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First of all, I would like to Express my gratitude to all the members of the Executive Committee: Dr. Alessandra Baldelli, Ms. Aline Lasserre-Moutet, Dr. Anna Majchrzak, Dr. Conxa Castell, Mr. Godfrey Xuereb, Dr. Helen Mosnier-Pudar, Ms. Maria-Despina Varakla and Ms. Sari Härmä-Rodriguez; to the DESG Members and the DESG Secretariat for their dedication and commitment to the Diabetes Education Study Group Project.
I would like to dedicate a special word of gratitude to the founder of the DESG, Prof. Jean Philippe Assal, from whom I have always received so much encouragement and support.
I also want to give a special thanks to the Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Institute for all the support that the DESG has received from the moment they became our sponsors, by the end of 2008, in particular to Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu, President of the J&J Diabetes Institute, to Dr. David Horwitz and to Mr. Herwig Fleerackers, for their continuous and remarkable availability and generosity.
Obviously, I couldn’t continue without showing my appreciation to Servier, and particularly to Dr. Jean Philippe Seta, Mrs. Laurence Alliot and Dr. Sylvain Gaudron for their generous and unconditional support to the DESG for so many years. We don’t forget their major importance to the DESG development.
In this transition year, the DESG activities were focused mainly in the Sesimbra Workshop and the first DESG/J&JDI shared meeting.
In connection with the need for an easier transition in the DESG Presidency, a decision was taken during the General Assembly in Sesimbra to alter our statutes and the position of President-Elect was created. At the Sesimbra meeting Mr. Godfrey Xuereb was unanimously nominated and acclaimed for this position.
WORKSHOP OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS
The 2009 Annual Workshop of the General Committee Members took place from 14th to 17th January, in a Portuguese fisherman village, called Sesimbra. In the workshop entitled “The Consultation”, the 70 participants from 27 countries were able to go through the six steps of the consultation: The Encounter, Knowing the other, Building the Relationship, Mutual Understanding, Strategies for the Decision and The Separation.
The represented countries were: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States of America. All presentations and some of the photos of the event are available on the DESG website.
THE PARIS DESG/JJDI SHARED MEETING
The first DESG/JJDI Shared Meeting took place in Paris, on the 3rd and 4th July 2009. The covered theme was “How online trends and tools can endorse healthcare and improve quality of life”. Twenty nine participants attended this Meeting and shared the importance of this kind of meetings in the future.
THE DESG NEWSLETTER
The 8th issue was launched in September and the 9th will be released hopefully until the beginning of 2010.
After three years, the structure was changed and the discussion about its future format must be wider. Besides the note from the President, the news from TPE initiatives and the summary of the abstracts concerning TPE, we must reach a larger number of new initiatives. The entire newsletter is assembled by members of the DESG who share their experience and we will be more than happy to publish any news of the activities, meetings and initiatives of the DESG Members.
This Newsletter is sent by e-mail to all of the DESG members, about 450 e-mail contacts from our contact list. The update of the members’ contacts has been one of the main continuous tasks that require a considerable effort and unfortunately is far from being completed. The role of the General Committee members must be also to help us in this task. The contact list will be sent to all the members of the GC so they can update it and insert new members of the DESG.
DESG WEBSITE
The website is functioning, although still with some difficulties running updates. Despite this inconvenient, the website has proven to be a privilege tool of communication and material diffusion.
Everytime new translated material is given to us by DESG members, we make it available on our website accordingly. We continue to manage to offer our visitors a large amount of educational contents but we are still working on the organization of the website itself.
Apart from this educational material, we have available for download important documents like the second upgraded version of the WHO Working Group Report called “A Citizen's Guide to Chronic Disease Care”, directed by Prof. J.-Ph. Assal, which production was sponsored by the DESG. We will have the French version available as soon as possible.
We realized that we had more than 208 000 visits since September 2008, about 37% from the United States, 37% from the European Union countries, also 2% from India, 1,7% from Australia, 1% from Brazil and 3,6% from the rest of the world.
We are now working to improve the website through an effort to update all the contents and to find a new layout solution for all the DESG materials.
TEACHING LETTERS
During 2009 the DESG will launch the Teaching Letter Nº 38 – “Diabetes and Depression” – which Editorial board was led by Dr. Carlos Góis, a psychiatrist of the Portuguese team from the APDP. The Teaching Letter is now ready and is only awaiting the new layout.
The two Teaching Letters “Diabetes and Catastrophes” and “Diabetes Education in Acute Care Center” are still being worked.
The Teaching Letters edition and publication is being held by the need we have felt to find a new visual solution to make them more attractive and easier to read. We are working with JJDI on the releasing of the Teaching Letters as Visualized Interactive Teaching Letters.
