OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:

At its annual Summer Meeting, the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) presented its prestigious Community Leadership Award to Floyd Medical Center in Rome for diabetes prevention and education. Floyd Medical Center President and CEO Kurt Stuenkel accepted the award on behalf of the hospital.

To address the prevalence of diabetes in the community, Floyd Medical Center’s education and corporate health departments joined together to offer diabetes screenings around the community to identify individuals at risk of developing diabetes. Those who met the criteria for prediabetes were then offered free participation in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). This program, recently implemented at Floyd, is a partnership of public and private organizations working to make it easier for those with prediabetes to have access to evidence-based, affordable, lifestyle change programs to reduce their risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Another way Floyd is actively combating diabetes is its participation in a Department of Public Health (DPH) pilot project, CATAPULT. This new health care model consists of eight components (Commit to participating; Assess your practice or system; Train or be trained; Activate; Create a plan of action; Promote understanding; Leverage data systems; and Test and implement) and its goal is to reduce
hospitalizations by 2020 for 1) Type 2 diabetes by 25 percent and 2) hypertension by 10 percent. As part of its involvement in this initiative, Floyd staff received DPP training to begin to provide diabetes education classes to its employees as well as the community.

To further enhance diabetes education in the community, the hospital’s diabetes education department began offering a series of outpatient classes. Recognized by the American Diabetes Association, the classes provide diabetes self-management materials to ensure that diabetic patients can take control of their health. As additional support, the hospital also sponsors a diabetes support group in which
members can discuss their issues and learn from each other.

“The chronic disease of diabetes is one that many communities are working to address,” said GHA President and CEO Earl Rogers. “We applaud Floyd Medical Center for its dedication to addressing this disease and for empowering its community to take control and be healthier. We are pleased to present Floyd Medical Center with this esteemed award.”