National Diabetes Education Program

More than 16 million Americans have diabetes and many of them are employed in our workforce. Employees with diabetes can be found at all levels of a company — from the field, to the mailroom, to the boardroom.

This online diabetes and health resource kit, hosted by the Washington Business Group on Health at www.diabetesatwork.org will help businesses and managed care companies to assess the impact of diabetes in the workplace. It also provides easy-to-understand information for employers to help their employees manage their diabetes and take steps toward reducing the risk for diabetes-related complications such as heart disease.

Employees with diabetes or those who have friends and family members with diabetes can also use this resource as it provides more than 20 fact sheets on diabetes-related health issues.

Diabetesatwork.org will be especially helpful for:

• Large employers
• Small business owners
• Human resource and wellness professionals
• Occupational health professionals
• EAP representatives
• Diabetes educators
• Managed care wellness and benefit professionals

A complete set of lesson plans with handouts are available for you to use:

These lesson plans address a wide range of diabetes-related topics such as nutrition and physical activity, general medical care, emotional well-being, and cardiovascular health. They can be used for a variety of health education activities, such as a lecture series on health issues, a diabetes support group, and "lunch and learn" sessions. Ideally, lesson plans should be led by health care professionals or wellness coordinators, although knowledgeable human resource managers and supervisors may be able to present some of them.

Each lesson plan includes instructions for the lesson plan format, a script to guide the lesson, overhead masters, participant handouts and suggested props and group activities (when appropriate). Suggestions for how to shorten a lesson to a 15-20-minute time period are also provided. Some of the lessons can be adapted for general health and wellness programs.