Education and Awareness Programs
African-American Conference on Diabetes
The SC DPCP co-sponsors the African American Conference on Diabetes with the Diabetes Today Advisory Council every year in November in observance of National Diabetes Awareness Month. The conference targets people living with diabetes, their caretakers, healthcare professionals, and other interested community members. Participants place an emphasis on innovative programs in diabetes education and self-management for controlling the disease. There is a minimal charge for the conference and registration is required. Each year concurrent sessions are held on foot and eye care, healthy eating, physical activity, depression, medication and monitoring, etc. Past fiscal sponsors of the conference have been the Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Division and the Division of Tobacco Prevention and Control.
Barber Shop/Beauty Shop Campaign
Barber and Beauty Shop Campaign – “Shop Talk, Can You Cut It?” – The DPCP is partnering with the Office of Minority Health on a pilot project to facilitate training that will enable African American stylists/barbers located in Richland and Fairfield Counties to incorporate chronic disease information into their general client/customer conversation. The kick off for the campaign is set for June 2, 2008 at the Richland County Recreation Commission Adult Activity Center from 9:00 AM – 2:30 PM. The participants will be trained utilizing content from the DHEC publication, “What is Diabetes?”. Each shop will establish a health corner containing chronic disease prevention and self-management material for shop patrons, which will be switched out every four months with information on a new topic…. general diabetes info, diabetes & tobacco, cardiovascular info, physical activity, nutrition, etc.
Diabetes 101 Curriculum
The SC DPCP developed diabetes prevention and awareness curriculum entitled “Diabetes 101” to build capacity in the communities across the state. This program focuses on the risk factors for diabetes, promotion of awareness of the signs and symptoms of diabetes, prevention and management of the disease; as well as physical activity, healthy eating, and addresses knowing your “ABCs”- A1c, blood pressure, and cholesterol.
There is also a train-the-trainer section of the curriculum that enables lay health educators that have attended the presentation portion of the curriculum to become presenters within their own communities. The training is approximately three hours and includes a review of the materials from the initial presentation, teaching techniques, and teach-back opportunities. It is designed for lay health educators but has been very popular with health care providers as well. Many health care educators know what to look for in disease management but are not adequately equipped to present the information effectively to the community.
IMARA Woman Magazine Partnership
Introduced in February 2001, IMARA Woman Magazine, the only statewide magazine targeting women of color in South Carolina, has become one of the most effective mediums to reach over 65,000 women of color across the state. The magazine’s mission is to empower women of color as a source of inspiration on issues of health, professional development, education, business, and family. The publisher of the magazine is an African-American woman and with African-American women serving as contributing authors, the articles in the magazine are tailored to the life and culture of African-American women. IMARA Woman is published bi-monthly and features a health section in each edition. The magazine is distributed throughout the state of South Carolina, and is available in select locations in Georgia and North Carolina. Distribution outlets include churches, colleges and universities, and businesses.
The SC DPCP along with DHEC’s Office of Minority Health (OMH) has been successful in building capacity of women of color through the continued partnership with IMARA Woman Magazine. The SC DPCP and OMH provide resources for health articles and advertisements in each of the bi-monthly address diabetes and its related risk factors through culturally appropriate health promotion and risk reduction messages through its sponsorship of the IMARA Woman Magazine’s annual Health Empowerment Tour. The Tour provides minority women with tools to integrate health tips into their daily lives. The women participate in interactive workshops on stress management, nutritional cooking, physical activity, and get screenings to increase awareness of their risk for developing health disparate conditions. As a result of this collaboration, DHEC received IMARA’s 2007 Public Sector Award for its leadership, support and partnership efforts in health promotion/health education contributions to the magazine. DHEC has received the award for six years in a row.
OMH has provided technical assistance in the planning and implementation of the African-American Diabetes Conference, planning and implementation of the US Department of Health and Human Services Diabetes Detection Initiative (DDI), and serves on the Diabetes Today Advisory Council (DTAC) where they provide leadership in the recruitment and retention of active members to assist in the planning and implementation of strategies to increase awareness regarding diabetes early detection, prevention and self-management. OMH has continued to serve on the Diabetes Initiative of South Carolina (DSC) Board, a collaborative effort between SC DHEC, MUSC, and the American Diabetes Association, as well as other organizations across the State, to develop and implement a comprehensive statewide plan of community outreach programs, health professional education, and diabetes surveillance.
Pneumonia/Flu Campaign
Collaboration for the Flu and Pneumonia Campaign usually begins in July of each year. Committee representatives include Carolina Center for Medical Excellence, SC Primary Health Care Association, Companion Health Care, Senior Resources, Inc., Prevention Partners, Maxim Healthcare, etc. DHEC representatives include the Immunization Bureau, the Office of Minority Health, the Diabetes Prevention and Control Program, and others. The updated campaign materials are usually available around mid September or the first of October. Contact Barbara Wright Downs at (803) 545-4475 to receive posters and other materials for your community campaign.
REACH US: SEA- CEED (Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health Southeastern African American Center of Excellence for Eliminating Disparities)
African Americans (AA) in South Carolina (SC) and the neighboring states of Georgia (GA) and North Carolina (NC) have very high prevalence of diabetes and the accompanying risks of hypertension (HTN), stroke, and amputations. SC ranks second in the prevalence of diabetes and first in stroke mortality. More than ¾ of AA with diabetes have HTN, and AA with diabetes are 2-4 times more likely to experience a stroke.
Since 1999, the REACH Charleston and Georgetown Diabetes Coalition (CGDC) has worked to decrease health disparities for >13,000 AA with diabetes. For the Action Community, the CGDC and two county coalitions (Charleston Diabetes Coalition and Georgetown Diabetes CORE) will continue to facilitate local action and ownership within these communities. CGDC aims to reduce risks and prevent complications related to HTN, stroke, and amputations in AA at risk or with diabetes. An expanded community chronic care model grounds our activities. Additionally, successful and ongoing community and systems change, increased advocacy, and policy change strategies will be modified to include intergenerational activities to reduce modifiable risks. The community action plan (CAP) is guided by a collaborative model which stresses identification of change agents, involvement in health organizations and other community organizations, with a focus on policy and systems change to enable and encourage community behavior change. Strong science will be applied within a tailored and culturally appropriate community context – as evidenced in specific protocols for community programs and health organization quality improvement initiatives.
The proposed SEA-CEED partnership will expand the coverage area to counties in SC, GA, and NC that have > 30% AA. Previous and current community development strategies will be diffused via the Legacy Projects, and multiple trainings and activities related to eliminating disparities in AA at risk or with diabetes.