Poudre Valley Health System opened a center Thursday in Loveland to help persons with diabetes learn how to manage their condition through proper nutrition, exercise, medication and education.

The Center for Diabetes, on the Medical Center of the Rockies campus, offers one-on-one consultations with nurses and dietitians trained in diabetes management. The consultations will help patients understand and cope with diabetes.

The center offers services similarly to those provided by the Center for Diabetes at Poudre Valley Hospital, Fort Collins. Services at both centers also include medical nutrition therapy services to address issues that range from hypertension and weight management to food intolerances and high cholesterol.

“Diabetes has emerged as one of America’s major health issues,” said nurse manager Karen Brueggen. “We opened the center in Loveland as a way to make diabetes education and management more easily available to residents in the Loveland and Windsor areas.”

The center will offer two-day diabetes classes each month to help patients and family members learn more about managing their condition. Classes will cover such issues as blood-glucose monitoring; meal planning; physical activity; medicines; prevention of low or high blood sugar levels; ways to avoid complications; and what to do if a person with diabetes becomes ill.

Call 970.495.8205 for more about the center and to make reservations for a diabetes management class.

A quick look at diabetes

• 8.3 percent of Americans have diabetes.

• Diabetes is believed to have an influential role in many heart problems, strokes, high blood pressure, and kidney disease.

• Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults 20 to 74 years old.

• The cost of diabetes care and related issues was $210 billion in 2007.

• In 2010, 1.9 million new cases of diabetes were diagnosed in Americans 20 years or older.

Source: American Diabetes Association

--PVHS--

	Tweet