According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), 26 million children and adults in the U.S. have type one or two diabetes, while 79 million people are considered pre-diabetic, meaning they could develop diabetes.
To combat this disease, NSU students and faculty in the Health Professions Division and the ADA of Broward County have joined with community organizations to create an Inter-professional Diabetes Education and
Awareness (IDEA) Initiative that will offer free diabetes education seminars and other services to the NSU community and the public.
Terry Morrow, the College of Health Care Sciences’ assistant dean of student affairs, said, that the goal is to help decrease the number of people with diabetes.
“We know that the health care cost for diabetics is 2.3 times higher than for people who don’t have diabetes, so there are some significant costs associated with the issue,” said Morrow. “That’s why we have looked at NSU as a place that could really address this issue with the community.”
The IDEA initiative was launched in August 2012 when 45 students and eight faculty members from each of the HPD programs, were recruited and assigned to eight groups. These groups where responsible for creating and hosting workshops of different topics to bring about further awareness and education on diabetes.
Morrow said, “A lot of the times, in the health professions, everyone stays in their own little world and no one knows what the other professions can do to support somebody with diabetes or any other disease, so we are working on having our students become emerging professionals who can look at an issue from a very broad perspective.”
Since it’s started, the IDEA initiative has educated approximately 170 children and adults. This year, the initiative will host 21 workshops, with topics including diabetic medication management, healthy eating and exercise. These workshops, which be held through April, are free and open to the public.
Stepan Uhlay, third-year graduate pharmacy student and member of IDEA, said, “Giving back to the community is something that NSU does a good job with. Education and awareness is probably one of the biggest and most successful things that NSU provides for the community, so this diabetes initiative is another great outreach program that people should know about.”
Along with the ADA of Broward Country, the IDEA initiative has also partnered with Walgreens, which supplies free blood glucose testing, and the Tri-Rail System, which has put up posters to advertise the workshops. IDEA has also partnered with NSU’s Lifelong Learning Institute, and the Urban League of Broward County.
Uhlyar said, “These organization have been very supportive and for next year, I am hoping to see more involvement from students, faculty, and community members so we can build more groups and continue to see a constant progression for the initiative.”
For more information, including dates and locations of the workshops, email Terry Morrow at idea@nova.edu or call 954-NSU-CARE.
