<em>Photo above: The Beaufort Memorial Diabetes Care Center team includes Jenny Craft, Kassie Nicknadarvich, Kim Edwards and Kathy Phillips. Photo provided.</em>

<b>BMH Diabetes Education earns recognition certificate</b>

Beaufort Memorial Hospital has received the American Diabetes Association Education Recognition Certificate for offering high-quality diabetes self-management education, a critical component to effectively treating the disease.

To qualify for the certificate, diabetes education programs must meet national standards developed and tested under the auspices of the National Diabetes Advisory Board. Among the requirements, programs must have a staff of knowledgeable health professionals who can provide participants with comprehensive information about diabetes management.

Beaufort Memorial submitted to the evaluation process voluntarily.

“Applying for ADA certification provides us with a national standard by which to measure the quality of services we provide our patients,” said Beaufort Memorial Associate Vice President Laurie Martin. “As an ADA-recognized program, we can assure patients they will receive the high-quality education services essential to effective diabetes treatment.”

Beaufort Memorial’s diabetes education team includes inpatient dieticians Roxanne Davis-Cote, Jessica Hausfeld, Lydia Wickenhoefer and Stephanie Baxley, as well as the hospital’s Diabetes Care Center certified diabetes educators Jenny Craft, Kassie Nicknadarvich, Kim Edwards and Kathy Phillips.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 30 million Americans have diabetes, but an estimated seven million of them have not been diagnosed.

Many people with diabetes first learn they have the disease when they are treated for one of its life-threatening complications, including heart disease, stroke and kidney disease. Diabetes continues to be the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, claiming some 250,000 lives a year.

For more information on Beaufort Memorial’s Diabetes Care Center, visit www.beaufortmemorial.org or call 843-522-5635.