Mary
Jo Dudley AADE Educator of the Year
A Personal Interview with Dave Joffe, Editor
in Chief
Last
month I had the pleasure of sitting with Mary Jo Dudley, RN, BSN, CDE the AADE
Diabetes Educator of the Year. Mary Jo was in town for our Florida West Coast
Diabetes Educators meeting.
Mary
Jo was graduated from Presbyterian University School of Nursing in Pittsburgh,
PA in 1968 and received a BSN from The University of Pennsylvania in 1971.
She has worked in Intensive Care, and has taught Nursing at New England
Baptist Hospital School of Nursing and at NH Vocational Technical College.
In
1976, she and her husband helped establish Camp Carefree, a residential camp
for children with diabetes and staffed the camp for many years.
Mary
Jo has been active in developing support groups, creating guidelines for care
in her state DEP, lecturing to health professionals, camping experiences for
children with diabetes, mentoring professionals who aspire to be CDE’s, and
building networks of caregivers with a shared vision of excellent diabetes
care for everyone with diabetes.
Here
are some of the highlights of our interview:
Q.
(DIC) Where, why and how have you been able to travel?
Ms.
D. I have been traveling around the country, where invited to spread the word
that Diabetes can be prevented. The first part of my year has concentrated on
the South, and I have recently been in MS, NC, VA and now FL.
The AADE has provided me with a LifeScan travel grant, and I am
fortunate enough to take time off from my work to do these presentations.
Q.
(DIC) Can you elaborate on your message?
Ms.
D: My overriding goal is to make sure that all diabetes educators know that
diabetes can be prevented and they need to broadcast that message as widely as
possible. I first spoke about
diabetes prevention in 1997 when there was no scientific data. Now that the DPP has been published, I am focusing on how to
and when to begin a prevention program. I
am especially concerned about children who are at risk of type 2 diabetes
because of inactivity, fast food advertising and school food choices.
Q.
(DIC) Let’s talk about exercise. We
all say that kids should get more exercise, but how can they?
In many areas of the country, it is not safe for children to be outside
the home. When I was a youngster,
my parents never gave a thought to allowing me out alone.
Ms.
D: You are absolutely right that child safety must be priority number one.
However, the fact that children do not walk to school (dangerous traffic,
bullies, drugs etc) could be overcome if parents would or could walk with
their children to school. The
same principle as a carpool could be used – one parent walking with a group
of children one day or one way, and sharing responsibility with other parents.
Walking is the most convenient form of exercise and we all forget it.
Many communities are now using federal monies to create “Livable, Walkable
communities.” We as educators must be advocates for children when school
boards cut back on Physical Education to keep the tax rate lower.
We save now but will pay with a higher burden of diabetes in the
future.
Q.
(DIC) What about food choices?
Ms.
D: When we speak to adults, parents and their children, we need to spend more
time on portion size. It is hard
to get anyone to completely give up a favorite food 100%, but if we could
encourage patients, parents and kids to select the smaller portion, we could
have a dramatic impact on overweight and diabetes.
We obviously need to encourage the choice of “better “ foods, but
we also need to realize the pressures of the advertising industry. If we
encourage, and offer water, fruits, vegetables and healthy choices, it is
possible that some (or many) will eat them more often. Children will mimic
their parents, so there is a natural starting place. Fast food is another area – it is a constant in our rushed
daily routine. However, there are healthy choices at fast food restaurants and
we need to encourage those choices. If
we hold out a high fat, high calorie fast food as a reward for good behavior,
we will send the wrong message to impressionable youth. Selective choices will
be a major component of a diabetes prevention strategy.
Q.
(DIC) Any other areas that we need to focus on?
Ms.
D: Yes! Mothers who have
developed gestational diabetes need extra education on how this translates
into an increased risk of diabetes for themselves and their children. Many
Moms never get the entire picture. We obviously need to work harder at getting
the message to mothers, as they are the caregivers for the entire family unit.
I have worked in classes after childbirth where strategies to reduce the risk
of later diabetes are taught. In addition to exercise, practical recipes and
the 5 a day program are a good start.
Q.
(DIC) Who do you see helping you spread this message?
Ms.
D: Let’s start with medical
professionals who are all, in a sense are “public health officers.”
Pediatricians exert tremendous influence and need to be recruited in diabetes
prevention among the young. The
Pharmacist (often the most visited health professional by far) can deliver
simple messages about food choices, exercise etc. at each medication pickup.
Other members of our medical team (family doctor, gynecologist, ARNP, PA,
nurse, dietitian, endocrinologist, cardiologist) should be prepared to deliver
a short message on prevention strategies at each encounter. Lay people,
especially volunteers from the ADA, JDRF etc. can deliver powerful messages in
schools, churches, and other public forums about this new epidemic of
diabetes.
Q.
(DIC) I understand there is a website that you use to help a patient track
their family history.
Ms.
D: Because diabetes is so strongly family linked, I have found that generationalhealth.com
is a useful tool for families to plot out the family risk of diabetes.
To
see the AADE press release click here.
