The program consists of seven modules and will last seven months. Its primary audience is elderly people with diabetes. The goal is to give them a better understanding of the disease as well as to provide actionable steps to managing it.
Due to the worldwide crisis caused by COVID 19 and the quarantine measures implemented, several sectors of the population with non-contagious diseases have been severely affected. Such is the case with patients who have been diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and have been forced to make changes to their diets. They have experienced limitations in multiple areas, including the ability to purchase medicines, the availability of important doctor’s appointments, and difficulty accessing prescribed programs of exercise.
Under these circumstances and thanks to interest and financing by the Technologic Institute for Health Care (ITHC), Zamorano has piloted an “Online Diabetes Education” program. The goal is to establish useful and practical instruction directed at elderly people suffering from diabetes. The program specifically targets diabetes sufferers who have had limited access to education. The instruction is easy to understand, making it available to folks regardless of their level of education. It aims to give them easy-to-follow, actionable steps to managing the disease.
Participants must have access to and know how to use a cellphone. It is available to Zamorano employees and their families, whether they live on or off campus. The online course lasts three months and has seven modules. It includes meetings via Whatsapp or Zoom for an hour a day from Monday to Thursday. It is offered to four groups of six to eight participants each, and is led by a nutritionist who is an expert in the field. It has as its principal resource the PRIDE Project from Tennessee´s Vanderbilt University, which provides printed material to each one of the participants as program support.
The topics covered include general information on diabetes, glycemic control, nutrition, risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, lifestyle management and changing behavior, fighting stress and depression, managing medicine. Committed to health, Zamorano encourages behaviors that have a positive impact on the quality of life of each one of the participants in the program. Diabetes Mellitus requires attention, understanding, follow-up and information to patients, in order to effectively manage the disease.
