The Diabetes Center is a hospital-based education program for adults with diabetes. The Diabetes Center is certified by the American Diabetes Association as meeting the national standards for diabetes self-management education. The emphasis of the program is to provide patients with the tools they need to manage their own disease.

Program Entry
Entry into the program begins with a referral from the patient’s primary care doctor. Each individual’s disease process, management recommendations and learning needs are evaluated by a multidisciplinary healthcare team. Please call (309) 683-5418 or fax (309) 683-5428 for more information. If necessary a structured weight loss program may be introduced to optimize diabetes management.

Group Classes
The most widely utilized program track is a group education series taught by a nurse educator, dietician and social worker. This class series is available at various times during the week and on some Saturday mornings. This program track was developed for newly diagnosed patients and patients in stable health with uncomplicated serum glucose level patterns. Topics covered in this class series include nutrition, blood glucose pattern assessment, medication, stress management, prevention of disease complications, exercise, and sick day management.

Intensive Management
The second most utilized program track consists of individualized patient treatment and management by a dietician and advanced practice nurse team. It was developed for patients with consistent, difficult to manage blood glucose patterns or special learning needs.

Nutritional Counseling
The third track is the program used when the patient is referred to a “dietician only” for instruction about diet management. This patient receives a nursing assessment and then nutritional counseling with a dietician.

Program Feedback and Outcomes
In each one of the program tracks, the primary care doctor is provided with
The patient’s learning outcomes and any specific recommendations for treatment.

Evaluation of program outcomes includes:

1. Tests before and after classes to assess patient learning
2. Patient and physician satisfaction with the program
3. Comparison of hemoglobin A1C’s pre-program and at intervals throughout the program. In addition, patient successes at achievement of behavioral goals are measured.