AgriLife Extension takes diabetes education into rural Texas
A five-session program reaches communities where chronic disease hits hard and prevention matters most
More than 3.2 million Texas adults live with diabetes, and rates run highest in rural communities least equipped to manage the fallout – kidney disease, vision loss, heart disease – that strain families and local health systems already stretched thin.
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service is working to close the gap. It’s Do Well, Be Well with Diabetes program takes diabetes prevention and management education directly to Texans.
“We aim to equip participants with tools, knowledge, resources and support,” said Heidi Fowler, a registered dietician and AgriLife Extension program specialist with the Department of Nutrition in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “These classes really serve as support groups in order to further their knowledge and their success in their journey with diabetes.”
Reaching communities at greatest risk
The five-session curriculum was developed with information and insight based on the American Diabetes Association’s Standards of Care. The classes cover nutrition, blood glucose management, helpful resources, physical activity, medications, problem-solving and coping skills.
The ultimate goals are to minimize risk of complications and thus increase healthy years of life. A recent revision shortened the series to 10 hours, sharpening its focus on participant experience and making it easier to fit into busy schedules.
Fowler said the program emphasizes small, sustainable lifestyle changes over dramatic overhauls.
“We’re hoping that by intervening with this class, we can encourage people to make small changes, small steps,” she said. “Those have been proven to be more sustainable over time when we can stack positive changes together.”
Access Do Well, Be Well with Diabetes programming
Texans who cannot attend in person can access Do Well, Be Well with Diabetes through a self-paced online module available for $30 with one year of access.
Accessibility shapes every aspect of the program’s delivery and keeps the approach simple by removing every barrier possible, said Joel Redus, AgriLife Extension family and community health agent in Angelina County.
“We make it very accessible, going where people are,” he said. “The cost is very low, and if someone doesn’t have $20, we offer a scholarship. We don’t want anybody to not come because they can’t afford it.”
Redus co-teaches the class with Ann Watson, a registered nurse and public health educator. Redus covers all the nutrition topics. Watson covers many of the other topics, including monitoring glucose and other health markers, medication, and working with one’s healthcare provider.
“We’ll go anywhere,” Redus said. “We’ve gone to schools, churches, health clinics, different community centers, just wherever to try to make it easier for people to come and for them to feel comfortable.”
Texans who cannot attend in person can access Do Well, Be Well with Diabetes through a self-paced online module available for $30 with one year of access.
Turning education into healthier habits
Participants often arrive scared and overwhelmed, convinced they can no longer eat “real food” or live normally. Redus said watching that fear dissolve is one of the most rewarding parts of the work.
“One big thing that people get out of it is they feel empowered,” Redus said. “A lot of them come in really confused and scared, but then they realize they can make this a lifestyle that works for them.”
Those individual changes often produce immediate results.
“Every class, there’s somebody that’s like, ‘Hey, I started doing this. My blood sugar’s better already. I’m feeling better,'” Redus said.
Sometimes the impact spreads beyond the individual. After completing the program, one cohort in Brazos County started its own walking group, a grassroots wellness effort that grew directly from what participants learned in class.
That kind of outcome is central to the program’s purpose, not just informing people, but helping communities build healthier habits that last, Fowler said.
