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You’d probably answer an overwhelming “yes” if you knew diabetes support and education has no side effects, is proven safe, sustainable, lowers A1c, and improves quality of life! The more important question to ask ourselves is, "Why aren’t we using this resource?"

Less than 5% of individuals who qualify for diabetes support and education actually use the benefit. Reasons for this underutilization range from providers not knowing how or where to refer patients, and limited numbers of educators, to patients not understanding the full breadth of support a diabetes educator can offer.

At UVA Health, diabetes support and education is happening in small and significant ways. Below are our certified diabetes care and education specialists (CDCES) who have helped improve care for people with diabetes in all areas of our health system. November is Diabetes Awareness Month and Nov. 14 is World Diabetes Day, celebrating "Education to Protect Tomorrow."

Meet the Team

Adult Care 

Beverly Shield and Kim Morris are RN Care Coordinators, CDCES, and Teresa Breen is a Registered Dietitian (RD), CDCES, in the Diabetes Education and Management Program (DEMP) at Fontaine which also has a satellite clinic in Orange. DEMP is the primary site of UVA Health’s American Diabetes Association (ADA) Accredited Diabetes Education Program. The team at DEMP specialize in training patients on the use of diabetes technology (including Automated Insulin Delivery devices and Continuous Glucose Monitors) as well as teaching patients with all types of diabetes (Type 1, Type 2, and Gestational) how to thrive and succeed in their personal management of diabetes through workshops, classes, and personal coaching. Patients who participate in DEMP programs have lowered their A1c on average 1%. 

Malcolm Carver, an RN Clinician 3, CDCES, at UVA Medical Center, provides education to patients who are newly diagnosed with diabetes or who are started on insulin, a high-risk medication, during their hospitalization. Providing education and support during hospitalization ensures patients get the best start on their journeys with diabetes self-management which has been shown to impact long-term outcomes. He also helps clinical teams and patients problem solve identified barriers to effective diabetes self-management. 

Meador Horne is an RN Care Coordinator, CDCES, in Primary Care Orange. She incorporates diabetes management as a part of whole patient chronic care. Patients receive education and support in person and ongoing by phone. Self-care barriers are addressed by empowering patient knowledge and skills. She also assists patients with medication cost barriers and access to technology, including continuous glucose monitors (CGMs). 82% of program patients improved their A1c with an average reduction of 2.1%.

Kim Miller is a Clinical Nurse Specialist, CDCES, who supports clinician education and ensures the care provided to patients at UVA is based on the latest evidence. She specializes in supporting patients who are admitted to the hospital and continue wearing their diabetes technology devices (insulin pumps and CGMs). 

Mary Lou Perry is a registered dietitian CDCES in the Cardiovascular Diabetes Clinic at Fontaine.  Diabetes support and education occurs in the context of cardiometabolic management. There is a 3- to 4-fold increase of CVD in the diabetes population, the clinic manages all aspects of cardiometabolic risk factors. Mary Lou provides support in all seven areas of self management (healthy coping, healthy eating, being active, taking medication, monitoring, reducing risk, and problem solving). Patients are seen remotely and in-person.

Neli Ramirez is an RN Care Coordinator, CDCES, in Primary and Specialty Care at Pantops. This clinic is an expansion site of UVA’s ADA-recognized Diabetes Education Program. In addition to providing diabetes education to clinic patients in their medical home, she supports the clinic with phone triage, venipuncture, clinic flow, and administrative work. Neli is a current volunteer mentor through the national CDCES certification board fulfilling an important role in supporting aspiring diabetes educators.

Lorrie Rilko a Nurse Practitioner CDCES is the Diabetes Education and Outreach Manager at the Virginia Center for Diabetes Prevention & Education (VCDPE). Her team’s mission is to provide evidence-based, high-quality education and training focusing on diabetes prevention and self-management to healthcare providers. VCDPE provides diabetes education to Virginia residents through a tele-education series and teaches about diabetes on preloaded iPads, for those that have limited access to WIFI in rural Virginia.

Theresa Simmons is a Clinical Pharmacist, CDCES, at UVA Pharmacy Zion Crossroads. She not only dispenses medications and provides medication education she spends time counseling patients on other aspects of diabetes care including injection technique, dose titration, blood glucose monitoring (meter and CGMs), and lifestyle modifications. Theresa is an advocate for the role community pharmacists trained in diabetes education play as an additional support to patients with diabetes after seeing their providers and in-between visits. 

Donna White is a Clinical Pharmacist, CDCES, in the largest UVA outpatient clinic; University Medical Associates (internal medicine). Donna works with patients to provide diabetes and prediabetes education and co-manages their disease states alongside the PCP addressing the whole patient including all Cardiovascular comorbidities. Patients are by referral or self-referral and must be an established patient.  Barriers to care, medication access and referrals are completed. Emphasis is on self-management engagement as well as education to providers. 

Pediatric Care

The Pediatric Endocrine clinic located in the Battle building serves as an expansion site of UVA’s ADA Accredited Diabetes Education Program. The Pediatric Diabetes RN Care Coordinators — Elizabeth (Buffy) Cech, Kassidy Lampert, Peggy Scoggin CDCES, Elizabeth (Libby) Steel-Perdue, and Elyse (Marriner) Toole CDCES — provide extensive inpatient teaching, clinic coverage, manage triage calls, and teach outpatient classes three times a week and a monthly pump education class. This team has developed a unique program called “Thrive” to support children and families living with diabetes. Newly diagnosed children and families are provided survival skills education during their inpatient stay and through close follow up are taught how to thrive while living with diabetes. After completing the Thrive program, children and their families come to clinic every three months to see either the social worker, registered dietician, or RN Care Coordinator for ongoing support of their self-management goals.