Three Rivers Health has been recognized by the State of Michigan for its Diabetes Self-Management Education program.

Matt Chambers, President & CEO of Three Rivers Health, and Pat Farris, the hospital’s Diabetes Educator, traveled to Lansing Tuesday (April 28th) to accept the “Special Tribute” signed by Governor Jennifer Granholm, state Senator Cameron Brown, and state Representative Matt Lori.

Liz Berkey, Pat Farris and Matt Chambers with the award from the State of Michigan recognizing Three Rivers Health for its Diabetes Self-Management Education program.

Chambers and Farris reported on the award during the April meeting of the Three Rivers Health Authority Board Thursday morning (April 30th) and were joined by Liz Berkey, the hospital’s new dietician.  Berkey works with Farris in conducting the program.

The diabetes education program has been in place since 2007 and has been offered to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay, a point noted in the tribute.  In his remarks to the board, Chambers said that Farris has “managed to be able to continue to do that” in spite of the financial challenges with which the hospital has been struggling.  And he reported that Three Rivers Health was one of only two hospitals to receive such awards.

Farris thanked the board for funding the program and described diabetes as a “key problem.”  She said, “Diabetes is a self-managed disease and, if people don’t know how to manage it, they don’t know how to stay well.”

Referring to the awards ceremony in Lansing, Farris said, “As one of the speakers said to us on Tuesday, ‘You know how worried we need to be about the swine flu.  We need to be a hundred times more worried about diabetes.’”  And, she said, “It’s a huge, huge issue.”

Chambers echoed Farris’ comments and said, “I believe this is a disease that could really bankrupt the medical system if we don’t learn how to treat it up front and get people thinking about it before they ever get it.  It’s really about lifestyle.  It’s about what we eat, how much we’re moving, and the costs are staggering.”

And Farris added, “We know that diabetes education programs increase people’s health, increase their feeling of being healthy, and also decrease the number of dollars spent on each person so it really does work – saves money.”