Diabetes Classes Offer Team Support, Guidance on Managing Lifestyle Changes
April 17, 2012
Tziporah Rosenberg, Ph.D.
Managing a chronic illness, such as diabetes, takes a team effort. Highland Hospital’s Diabetes HealthSource is offering a series of classes from 9:30 a.m. to noon on May 5, 12, 19 and June 2 to teach people with diabetes how to make lifestyle changes and develop a support team that will help improve quality of life.
"Diabetes and the lifestyle changes it brings represent a complicated and often divergent series of steps for daily living, and understandably that kind of change is hard for many patients and people who care about them," said Tziporah Rosenberg, Ph.D., LMFT, an Assistant Professor in the University of Rochester Medical Center Departments of Psychiatry and Family Medicine.
Rosenberg is a member of the Highland Family Medicine community where she meets with patients and their families who are managing the daily demands of chronic conditions such as diabetes, pain, depression, and others. She regularly speaks at Living with Diabetes classes about the emotional aspects of coping with diabetes.
"I talk about how patients can team up with their healthcare providers, supportive family and friends, and the Diabetes HealthSource to ensure open communication, effective problem solving and goal setting," Rosenberg said. "I try to normalize a lot of the reactions they have had to learning about diabetes and living with it from day to day and those of their family and friends, too."
In addition, Certified Diabetes Educators make recommendations on healthy food choices, physical activity and stress management. Experts also talk about managing medications.
The classes are held in the Calihan Conference Room at Highland. The cost is covered by most insurers with one co-pay, and each participant can bring a support person. Parking is free. For more information or to register, call (585) 341-7066.
Highland Hospital has a long history of making a difference in the lives of people with diabetes, including becoming the first hospital in the nation to use insulin to treat a patient with diabetes. This year, Highland is a supporter of the American Diabetes Association’s Tour de Cure, a fundraising cycling event in Rochester June 10. Close to 75 employees, including Dr. Rosenberg, have signed up to ride with Highland’s team, and Highland is sponsoring the Red Rider team made up of people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.