Clemson Rural Health Launches Diabetes Management Program in Midlands

Clemson Rural Health is delivering a new diabetes management program in Orangeburg, South Carolina, and surrounding counties through $600,000 in funding from the BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation.

Type 2 diabetes disproportionately affects adults in rural South Carolina, where food insecurity, limited health care access and barriers to care affect health outcomes. In Orangeburg, Bamberg, Barnwell, and Calhoun counties, adults experience elevated rates of diabetes, prediabetes, obesity, and hypertension, along with limited access to primary care and low health literacy.

The new ManageTogether CONNECTED (Community Outreach and iNtegrated Nutrition, Education and Coordinated Treatment for Expanded Diabetes management) program builds upon the original ManageTogether program’s success in providing adults with the necessary tools to manage and prevent type 2 diabetes across the region – ultimately, transforming health outcomes in rural communities.

The program incorporates recruitment and engagement strategies to improve participation, strengthen diabetes self-management and reduce complications across underserved rural communities, including the use of a “high touch” community health worker model.

Working with a multidisciplinary team, the community health worker will serve as the primary community presence and patient contact, bridging gaps between clinical intervention, social determinants of health and individual needs. Through these efforts, the program is expected to recruit 200 patients and generate approximately 15,830 direct patient interactions with a nurse practitioner, registered dietitian, registered nurse, and community health worker over the three-year grant period.

This comprehensive model will utilize continuous glucose monitors, remote patient monitoring, produce prescription boxes, medical nutrition therapy, clinical coordination, and diabetes self-management education to empower participants to control their blood sugar and reduce their risk for diabetes-related complications.

The original ManageTogether program was created after local leaders reported that this region has the highest rate of diabetes-related amputations in South Carolina. After its first three years of funding, 70 percent of its 493 participants experienced a clinically significant decrease in A1c levels. Fourth-year reporting and final findings will be published later this year.

“The results from ManageTogether showed us that intensive, personalized support works,” said Caitlin Moore, DNP, Clemson Rural Health’s associate director for clinical operations and principal investigator on the project. “CONNECTED allows us to pair evidence-based interventions with the kind of hands-on coordination that rural patients often cannot access anywhere else.”