Everyone falls off now and then. Foronda is this year's winner of the Diabetes Educator of the Year award from the Hawaii Association of Diabetes Educators. The award follows an achievement by her employer, Maui Medical Group, which won national recognition from the American Diabetes Association last November for the Maui group's diabetes education program. While diabetes has no cure and the numbers of patients with the condition are especially high in Hawaii, Foronda stresses that it is treatable.
Diabetics can lead normal lives.
There are times though that even the educated diabetic can falter by not applying correct medication, by eating the wrong foods and by failing to exercise. Foronda typically sees 12 to 15 patients a day, giving them instructions and answering their questions an average of 30 minutes per visit. More complicated cases take 45 minutes to an hour. It's time that physicians just can't afford to give to patients. Foronda credits Dr. Deborah Mathias for creating and supporting the award-winning diabetes education program at Maui Medical Group, and Mathias returns the praise to Foronda and her work.