Melanie Cole, MS (Host): Welcome to It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. I'm Melanie Cole. And today, we're talking about the diabetes support group that meets at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital with David Bernard. He's a Marine veteran, a registered nurse, and a Program Coordinator in the Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital Education Department.

David, thank you so much for joining us today, and you're quite the accomplished person: Marine veteran, registered nurse, Program Coordinator. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

David Bernard, MSN, RN: So, I'm actually a longtime employee at Henry Mayo. This has actually been a place where I've spent almost the last 20 years of my career. I started in our Information Technology Department. But I've always done education, wherever I've been, whether it was in the Marine Corps or several other corporations before this. And in order to teach full time at this hospital, I needed to become a nurse. So, they supported me. I went back to school, became a nurse. I worked in Critical Care and our step-down unit for a number of years and then moved back into education here at the hospital.

Melanie Cole, MS: How cool are you? Wow. So, why did the hospital start a diabetes support group? Tell us a little bit about how that came about.

David Bernard, MSN, RN: So, as I finished my master's for my current role in Nursing, I really saw the need that we need support groups here at the hospital. And, recently, we've lost some key people in our diabetes support program. And because of that, this has been basically an unfulfilled need. And so, we've decided to start this back up, because the community can definitely utilize this. And like I said, I have a heart for those that are actually working through the risks of this disease. And so, that's the reason why we went ahead and started this program back up.

Melanie Cole, MS: And what motivated you to be the coordinator of the group? Because that's taking on a big responsibility.

David Bernard, MSN, RN: It is. Part of it is the fact that I have a few family members that have diabetes. And a little over a year ago, I was actually diagnosed with diabetes. And it's tough to navigate this disease without help. And the key things of a support group is everybody's an expert. Everybody's an expert, at least in themselves. And a lot of times you don't get that experience and ability to have that time to talk through strategies, what the high risks natures of the disease are in a short doctor's visit. As much as a lot of these physicians try their best, they have to see several patients at a time. And most of the diabetes support programs out there, you have to pay for. And so, this is a free program that gives people an opportunity to share their experiences, figure out what motivations there are for helping them succeed in reducing their risks, and then also where they could talk about good education and topics and all of the different key behaviors that create successful self-management of diabetes.

Melanie Cole, MS: What a wonderful program. So, why don't you give us some specifics when and where and really tell the listeners what the group is like, what is it like to sit in this diabetes support group, and talk with fellow patients and give ideas and share things with each other.

David Bernard, MSN, RN: So, this is going to be typically the first Monday of every month from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. That's how we're restarting it back up. That's very similar to how it used to be with the old program. It is both online on Zoom and also in-person in the education center near the main hospital. It used to be held at our fitness center just down the street. But now, it's actually at the main hospital education center. It is about an hour long. People can sign up on Henry Mayo's website. They can go to look at diabetes support. It's on there. They can register. We ask that they register because then we actually have a good idea who's coming.

But the program itself, it provides, like I said, several opportunities for people. And there's a book that was written called Bright Spots and Landmines. The author, his first name is Adam. He's a part of the diatribe.org website. And he wrote a book called Bright Spots and Landmines. And realistically, for successful self-management of the risks of diabetes, people need to be knowledgeable about how things affect them. And it's different from one person with diabetes to another person with diabetes. And the whole idea of bright spots are these are things that you can do to help maintain healthy blood sugars. And landmines are things that you might be surprised that affect your blood sugar in ways that can basically put you at risk.

For example, one of the things that I found out very early on becoming diabetic was that sugar-free coffee creamer doesn't really work well with me. I wouldn't have imagined sugar-free coffee creamer would cause my blood sugars to spike, and yet it does. But it doesn't do that to every diabetic. And so, really knowledge and what works for you and learning from others what works from them so that people can obviously try things as a group that they can use for knowledge in their own risk mitigation for the disease.

Melanie Cole, MS: What a great exchange of information. People have learned about what works for them, things they've read. I think that's just wonderful. How are you doing in managing your diabetes?

