About D.A.W.G.S.

Basically, the group will provide educational, social, and emotional support for people with diabetes, their family members, or anyone who provides support to an individual with diabetes.

Specifically, this group will allow individuals affected by diabetes to meet other people with diabetes so that they know that they are not alone and that other people understand their condition. The support group will allow them to share stories and compare notes with other people who share their concerns. Patients and their families understand the hardship and difficulty that they have to go through in their daily life--but they do not have to feel alone. Through educational meetings with healthcare professionals, patients and families will learn more not only about diabetes care and complications, but how to prevent the disease as well.

The purpose of the Diabetes Support Group is to help people with diabetes realize that they are not alone, to provide education on diabetes prevention, management, and complication issues, and to raise awareness of the disease in the community. Participation in the Group is intended to help members realize that the power to control their disease lies within each of us, and, by sharing individual experiences and discussing treatment methods, we might enable one another to control our disease more effectively. It is believed that this goal may be achieved by offering attendees the opportunity to share their concerns, experiences and problems with others in the Group. When considering this goal, it is important to remember that whatever is disclosed during meetings must be kept confidential by everyone that attends, whether they are members, guests, or speakers.

This Support Group is not intended to replace or reduce regular visits to the physician of the patient with diabetes. The meetings are intended to help educate the diabetic patients as to management issues, so that they can intelligently discuss the issues with their physician, in order to improve and/or enhance their diabetes management.

While both old and new ideas and techniques regarding diabetes prevention and management may be distributed and/or discussed during meetings, it is not suggested, nor intended, that anyone make changes in their own medical programs without first consulting with their physician.

The format for the meetings of the group is to have one meeting every three months without a speaker and to just discuss advancements, news, new products, let members discuss their issues and concerns, and to let members ask and answer questions about the care, management, and complications of diabetes. I feel that members might feel more comfortable talking about personal issues without an "outsider" present. Those in attendance should keep in mind that all registered members are not individuals with diabetes. There may be someone present who just has a family member with diabetes. There may also be someone present who is a healthcare professional, which may be an advantage when getting answers to questions.

The "speakerless" meetings will take place on the first month of the quarter (January, April, July, and October). Another advantage to not having speakers during these meetings is that attendance may be down because of the close proximity of holidays during January (New Year's Day) and July (Independence Day). If a holiday falls on, or on a day immediately before or after, a holiday, it will be discussed during meetings before that date whether or not to cancel those meetings.

The other two meetings will have a speaker, who will be speaking on a diabetes care, managemnet, or complication issue. The speaker will typically be a healthcare professional, but will always at least be someone with knowledge of a topic of interest to group members.

It is hoped that participation in the D.A.W.G.S. Diabetes Support Group will play a positive role in the health and lives of all people with diabetes in the community, as well as those trying to delay the onset of the disease.