We’re passionate about helping people achieve their health goals. That’s why we take a positive approach to diabetes education and find ways to empower you to live a healthy life.
Our team provides various group education classes that show you how to manage your disease, diet and other lifestyle changes. We offer these classes at Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital.
When your doctor refers you to our program, we will call you to learn more about your educational needs. This process helps us find the right class for you. We provide a variety of days and times for our classes to make sure you find one that fits your schedule.
If you have specific health or dietary needs, such as a food allergy, we can arrange for one-on-one sessions with a dietitian.
Diabetes comprehensive class
Our diabetes comprehensive class helps people who have recently been diagnosed with diabetes or have never received formal diabetes education. This four-hour class covers all aspects of living with diabetes.
The class features a dietitian and a diabetes nurse educator. We cover:
- Blood glucose monitoring
- Carb counting
- Complication prevention
- Insulin administration
- Exercise
- Financial assistance to help with drug costs
- Nutrition and diet management
- Oral medications and potential side effects
- Stress management
At the end of the comprehensive class, we’ll schedule a follow-up for you to attend the diabetes refresher class.
Diabetes refresher class
Our diabetes refresher class checks your progress and reinforces the main themes from the first comprehensive class. We’ll also use this time to answer questions and find ways to help you overcome any challenges you’ve faced since your diagnosis. We recommend coming in for the refresher class two or three months after taking the diabetes comprehensive class.
The refresher class can also be an excellent resource for someone who received diabetes education in the past but hasn’t had any follow-up.
This two-hour class is an interactive discussion between the nurse, dietitian and class participants. We cover:
- Carb counting
- Plate Planning Method
- Glucose monitoring
- Individual goals
- Obstacles you may be facing
Once you complete this class, we’ll encourage you to sign up for one or both of our follow-up dietary workshops (carb counting and meal planning). We recommend following up with these classes one to three months after the refresher course.
Carb counting class
This class helps people who need to focus on counting carbohydrates to manage their diabetes effectively. The two-hour class meets with our dietitian and covers:
- Carb counting
- How to add protein and fat portions to meals
- How to read food labels
- Portion sizes for different carbs
Meal planning workshop
Our two-hour meal planning workshop helps you learn how to prep and cook healthy meals that keep your diabetes under control. A dietitian leads this class and focuses on easy ways to cook at home using tools like your freezer, crockpot and pressure cooker.
During the meal planning workshop, we’ll cover:
- How to plan healthy meals
- Grocery shopping tips to reduce costs
- Identifying high-quality, nutritious foods
- Preparing foods
Gestational diabetes
We offer a two-hour class to help pregnant women who have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. This class covers:
- Blood glucose monitoring
- Complication prevention
- Exercise
- Nutrition and carb counting
Our team
The diabetes education team is passionate about helping people achieve their health goals. We take a positive and personalized approach to diabetes management, making sure we address every individual’s unique needs.
Our team includes nurses and dietitians who specialize in diabetes management. Several of our team members are certified diabetes care and education specialists (CDCES). We also have dietitians who are certified in adult weight management.
Our dietitians see patients with diabetes as well as those with other health condition, like kidney disease. We have dietitian services at our Roper St. Francis Mount Pleasant and Bon Secours St. Francis Hospitals.
Registration
The diabetes education program requires a doctor referral. For more information or to register, please call (843) 402-1966.
The diabetes education services are covered by most insurances including Medicare. Diabetes self-management education has been recognized as an ongoing process necessary for diabetes self-care.
It’s important to contact your insurance company before attending any diabetes education classes to confirm your coverage.