Getting ready again: Mission trip home

It’s that time again! We are starting preparations for our upcoming Patsy Douglas Diabetes Mission Trip to St Vincent, which will occur this year between March 12 and 16.{{more}}

As we have done in the past, we will be visiting various clinics around the island, with our main goals being to provide supplies to the clinics, education to the public, and collegial consultation with the amazing medical teams based in St Vincent.

The past two years that I have been privileged to be a part of this team have shown me many things, some encouraging and some concerning. We have seen the dedication of medical personnel, who see many, many patients on a daily basis without fail. We have seen patients who are loyal in taking medications, following advice and thus seen improvements even when they may not have all the tools at their immediate disposal. Last year we were encouraged to see more and more clinics teaching appropriate diabetic foot care, and patients FOLLOWING the advice!

Many of you may not know this, but we are actively following patients in the hope that we will see a decrease in the frequency of how often a foot infection develops, and then how often it leads to an amputation of any kind. Amputations are devastating at any time, in any country. St Vincent has an extremely high loss associated with amputations. Our goal is to lower this, person by person, year after year.

We have been met with great turnouts at the clinics and last year at the health fair as well. Thank you in advance for all your participation! And thank you also for your honesty in sharing both your victories and struggles with diabetes in your own lives, or those of your family members.

In preparation for our trip, please let us know what your thoughts are about the trip: what we can do to help more, what you think we should change, add, stop? We want this trip to be better and better every year!

Until next week, stay safe and healthy Vincies!

Anita Ramsetty, MD endodocs@endocrinehelp.com

Medical Director Endocrine Care Group

www.endocrinehelp.com

Tel: 843-798-4227