David Bernard, MSN, RN: So, when I first was diagnosed, my A1c was very high, and it was frightening. I mean, a lot of the classic things that happen when someone's first diagnosed with diabetes, or even those who are in pre-diabetes, it's scary. Because they probably know someone, in fact, it's highly likely that they know someone with diabetes. Considering statistics show, CDC says something like there's a hundred million people who have pre-diabetes right now out of the three hundred and something million in the country. So, one in three, and yet 80% of them don't even know. And then, there's millions of diabetics also, and one in five doesn't even know that they're diabetic. But realistically, most people know someone who's diabetic. And when they are presented with this, there's a lot of guilt, there's a lot of shame, and there's a lot of things that are completely outside of their control. And just kind of wrestling, especially with that first month was very challenging for me, and I know about the disease, because I've taken care of patients that have had significant impacts because of the risks.

So, what's been happening over that last year, year and a half, is that I've gotten my blood sugars well under control. And I have done that with several strategies that I've come to find out both from our previous diabetes support group, but also other diabetics that I've met and then good research online.

Melanie Cole, MS: David, what's so interesting about you, and I hope that we're busting up the stigma a little bit of diabetes, especially type 2, is that you don't fit the profile, a Marine veteran, you're a nurse, you work, you do all these things, and it sounds like you're very active. What would you like to say to people to help break up that stigma that this is a disease that, as you said, millions of people live with, and it can happen to anyone?

David Bernard, MSN, RN: There are obviously many factors that contribute to risk of people getting diabetes. And then, there's obviously the different types. when people look at diabetics. We've all probably have heard the term juvenile diabetes or type 1 diabetes. They don't really even call it juvenile anymore. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. There has been nothing that the person has done or can do to reverse their situation. it's obviously something that impacts them based on the fact that their body attacked their own pancreas.

And then, there are type 2 diabetics, which is a huge range. There are people that are relatively thin that end up with type 2 diabetes. And most people assume that type 2 diabetes is typically someone who's overweight. And while that may be the case in many instances, there's a lot of people that also struggle with weight that are not type 2 diabetic. In fact, their blood sugars are perfectly in check and normal. So, it's hard to break the stigma that people see this disease, and they automatically have stereotypes in their heads. And when someone gets this and has to live with this, there's also those same stereotypes. People become food police for them. And while healthy eating is good for diabetics, it's good for everybody. And there's good choices you can make. But some of the things that I would love to be able to talk about in the support group is getting good rest. There's studies that show that people that may eat healthy and may live an active lifestyle, but are not getting enough sleep can actually cause the onset of prediabetes and possibly diabetes just by not getting a good enough sleep every night.

Melanie Cole, MS: Isn't that interesting? And as you say, there are so many factors. And I think you really helped to break up some of that stigma. As you pointed out, it's not just for people that have weight issues, there are a number of reasons why someone becomes insulin-resistant and why someone has problems absorbing that blood glucose.

And as you said so rightly, type 1, Those beta cells in the pancreas, those have been destroyed or damaged. That's not something anybody could have done, lifestyle, anything like that. So, I think this support group is just so important to help people understand the disease because that way they are so much better health advocates for themselves. So, I'd like you to wrap it up, David, with your very best advice about the diabetes support group at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, what you'd really like them to know and take forward.

David Bernard, MSN, RN: Well, come and learn successful tactics for self-management of diabetes from those who are living with the risks. Come and talk about your struggles. Come and talk about the things that you're doing well and learn about some of the latest research, medications, technology that's available to really help mitigate the risks and live a good, healthy quality of life.

Melanie Cole, MS: Thank you so much, David, for joining us today and giving us so much usable information. I would imagine you are an excellent educator. Thank you again. And to learn more about the programs and support groups offered at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, please visit us at visit henrymayo.com/classes. You can also learn more at Henry Mayo's free online health library. So much great information there and you can really trust it. And that's found at library.henrymayo.com.

That concludes this episode of It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. Please always remember to subscribe, rate, and review. It's Your Health Radio on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, and Pandora. Until next time, I'm Melanie Cole.