Your Diabetes Health-Care Team

Take a Team Approach

For nearly 40 years, Ronda Menke has been the main strategist in her fight against diabetes. She's taken a hands-on approach, surrounding herself with a team of capable professionals, including a general practitioner, endocrinologist, dietitian, nurse, and pharmacist.

"You can't afford to just be a patient," says Ronda, 57, an associate professor of journalism at Drake University in Des Moines. "You know your own body, and you have to take care of your own health."

Ronda was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1969, and for 20 years her family doctor, an internal medicine specialist, was the go-to person for her care. She eventually added an endocrinologist to her roster, and now she depends on both a primary care physician and an endocrinologist as her main lines of defense. "We're a team," Ronda says.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) supports Ronda's strategy, advising a team approach coordinated by a physician (see "Your Team Roster," right), who can be a family doctor or an endocrinologist. What's most important is that all aspects of your diabetes be regularly monitored and treated, says John Buse, M.D., Ph.D., president for Medicine and Science at the ADA and professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. This includes diabetes education, lifestyle counseling, regular management of blood glucose and medications, and screening for complications, including eye and foot problems and dental disease. "The key is for the person with diabetes to be well informed and fully engaged in their care," Buse says.