Lummi Nation Diabetes Program - Lummi Nation is seeking grant funding from the Indian Health Services Special Diabetes Program for Indians to support our efforts to provide quality diabetes care for our 343 community members who have been diagnosed with diabetes. Based on our 2021 and 2022 audits, our selected best practice will focus on patients whose A1c is greater than 8.0%, who have not received a screening for diabetic retinopathy, and who are obese. We plan to provide education to our community through diabetic related education posted on our Facebook page, as well as events and information around nutrition and physical activity. Since many of our community live in a food desert and many are also food insecure, we hope to continue to offer fresh local produce at no cost to our community at two sites on the reservation. We also plan to continue to educate and encourage gardening in our community through our Healing Spirits educational garden located in front of our tribal clinic where all of our patients receive treatment. Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialists will continue to offer continuous glucose monitors to patients for educational purposes and to empower them to implement recommended lifestyle changes to lower their A1c.. A diabetes care coordinator will be hired to maintain quality care measures for patients with diabetes; identify patients who are due for necessary screening and preventative health measures, communicate this information to the appropriate providers, and help patients coordinate these services. Since one of our best practices chosen is screening for diabetic retinopathy, we plan to develop roles and responsibilities for clinic staff to perform outreach to patients that are overdue for retinopathy screenings. Medical providers will continue offering obesity and metabolic dysfunction care and interventions. Providers will continue to evaluate and improve comprehensive care model to link patients with diabetes self-management service providers.
