support group

Last Saturday, my wife reminded me that the Diabetic Support Group meeting was Monday of this week; she had heard about this meeting at the Excel Advisory Group meeting. (My wife is a community volunteer who attends monthly Group meetings to help give Excel Corp "the pulse of the community".) Excel has a lot of "Latino" employees and Excel mentioned the diabetic support group meeting. (None of their employees have ever attended.)

I arrived early and took a good seat (the room was empty) and was reading a novel when I realized someone else was in the room. A lady from a nearby town had come in and we talked in general. About 15 minutes after the meeting was to start, we both realized the facilitator wasn't coming and got up and left.

This was the second month in a roll I had been stood up.

I hope the diabetic educator (Veronica) is well and I hope this support group hasn't folded like

• the three I know of at the Dodge City hospital since May 2004 and
• the group at the Mexican American Ministry on north F street and
  
• the Senior Center which was holding monthly meetings and had free A1C screenings each month. They quit both shortly after I joined when I turned 55 and joined.
  

I don't know what all help a support group can give me and have to wonder if this isn't a problem for group "facilitators". I remember a Navy training course that talked about a trainer/teacher picking material suited for the audience. i.e. A division training petty officer should not teach material meant for Seamen or PO3 to the PO2 or PO1 since this would bore the PO2 and PO1 and should not teach highly technical material meant for the PO2 or PO1 since this could be over the heads of the Seamen or PO3. (Note: Seaman, PO3, PO2 and PO1 are US Navy enlisted ranks.)

So, what can a support group teach? Maybe a support group facilitator could discuss what is to come for each member and allow diabetics the chance to "vent" around folks who have the same problems? Discussions of drug reactions and "eating good" always seem to interest members.  I know this lady (mentioned above) is far more familiar with my "issues" than my wife is as my wife is not diabetic...