The Central Peninsula has a new diabetes center, inspired by community demand. The facility is focused on combining prescriber care and education in one place to make diabetes care and management easier to access.
The center officially opened back in October, in a Soldotna building across the street from Central Peninsula Hospital, which runs the facility. The medical staff is made up of Diabetes Care and Education Nurse Crystal Allen and Nurse Practitioner Anya Boutwell.
People with diabetes often manage their care with an endocrinologist, but there are none on the central peninsula. Instead, patients will work with their primary care provider, but Boutwell said the center now offers something unique: a one-stop-shop for diabetes medical care and educational resources.
“We wanted to make sure that our patients — people that live with diabetes and their caregivers — can have a resource that encompasses both education and prescribing, and have the ability to collaborate with their primary care providers or endocrinologists, but have the care right here at home,” she said.
In a 2022 community needs assessment by the hospital, diabetes was identified as a primary need in the community, which inspired the opening of the facility. Allen said the prevalence of diabetes on the central peninsula is similar to that across the country — about 10% of people. But the rate of prediabetes is much higher, about 38%, and most people who have it don't know.
The center’s model is inspired by larger ones elsewhere in the country that combine prescribers and education along with pharmacists, dietitians, social workers and therapists. Allen works with patients one-on-one to review their goals with diabetes monitoring or lifestyle. In Alaska, she said, there are some place-specific risk factors.
“Food insecurity is one thing that is an Alaskan concern sometimes, and does play into the healthy food choices that are available for people locally,” Allen said. “And then in the built environment, just the inability sometimes to get out and really recreate, get that physical activity in daily, can be difficult in the Alaskan winters, and it’s something you really have to be diligent to make a priority in your life.”
Boutwell said the diabetes care industry and medications are always evolving, and the center wants patients to access the cutting edge. The center is also screening all new patients for a phenomenon called diabetes distress, the emotional response and stress often associated with the condition. Boutwell said that’s another unique feature of getting care at a diabetes-specific center.
“So we assess for that, and we try to address it the best we can, hoping that by having patients come here who are really distressed, and diabetes overwhelms them, that we can make a difference and kind of help them cope a little bit better,” she said.
The center has an on-site lab and can do A1C and glucose testing. Boutwell said because seeking diabetes care can often feel intimidating, the center is designed to be a welcoming environment.
“There are going to be patients that are referred here that struggle with diabetes management and they think there’s probably some worry, whether I’m going to come in and this is going to be hard, or it’s going to be somehow threatening. And we want to completely dismantle that,” she said. “We’re just here to support the patients exactly where they are, and look at their goals, and we want to make sure that they’re really comfortable and feel welcome.”
The center also offers support for caregivers of people with diabetes. Often, that’s parents of young children who have diabetes, which Boutwell said can be a stressful and lonely experience.
Looking forward to the future of the center, Allen and Boutwell said their goals are to offer good care and let the community of diabetes patients and providers know the resource exists. They want to host group education classes, attend health fairs and to be a resource to school nurses, something Allen has already begun to do.
The center recommends taking a basic diabetes risk assessment test at diabetes.org/diabetes-risk-test.
The center celebrated its grand opening Monday afternoon. To learn more about the new center, visit cpgh.org.
