The NC Medical Journal's "Spotlight on the Safety Net" highlighted two health centers that actively participate in the North Carolina Diabetes Collaborative, Blue Ridge Community Health Services (BRCHS) and Bertie County Rural Health Association. The NC Diabetes Collaborative was founded in 2003 and its ultimate goal is to reduce health disparities through the adoption and implementation of improvement processes. Click on the title link for the full article.
Below are two excerpts from the article:
Since its inception in 2004, BRCHS has tracked over 500 diabetic patients. BRCHS sees a largely Latino population (47.9%) followed by White (44%) and African American (6.9%). Diabetic patients are entered into a database application that is designed to assist care providers as well as management in tracking the quality of care provided to patients.
The Bertie County Rural Health Association is seeing fewer patients on dialysis as a result of the Diabetes Collaborative. Staff also report seeing significant weight loss, fewer ulcers, and less surgery needed for diabetes-related conditions such as gangrene. But perhaps most importantly, the BCRHA patients are now more actively engaged in their health due, in part, to the concern and attention that the BCRHA staff show their diabetic patients as a result of the Collaborative and the improved diabetes protocol.
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