The Corner Booth

The healthcare professionals formerly known as “diabetes educators” will henceforth be referred to as “Diabetes Care and Education Specialists” (DCES). This was the biggest news coming out of the mid-August 2019 annual meeting of the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE), the professional org that will also be changing its name soon as well to fit with this rebranding effort. That new name: Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists (ADCES). It’s all part of something called Project Vision , a multi-year plan to define and refresh the roles, capabilities and care priorities of its roughly 14,000 members nationwide. This effort dates back to at least two years ago, when the organization realized that something had to be done to address the tides of change in diabetes education. Yes, We Said “Rebranding” The announcement of the new job title by current AADE President Karen Kemmis on the first day of the #AADE19 conference was met with some en...

The American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) is remaking itself in recent years, under new leadership that's far more "plugged in" to patients' real challenges and new technologies/online activity than ever before.  This professional org, historically focused inward on the careers of its ~ 14,000 members, has come into the spotlight of patient advocacy in recent years with the growing recognition that these folks are on the front lines of diabetes care, as their role is to offer PWDs practical real-world advice. Thanks to some key individuals -- notably 2016 AADE president Hope Warshaw, new 2018 president Donna Ryan , and CEO Charles Macfarlane -- the org is getting serious about embracing peer support and collaborating with the DOC (Diabetes Online Community). They've recently taken three important steps to make this a reality: Revamping their National Standards to emphasize that "peer support paired with diabetes self-management ed...