CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — During American Diabetes Month, the Coastal Bend Food Bank is emphasizing its commitment to helping individuals manage their lifestyles after a diabetes diagnosis.
In 2023, nearly 14% of Nueces County had diabetes. That's over 49,000 people.
"Every person with diabetes deserves the knowledge to take care of it. Learning that they can take control, and they can prevent those things makes a huge difference," said Georgiana Bradshaw, who has been involved with the organization’s Diabetes Hands-On self-management education program since it first started 15 years ago.
Bradshaw and Dr. Melissa Wilson, co-founders of the program, are now honored on the wall of the food bank’s diabetes education room.
The eight-week course teaches participants how to manage their diabetes through classes on topics such as nutrition, complication prevention, medication education, and stress management.
"I think one of the most important things are that they begin to understand how food affects their blood glucose levels, how activity affects their blood glucose, and the importance of taking their medication and also stress management," Bradshaw said.
Shortly after the program began, it caught the attention of Feeding America, a national nonprofit. Their work earned the program a nearly $1 million grant, the first of many that continue to fund the initiative today.
"Every year was like, 'Can we continue to do this good job? Can we continue to see these outcomes? And we did," Bradshaw said.
Amy Wallace, a dietetics and nutrition intern for the Coastal Bend Food Bank, said the program helps participants realize that a diabetes diagnosis doesn’t mean giving up the things they love.
"Some common misconceptions are that diabetes really takes over, but it doesn't. Diabetes is a very manageable disease if you learn the education, the nutrition, and the skills to deal with it," Wallace said.