The Diabetes Educator
Behind the Site

My name is Bev Madrick. I'm a certified diabetes educator and registered dietitian who also happens to have diabetes. I trained in Toronto, have been practicing for 17 years and have also had diabetes for . . .wait, wait, . . . I'm still counting. Ah, yes - 33 years.

What else? Well over the years as a dietitian and educator I've . . .

• Helped author national nutrition guidelines in Canada.
• Been a steering committee member in the development of the 1998 Clinical Practice Guidelines in Canada.
• Helped regionalize diabetes services in a city of close to a million.
• Sat on provincial board of directors for the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA).
• Sat on National Nutrition Committee for the CDA.
• Sat on National Publications Committee for the CDA.
• Given oodles of public talks across Canada (sorry, I've lost count)
• Designed diabetes self-assessment classes.
• Developed innovative self-management tools.
• Survived clicker training a rat terrier with an attitude - twice. Cause he failed the first time. (Completely irrelevant to diabetes, I know, but it is a feat in itself. Trust me.)

As a diabetes educator I've helped thousands of people hone their own skills to manage their own diabetes (with no clicker training!). And just like other diabetes educators, I like helping people find their own solutions. Probably because I like the feeling of solving my own diabetes problems. Nothing is better. (Well, okay, chocolate is better. But luckily, I've solved that problem. I can eat real chocolate and still get good blood sugars - thank goodness.)

I started this website because I wanted to offer people help in answering two questions:

"I'm checking my blood sugars . . . So now what?"

"What else can I do to lower my blood sugar?"

I hope this site is able to help with the answers.

What makes this diabetes educator tick?

• Everyone has the right to good blood sugars AND a good quality of life. You might not get them, but dammit, you have the right to them. (Sorry for the cuss. I'm pretty passionate about quality of life. After all, isn't that why you and I are doing all this work in the first place? To avoid complications and maintain quality of life. )
• There is no perfect person (my apologies to Cindy Crawford). You don't need to be perfect to get great sugar levels.
• What you want for you is more important that what I, as a diabetes educator, want for you.
• Asking for help is a way of ACTing to take control.
• There is always choice. Not always the ideal choice - but hopefully informed choice. It is yours to make.You are the driver.
• "The diabetic who knows the most will live the longest." Dr. E.P. Joslin - The first diabetes educator. I'd need to add that "knows the most" more than ever means that the person "knows the most about how to apply the knowledge to his/her life. "
• Humor helps.

So here you have it. This site.

As you read the articles on this site please remember that I am not counseling you specifically. Please check with your physician before making changes to your diabetes management program and please read the disclaimer.

You will find various stories on this site. Don't worry. None of them are you. (Or maybe you wish they were you because of the success reported in the stories). I'm reporting on methods used to manage blood sugars not the people. I've been careful not to mention or refer to characteristics of real patients individually and yes, I adjust the stories. But not the results. If someone got better blood sugars by walking 10 minutes then yes, it happened. But the circumstances around the story and the characters around the story are changed. Unless I'm reporting about myself. Then every crazy detail is true.

Good luck and good health!

Bev

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