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| OUR
MISSION |
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We
aim to improve the quality of life of Filipinos by providing an EXCELLENT
diabetes education program for the country.
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| OUR
VISION |
A
KNOWLEDGEABLE and SKILLFUL citizenry on DIABETES MELLITUS.
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| OUR
VALUES |
PATIENCE
and PERSEVERANCE are virtues which we would like to instill in the
minds of our educators in the pursuit of KNOWLEDGE.
COMMITMENT to the Community: providing the best education selflessly.
DEDICATION amidst all obstacles.
EXCELLENT curriculum as well as a well-trained and committed faculty.
FAITH in GOD firstly, and to yourself that you shall win the battle
against IGNORANCE of DIABETES.
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| THE
ESSENCE OF THE FOUNDATION
The
active concern with educating patients started some 70 years ago when
Dr. Elliot P. Joslin realized the importance of educating both persons
with diabetes and their families in order to sustain life.
This was long before education became an accepted part of treatment. It
was once considered a luxury. Dr. Joslin's attitude was " The diabetic
who knows the most lives the longest." More recently the World Health
Organization has sated that "Education is a cornerstone of diabetic
therapy and vital to the integration of the diabetic to society."
Why is education so important?
Survival is probably the best reason for educating diabetics. Other reasons
are to ensure a longer life, improve the quality of life and decrease
the cost of diabetes care.
The education of the patient which the Foundation is trying to promote
can only be achieved if there will be a team approach on the part of the
health care provider and consumer. A team is ideal because diabetes is
so complex and demanding that no doctor can have the time to fully handle
everyone of the patient's needs. The team includes the doctor as the coordinator
and main medical decision maker, along with an array of other health professionals,
such as dietitian, nurse educator, social work etc.
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THE
IMPORTANCE OF THE DIABETES CENTER
The
creation of a Diabetes Clinic is the answer to the growing needs of educating
a diabetic client.
Such a clinic would offer patients its facilities to educate him on what
diabetes is, its various forms of management, the use of the food exchange
list, the action of both oral and parenteral hypoglycemic agent, the correct
way of administering insulin, the various monitoring devices both for determining
urine and blood glucose, the proper way to care for himself on sick days,
and lastly, the correct way to care for his feet, skin and teeth.
The clinic will also offer its facilities for in-patients and out-patients,
regardless of who the doctor is or which hospital one goes to, for individual
or group instruction, for the totality of its course or just a part of it.
At the end of a counseling program for diabetes, clinic educators will evaluate
the patient and have the assessment done by the medical staff. Lectures
are followed by good interaction with patients, and a question-answer session.
Typically it may be conducted for two days with two hours per session.
From the feedbacks received after two and a half years of existence of a
local Diabetes Clinic, it appears that the clinic has been effective in
educating patients. The following results were observed by doctors after
their patients attended these sessions:
• knowledge of diabetes was increased considerably;
• skills e.g. the use of monitoring devices, correct injection techniques
and care of the feet, skin and teeth, were improved, and
• metabolic control improved
In diet alone, patients who really comply with their diet regimen claimed
that their blood sugar was better controlled than before.
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