

This approach is not strength-based, instead, it has a hint of judgment and criticism. The person receiving this message might feel shame or embarrassment.  A strength-based approach would be, “You have been checking your blood sugars 4 times a week.”  Then we could have a conversation to determine if that is often enough or if more checks would be beneficial.  This strength-based approach engages the participant and acknowledges what they ARE doing.

Finally, Answer 4 is incorrect. 5.04% chose this answer. “Exercise is important because it helps control your glucose levels.” 

Instead of telling people TO exercise, a better approach would be starting with a question like, “Did you know that every minute of exercise lowers your blood sugar about one point?”.  Or, “Is there a type of activity you have done in the past that you enjoyed?”  In addition, we avoid using the word “control” and replacing it with the word “manage”.  We could also say, “The great thing about exercise is that helps manage blood sugars for 24-28 hours.”

Want more info on Language and Diabetes?
Check our our FREE Webinar and Resources Page – Lifting People UP with our Words.

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We hope you appreciate this week’s rationale! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our Question of the Week and participate in this fun learning activity!

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Test Taking Toolkit (220+ practice questions) | Online | $ 49.00

Whether you are preparing for the updated CDCES or BC-ADM exam, this test-taking toolkit is designed to prepare you for success. This toolkit includes two courses with over 220 practice questions to help you prepare and simulate the exam.

Our exams incorporate changes to the CDCES content outline, including a more intensive focus on technology, social issues, and emergency readiness. Plus, we have added a FREE bonus course, Language and Diabetes – What we say matters (0.5 CEs). Coach Beverly added this course because she believes it contains critical content for the exam and for our clinical practice!

• ADA Standards Test Taking Tips
• Preparing for CDCES Practice Exam

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Accreditation: Diabetes Education Services is an approved provider by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider 12640, and Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR), Provider DI002. Since these programs are approved by the CDR it satisfies the CE requirements for the CDCES regardless of your profession.*  

The use of DES products does not guarantee the successful passage of the CDCES exam. CBDCE does not endorse any preparatory or review materials for the CDCES exam, except for those published by CBDCE.

By taking time for self-compassion, you can decrease your body’s threat response, lower heart rate, and even boost your immune system.

This is especially important to keep in mind and share with our clients during the pandemic since many people are struggling with feelings of isolation, fear, and sorrow.

According to a study conducted by the Universities of Exeter and Oxford, thinking compassionate thoughts about yourself and others has physical benefits.

Researchers believe that meeting negative thoughts with self-compassionate thoughts can be highly beneficial to not only mental health but physical health as well.

In the past, studies have shown a link between self-care and higher levels of overall health and well-being, but scientists didn’t understand why.

“Our study is helping us understand the mechanism of how being kind to yourself when things go wrong could be beneficial in psychological treatments. By switching off our threat response, we boost our immune systems and give ourselves the best chance of healing.”

Mindfully decreasing our threat response, increases relaxation, which is a key factor in allowing the body to regenerate and heal. Our threat response, includes “increased heart rate and sweating, the release of the stress hormone cortisol and over-activity of the amygdala, an integral part of the brain’s emotional network. And a persistent threat response can impair the immune system.”

The study asked participants to listen to either compassionate audio recordings or critical and competitive recordings. Scientists would then record their vitals and ask them a series of questions.

Those encouraged to practice self-compassion had a lower heart rate and a general feeling of “safety.” While those who listen to negative critical audio statements had an increase in heart rate and higher sweat response.

We invite you to watch our FREE Mindful Diabetes Encounter Webinar designed for diabetes professionals.

To learn more: Self-Compassion Exercises Show Physical, Psychological Benefits – Psych Central

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Sign up for Diabetes Blog Bytes – we post one daily Blog Byte from Monday to Friday. And of course, Tuesday is our Question of the Week. It’s Informative and FREE!  Sign up below!

Email Address Sign Me Up!

Accreditation: Diabetes Education Services is an approved provider by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider 12640, and Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR), Provider DI002. Since these programs are approved by the CDR it satisfies the CE requirements for the CDCES regardless of your profession.* 

The use of DES products does not guarantee the successful passage of the CDCES exam. CBDCE does not endorse any preparatory or review materials for the CDCES exam, except for those published by CBDCE.