Marge Gagnon, RN, MS, is a Clinical Nurse Specialist and the Executive Director of the Rose Women’s Care Services  http://www.therosewomenscareservice.org/.  As a health care professional and someone who has been diagnosed with diabetes, Marge  has a unique perspective.  Marge shares how she dealt with the disease: “Yes, I’m a health educator, but my own personal journey was the most important thing that happened to me when I found out I was a diabetic.  It put me on a new life’s journey and made me realize in a very personal way how important it was for people take to charge of their disease, rather than to have the disease take control of them.  Since then I have become much healthier. 

“I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but yes, I am healthier today than before I developed diabetes.  By changing lifestyle choices I have become healthier, and I believe that most people can do that.  How? I totally changed my eating pattern. This put me on a path of discovering what works for me as an individual.  As a practitioner, it put me on a mission of helping people to avoid diabetes. If you are at risk with pre-diabetes, it is possible to circumvent or delay getting diabetes. It’s one of the reasons I’m involved with NAPSACC (Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care) www.creatinghealthyplacesulster.org/index.html and the Healthy Afterschool Snack Committee www.healthykingston.org."

“There’s a strong link between cardiac disease and diabetes. For that reason, I am  involved in outreach for the American Heart Association’s Simple Seven Program http://mylifecheck.heart.org. There’s also the Diabetes Conversation Maps:  http://www.healthyinteractions.com, as well as The Nurse Is In program where I lead monthly table discussion in RUPCO’s senior housing.” 

The Diabetes Education Center is  located at 37 Albany Avenue, Kingston, NY.
Call (845) 334-4249 for an appointment or go to http://www.hahv.org/ www.hahv.org for detailed list of services.