Local partnership brings life-changing diabetes education to Alma residents
Print
EmailMSU Extension and the Lions Club partner to help a group of Gratiot County residents gain the tools and confidence they need to manage their health.
“She just left it there — had no other feedback and let me leave the office,” said Sherida Burch, recalling the moment she was diagnosed by a nurse practitioner with diabetes in December 2023.
The practitioner, Burch remembers, told her that her only option would be injection treatments.
“I was so upset, but then I got myself together and said I needed to be educated.”
But in the small town of Alma, Michigan, patients like Burch who are looking for help managing their diabetes are often met with a long waiting list for the only educator in the area.
Recognizing this need, the St. Louis/Alma Lions Club reached out to Michigan State University Extension in late 2024 to bring diabetes education directly to the community.
“Our model for Lions Club is ‘we serve,’” said Tom Doyle, past Lions Club district governor. “If we can partner with an organization like MSU Extension to help people access these programs, it’s going to better the healthcare outcomes of these communities and serve people who need it.”
MSU Extension offers a variety of chronic disease and diabetes prevention and management, from Dining With Diabetes to the Sleep Education for Everyone Program. Particularly in rural Michigan, these community-based health programs often help bridge the divide between diagnosis and daily management.
“Many of these communities just don’t have access to all the resources they need to be healthy,” said Holly Tiret, MSU Extension health educator. Alongside fellow MSU Extension health educators Sheilah Hebert and Tanner Derror, Tiret helped the group in Alma start a small, in-person diabetes self-management course.
The course was part of the Personal Action Toward Health (PATH) curriculum, which has a specialized module for diabetes management called Diabetes PATH (D-PATH). D-PATH delivers evidence-based education to people living with diabetes, with a focus on self-management skills, goal setting, and peer support.
While enrollment was initially low, the participants themselves recruited more people to meet the attendance threshold for an in-person course — a reflection of their strong desire for education and support.
Throughout the six-week course, participants gained not only self-management tools but also a sense of solidarity. Burch said her favorite parts of the class were the group discussions, which she credits with everything from support to meal planning ideas.
“The instructor would ask us about the different things we could do in a certain circumstance, or the different emotions you’d feel when your sugar is out of whack, and we would all troubleshoot together,” she said. “Thinking out loud, working that out with other people who understand what you’re going through was just so excellent.”
By the final session, not one participant had dropped out— a testament to the value participants like Burch found in the class.
“I have more knowledge now,” said Burch, who has since lowered her A1C from 6.5 down to 5.8. “I’m more careful. I can see where I need to get a vegetable in. I’ve learned about foot care, wound healing, and things you don’t think about or know. I’ve learned so much.”
To learn more about MSU Extension’s chronic disease programs, visit our Chronic Disease website. To explore more health education efforts across Michigan, visit our Success Stories page on our Food & Health website.