The project to publish an updated version of the nine old Teaching Letters is not forgotten and hinges on the availability of any specialized journal to publish it, since the Practical Diabetes International budget proposal was considerably above the DESG possibilities. Any suggestion on this matter will be appreciated.
REGARDING THE EASD
The DESG has now established itself as a regular participant in the Association’s Village of the EASD meeting. As in previous year, the DESG has its own booth on the 45th EASD Meeting in Vienna, where contacts are made with people asking for information and showing interest in collaborating with the DESG. We are trying to compromise the DESG Members to help us giving life to our booth.
NEW MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Ms. Maria-Despina Varakla’s mandate expires this year and after one year sharing the position, Dr Anna Majchrazk will be take place as Honorary Secretary.
Dr Alessandra Baldelli’s terms will expire this year and Dr Ina Stafie will be proposed for her place.
The Executive Committee will be then restructured as follows:
Dr José-Manuel Boavida (President)
Mr. Godfrey Xuereb (President-Elect)
Dr. Anna Majchrazk (Honorary Secretary)
Dr. Conxa Castell (Honorary Treasurer)
Ms Aline Lasserre-Moutet (Director of Educational Strategies)
Ms. Sari Härmä-Rodriguez (Vowel)
Dr. Ina Stafie (Vowel) UPDATED LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE
Currently the General Committee has 60 members (from 34 countries). Twenty members will end their mandate this year and the new mandates will be approved in the GC Meeting this year. There are still 11 European countries without any representative. We will continue the effort to find representatives for these countries.
GRANTS AND AWARDS
The DESG sponsored the participation of some members at Therapeutic Patient Education Meetings held during this year.
1. Workshop: “Education thérapeutique pour maladies chroniques”
This seminar took place in Zinal (Switzerland), and was organized by Prof. Alain Golay. The DESG has sponsored the participation of two members.
2. Portuguese Sesimbra Seminar
Sesimbra was once again the venue of the Portuguese Educational Seminar, organized by the Portuguese Diabetes Association. The theme this year was “The Game of Life in the Chronic Disease” (O Jogo da Vida na Doença Crónica), it was held from 23th to 26th April 2009 and once more it was sponsored by the DESG. About 65 participants attended to this seminar.
3. 20 Years of Therapeutic Education in Diabetes in the Clínic Hospital in Barcelona
Coinciding with this anniversary, the Department of Endocrinology of the Hospital Clínic organized a day to present the status of the education programs on diabetes they are running and explain what is currently being done to improve the quality of life of their patients. The meeting took place on Friday, 8 May and was attended by the President of the DESG.
4. 2º Seminário Galaico-Português
The Second Galician-Portuguese Seminar took place in Espinho, Portugal, from the 18th to the 21th of June 2009, and has the participation of about 50 Portuguese and Galician participants. The theme was “The Good, The Bad and…” (“O Bem, o Mal e…”).
DESG AWARDS
To encourage research in the field of Therapeutic Patient Education, the DESG attributes two awards of EUR 600,00 each, to the best abstracts from those selected for the 45rd EASD Annual Meeting and one award of EUR 600,00 to the best abstracts accepted at the 15th FEND Annual Conference. The evaluation of these abstracts was carried out by a DESG committee.
This year the winning abstracts for the EASD Award will be approved by the Executive Committee in Vienna.
This year, the winner abstract for the FEND Award was:
- Spouse’s Self-Reported need for Diabetes Education and their perception of changes in health in patients with Type-Diabetes during 2-years disease trajectory. – A sub-study of the asker and baerum cardiovascular diabetes study.
As in previous years, the chosen papers will be published on the DESG Website.
SPONSORSHIP OF THE DESG
The generous support of J&J Diabetes Institute has been confirmed to the next year but it’s exclusivity is still on discussion. I would like to once again show our gratitude to Mr. Herwig Fleerackers for his support and availability.
FUTURE ACTIVITIES
· The 2010 GC Workshop, called “The road to Patient Centeredness” will take place in Paris, France from the 20th to the 23th of January, organized by the Belgium team, coordinated by Miriam Agtmaal.
· We will recreate all the layout of the DESG Material.
· We will maintain the publication of the Newsletter.
· The project of New Visualized Teaching Letters is still being discussed.
· We will continue to update the list of the DESG members.
· We will promote a Questionnaire for the General Committee of the DESG, with the main goal of preparing the best format for the DESG Workshops.
· We will continue with the DESG grants and awards to promote research and training in Therapeutic Patient Education.
· The implementation of TPE Symposia will continue to be one of the most important objectives of the DESG.
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Chairman's Reports 
