Monday, June 18, 2007
State Health Department names Joslin Diabetes Center a Center of Excellence
Doretta Royer - 315-464-4833 - FAX: 315-464-4838
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Joslin Diabetes Center at SUNY Upstate Medical University has been designated as a Diabetes Center of Excellence by the New York State Department of Health. The center is located at 3229 E. Genesee St., in Syracuse.
Joslin is one of five hospital-based diabetes programs in New York State—and the only one between Albany and Buffalo—to receive this distinction. The other programs include those affiliated with the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, the Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, Albany Medical Center Hospital and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
“We are very excited to receive this distinction,” said Ruth Weinstock, M.D., Ph.D., medical director of the Joslin Diabetes Center and SUNY Upstate professor of medicine and chief of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at University Hospital. “It is evidence of our commitment to excellence in diabetes care and prevention.”
The designation was based on the ability of the Joslin team to help improve diabetes care and prevention efforts in our communities in Central and Northern New York.
“To compete for the distinction, we were asked to submit a five-year proposal that incorporates current research findings into innovative multidisciplinary collaborative approaches for prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of pre-diabetes and diabetes,” said Weinstock.
Joslin’s plan included several objectives that ultimately would result in meeting four goals. The goals are to:
• spearhead diabetes prevention and awareness efforts by participating in
initiatives aimed at decreasing overweight and obesity, emphasizing nutrition and physical activity directed activities and increasing awareness of diabetes, its risk factors and diagnostic criteria;
• provide educational programs to providers and staff to improve diabetes control in outpatient settings and improve adherence to practice guidelines;
• enhance provider knowledge about the significant interplay between diabetes and mental health problems and appropriate pyschosocial and behavior management intervention strategies to address this comorbidity; and
• improve the quality of care of patients with diabetes in University Hospital.
To meet its goals, the plan lists several objectives that include collaborations with community partners to coordinate, develop and begin to implement plans for obesity and diabetes awareness and prevention. The objectives also included developing and implementing provider education programs, the delivery of diabetes patient education group classes via telemedicine to distant sites and school-based telemedicine programs.
Also included in the plan was to begin the process of developing an innovative curriculum to be used to educate healthcare providers about how diabetes complicates psychological disorders and how psychological disorders complicate diabetes management.
-----Original Message-----
From: Whitehouse, Rachel
Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 12:26 PM
To: Eriksen, Jenny
Subject: FW: SUNY Affiliate feature article - Syracuse Post-Standard
Can you please include in Joslin in the News? Thanks.
-----Original Message-----
From: Morello, Richard
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 12:33 PM
To: Kimball, Ranch C.; O'Brien, Paul A.
Cc: Goodwin, Judith; Whitehouse, Rachel
Subject: FW: SUNY Affiliate feature article - Syracuse Post-Standard
As a follow up to our discussion on growing domestic affiliates, not sure you have seen this recent media piece on our Syracuse affiliate expanding. Interesting note on the grant they received from the state of NY for outreach. Another good question for our government strategy and finding ways to extend value for affiliates.
Rick
Richard J. Morello
COO, Strategic Initiatives
Joslin Diabetes Center
1 Joslin Place
Boston, MA 02215
(617) 226-5808
From: Maryniuk, Melinda
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 10:48 AM
To: Morello, Richard; Psacharopoulos, Daphne
Subject: FW: SUNY Affiliate feature article - Syracuse Post-Standard
This is a good piece you might like to see showing growth! :-)
-----Original Message-----
From: Eriksen, Jenny
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 9:59 AM
To: Affiliated Programs
Cc: Whitehouse, Rachel; Bright, Jeffrey
Subject: SUNY Affiliate feature article - Syracuse Post-Standard
June 2, 2007 Saturday
CENTER GROWS DUE TO SURGE IN DIABETES;
JOSLIN CENTER MOVES TO LARGER QUARTERS, GETS $500,000 STATE GRANT FOR OUTREACH. IT'S ON EAST GENESEE STREET.
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1
Business was so brisk at the Joslin Diabetes Center of SUNY Upstate Medical University, there were not enough exam rooms to see patients.
The center moved last month from downtown Syracuse to larger quarters at 3229 E. Genesee St., opposite Nottingham High School, to accommodate a surge in demand for services fueled by the diabetes epidemic.
The 16,794-square-foot building, the former home of Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists, is more than twice the size of the center's previous location in University Health Care Center, at 90 Presidential Plaza, where it operated since opening in 1995.
About 60 new patients are referred to the center each week. Since launching a pediatric program three years ago, the center's caseload of child and adolescent patients has grown from 500 to 850. The center has seen patients as young as 9 months old. It handles 16,000 patient visits annually, a number ex pected to grow 20 percent over the next year.
"When we opened, we didn't anticipate the epidemic of diabetes that has occurred since then," said Dr. Ruth Weinstock, the medical director.
The number of diabetics worldwide has grown from 30 million to 246 million over the past 20 years, the International Diabetes Foundation said.
In the United States, 21 million people, or 7 percent of the population, have diabetes, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Central New York, there are about 58,000 adults with diabetes, according to a study by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield.
Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy.
The cause of diabetes is a mystery, although both genetics and environmental factors such as obesity and lack of exercise appear to play roles. About 80 percent of people with Type 2 diabetes, the most prevalent type, are obese, Weinstock said.
"As obesity and sedentary lifestyles have increased, the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes has increased," she said.
Diabetes is a leading cause of blindness, amputations in adults and kidney failure. Many people with diabetes die of heart attacks and strokes.
"The good news is there are many ways now we can hopefully prevent complications," Weinstock said.
Upstate opened the center as the 11th of what are 25 affiliates of the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, which is affiliated with Harvard Medical School. Under one roof, the center provides diabetics with comprehensive services such as nutrition education, counseling, podiatry services and a staff of adult and pediatric endocrinologists.
"Diabetes affects every organ in the body," she said. "It's a disease of self-management."
Now that it has more space, the center expects to expand teleconferencing so people far away can take its patient education classes. The center has a teleconference site in Oswego and hopes to add sites in the North Country, Weinstock said.
It also has a new telemedicine project that allows staff to consult with schools in the region.
"We can train school staff so they know how to recognize if the child's blood sugar is going too low," she said.
The Joslin Center is involved in research projects, including a study aimed at determining the best treatment for people 10 to 17 years old with Type 2 diabetes. It's also studying if there's a relationship between environmental pollutants and diabetes.
The state Health Department recently designated Joslin a diabetes center of excellence, one of five in the state and the only one in Central New York. As part of that designation, the state is providing the center a grant of $500,000 over five years to support its outreach efforts and other programs.
James T. Mulder can be reached at 470-2245 or jmulder@syracuse.com
