Diabetics can live life without limits. All they need to do is educate themselves properly. To plug this need for knowledge, pharmaceuticals major Johnson & Johnson launched the ?country?s first diabetes educators? centre? in Calcutta on Friday to ensure better management of the dreaded disease, which now afflicts one out of 10 people in the city.

Housed at 3, Wood Street, the Diabetes Education Centre, being run by LifeScan, the medical division of Johnson & Johnson specialising in the field of self-monitoring and blood glucose devices, will propagate the ?Intensive Diabetes Management? scheme, incorporating latest management techniques.

?Awareness is the key in this exercise and we are really looking at the four golden steps to better glycemic control ? collect information, set targets, select therapy and reassess info,? stresses Darryl M. Nomura, senior manager, medical education & professional relations, LifeScan.

Nomura has flown down from California to anchor a three-day orientation programme for a batch of 140 nurses from Kerala, who will serve as patient educators at the Wood Street centre. Diabetics can walk into the clinic for structured inputs on self-monitoring and management, to be administered by the nurse educators ?adept in communication?. The only document required is a doctor?s prescription recommending diabetes education for the patient.

?The number of diabetologists and endocrinologists is finite and grossly inadequate for the vast multitude of diabetic patients walking the streets here. Naturally, doctors are hard-pressed for time to understand the psychological environment of the patient and his/her lifestyle factors. This is where the nurse educator comes into the picture,? explains Nomura.

The educators at LifeScan?s city centre will be trained to weave treatment regimens prescribed by the doctor into the patient?s fabric of life. ?One can only do that by understanding the concern of each patient, by listening. The educator will strive to unravel the enigma and find out what the blockages are. Our aim is to meet the needs of the physician, the captain of the team,? says Nomura.

Subhankar Chowdhury, head of the endocrinology department, SSKM Hospital, admits diabetologists often don?t have the time to analyse the patient psychologically. ?This education centre can help in psychological counselling of those patients who feel intimidated by the requirement of constant monitoring or are not receptive to medical advice,? he observes.