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(Honesdale, November 12, 2007)...If you’re one of the estimated 8,000 people in Wayne and Pike Counties with diabetes,* and you’re having difficulty managing your disease, you’re not going unheard. Wayne Memorial Hospital and its SHIP (State Health Improvement Plan) partners have been awarded a $57,000 grant from the Blue Ribbon Foundation of Blue Cross of NEPA to offer a Diabetes Care Management Pilot Project. The project will target individuals with diabetes for whom control of their blood glucose levels is elusive—despite changes in diet, exercise, medication and other routines.

      “The project hopes to identify obstacles to diabetes management and provide tools for those patients involved to improve their management of the disease, avoid hospitalizations and long-term complications,” says Carol Kneier, Registered Dietitian and the only Certified Diabetes Educator working in Wayne County.  Kneier, who is coordinating the Blue Ribbon grant, and Wayne Memorial Hospital have been offering diabetes management classes to the community for more than 10 years. Kneier said in just one month—June 2007—roughly one-third of all hospitalizations at Wayne Memorial included patients with diabetes.

      Enrollees for the pilot project, set to kick off in January, will be selected from prior diabetes education classes. The curriculum will take a multi-disciplinary approach, involving the Wayne County YMCA, Wayne Memorial Rehabilitation Services and behavioral experts from Northeast Counseling.

      Executives at The Blue Ribbon Foundation, which has funded other Wayne Memorial/SHIP projects, are enthusiastic about the diabetes program.

      "This is exactly the kind of health and wellness program our Foundation