Melissa Moore (L), of Perry County, and Ashley Webb, System Diabetes Education Coordinator with Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH)
To help spread awareness of this tricky truth, March 26, 2024 is national Diabetes Alert Day, an annual call for all of us to think about our diabetes risk: whether it’s how we’re managing diabetes, if we have it—or, if we don’t, some ways we can hopefully keep it that way!
And for this year’s Diabetes Alert Day, we partnered with WMMT radio in Whitesburg, Ky., for a special episode of WMMT’s public affairs show Mountain Talk that’s all about managing diabetes here in eastern Kentucky.
In this program (push play above to listen), we sit down with Perry County resident Melissa Moore, who’s a living example of how diabetes can sometimes show up unannounced. As she shares, Melissa had no idea she had type 2—or even high blood sugar levels at all—until she went in for a routine checkup with her doctor a few years ago. As she says, “It was shocking… and I was fairly active, so I never would’ve thought.”
But, Melissa’s diagnosis was not the end of her diabetes story. Also present for our conversation is Ashley Webb, a diabetes educator with Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH). After Melissa’s diagnosis, Ashley worked with her to make some small changes to Melissa’s daily routine, particularly around her eating and exercise habits.
And these small changes have had a huge payoff for her blood sugar. As Melissa says, “I’ve had so much success with my A1C coming down— it’s been a godsend!”
In this conversation, we hear the story of Melissa’s diabetes journey, all the way from that surprise diagnosis to now, as she puts it: “just feeling better, period.”