Diabetes Treatment
Cumberland’s Diabetes Management Program is guided by sensitivity to the developmental needs of children and adolescents. The program provides opportunities to gain positive peer support by interacting with other children who face similar physical, emotional and social challenges. Patients are discharged with feelings of accomplishment and success. They realize they are individuals who happen to have diabetes rather than perceiving themselves as oddities within their peer group.
Adolescents with poorly controlled diabetes compounded by emotional challenges face significant risks. Since 1983, Cumberland Hospital has responded to these unique challenges by pairing an inpatient medical program with a therapeutic behavioral program designed to treat underlying emotional issues and increase self-care capabilities for adolescents with diabetes.
Our Diabetes Management Program is designed to break the cycle of repeated emergency room visits, hospitalizations and school absences resulting from a poor self-care regimen.
Cumberland’s multi-disciplinary approach incorporates pediatric/adolescent medicine, psychology, nursing, physical and recreational therapy, diet and nutrition, social work and education. By integrating these disciplines, Cumberland’s Diabetes Management Program can help by:
- Stabilizing medical problems
- Addressing behavioral management issues such as medical non-adherence
- Educating the patient on diet and self-care techniques
- Helping the family cope effectively with the child’s chronic illness
- Reducing the likelihood of repeated hospitalizations
- Transition planning with home and community resources including, when appropriate, use of an insulin pump
Most patients who come to our Diabetes Management Program are considered difficult-to-treat. This program is capable of treating:
- Patients who have been unsuccessful in less intensive programs
- Patients whose concurrent mental health issues have impeded treatment of other medical conditions
- Patients who continue to exhibit threatening complications despite repeated efforts to manage their diabetes via both inpatient and outpatient interventions.
- Patients who have diabetes complicated by eating disorders.