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Grant to assist in diabetes outreach
Portal, Stilson schools to offer classes to public
Susan Riley for Web
Susan Riley
People with diabetes have a lot to learn about diet and exercise, as well as monitoring their blood sugar and taking prescribed medication."Living every day with a disease that affects every aspect of their lives" demands current information and practice in new skills, said certified diabetes educator Susan B. Riley, DNP. The AADE-Bayer 2011 Innovation in Practice Award, a $3,000 grant, will help Riley set up evening classes for adults with diabetes at various Bulloch County schools."We as medical people can prescribe all kinds of wonderful products, but it really comes down to a lot of self management, the patient learning to choose proper foods, how to incorporate exercise, how to make good choices, how to use this medicine, how to take their insulin if they're on insulin," Riley said.The American Association of Diabetes Educators, or AADE, chose Riley for the grant, the only one of its exact type awarded this year, because of her proposal's use of "Smart Board" technology to reach people in a non-medical setting.A nurse practitioner for 30 years, Riley has worked for the last 19 years at Family Health Care Center, the Statesboro practice she and her husband, Dr. Thad Riley, share with another physician, Dr. Angela Davis, and nurse practitioner Connie Barnett.In May Riley became one of the first 11 nurses to earn the new Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree at Georgia Southern University, and so now is also a "Dr. Riley," although not an MD. She made diabetes care the focus of her studies toward the DNP, after becoming a certified diabetes educator two years earlier.In her grant proposal, Riley cited the fact that Bulloch County now has more than 70,000 people and limited availability of diabetes education."The closest place anybody can go or any doctor can even refer somebody for certified diabetes education is Memorial Hospital in Savannah, which is a long way to go to really learn about your disease process and how to take care of yourself," she said. Into the schoolsHaving served eight years on the Bulloch County Board of Education ending last December, Riley knew about the interactive whiteboards that had been installed in the local schools. Commonly known by the Smart Board brand name, the whiteboard is a digital update of the marker board.
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