Who is the AADE Kidding?

I had some very mixed feelings when Lee at LifeAfterDx – CGM Chronicles made his post of August 15, 2010. He did an excellent analysis of the AADE (American Association of Diabetes Educators) and their white paper (AADE discussion is about two thirds down the page). Be sure to read his entire blog as he has the experience to speak to this.

I had read the white paper put forth by the AADE. While I was wondering what was being fed to us and whether to believe the white paper, Lee made his post. Talk about removing the haze. While their paper sounds good, further analysis reveals how little they think of Community Health Workers (CHW's). The white paper on the surface appears to have a place for CHW's, but when read carefully, it is not hard to see how they want to actually demote these people to almost no responsibility and almost servitude to promote their own importance and create more prestige for their titles so they can charge more for their services. I do not want to be a part of this charade.

They want CHW's to serve as liaison personnel between the CDE's and the patients and the community in general. Nothing is said about what CHW's will do for assisting or educating the people diagnosed with diabetes. It seems, by the white papers, that this is reserved for the CDE's. Yes, they want to force education on the CHW's, but won't say what type of education, the requirements and amount of education, or even if this will be something the CHW's can use.

I am happy in one respect that the Academic community is working with volunteers in a peer to peer groups and making a success of this. This shows that there is an honest need to help outside the AADE. This also suggests that the AADE is short of people and may be falling short in their responsibilities.

As such I will continue to question the sincerity of the AADE and forget about any hopes I may have had. A group that is so wrapped up in their own importance will get no respect from me.