Ana Monteagudo, a diabetes educator nurse at the General Hospital of Elda, yesterday received the nursing activity award at the Health and 2010 Society Awards gala, convened by the Department of Sanitat to stimulate and reinforce a health system that allows you to disseminate and recognize publiclyThe work of professionals, health institutions and organizations committed to citizens' attention.
Through this award, the Health and Society Awards recognized the activity developed since 1986 by Ana Monteagudo in the field of nursing and, specifically, as a diabetes educator of the Elda General Hospital.
For 25 years, Monteagudo has been responsible for teaching patients with diabetes to control their disease.This professional explains that he began to carry out this work in what was then the ambulatory of Father Manjón, and then in the same specialties center, until in 2001 he arrived at the Elda hospital.
Diabetes is a chronic disease that currently affects 13% of the population of the Valencian Community.And although it is characterized by high blood sugar levels, in the long term it can cause other diseases, with complications in eyes, nerves, kidneys or feet.It is precisely here that education in diabetes charges a special relevance, an action that must be performed from the moment of diagnosis so that the patient knows how to handle his illness.
From the moment of diagnosis, Ana Monteagudo offers patients the necessary tools to self -care.The educator explains that "living with diabetes demands learning and when the diabetic is able to control her illness, she is able to live better."
The great impact that the diagnosis of a chronic disease such as diabetes isAttention to users and relatives.Therefore, it begins its educational program from the beginning, in order to control the symptoms of the disease, improve lifestyles and control adherence to treatment and blood glucose levels.
The educater of the Elda Hospital was selected for recognition between three nominations.Lola Bernabeu, a neonatology nurse at Hospital La Fe, and Josefa García, midwife of the General Hospital of Castellón, were the other two professionals nominated for the Nursing Activity Award.
The Department of Sanitat grants the Health and Society Awards to hospital services, health centers, professionals, researchers and companies that exercise their work in the field of public health of the Valencian Community, as well as the associations of patients who carry out theirActivity in this territorial scope.