University of Maryland Shore Regional Health is launching an interactive and participatory six-session workshop designed to help people who are living with chronic disease manage their ongoing health. The class will be offered virtually via WebEx from 9:30 a.m. to noon every Friday from Sept. 23 to Oct.28. There is no charge for the course, but registration is limited to 12 participants. Access to course links will be sent following registration.
Led by Jeanette Jeffrey, MS, MPH, MCHES, Health Educator for University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Chestertown, and Lisa McCoy, MS, RDN, Family and Consumer Sciences Educator for the University of Maryland Extension, this course will offer guidance on nutrition, appropriate exercise, appropriate use of medications, pain and fatigue management, relaxation skills, dealing with depression, decision-making, action-planning and problem-solving, and communicating effectively with family, friends and health care providers. Participants should be able to attend all six sessions. For medical questions, participants will be referred to their treating physicians.
Jeanette Jeffrey, MS, MPH, MCHES and Lisa McCoy, MS, RDN
Possible benefits to those completing this course are:
- improved health literacy
- more active self-management of their condition
- increased physical activity (if approved by a physician)
- improvement in mood or with symptoms of depression
- fewer sick days
- reduced need for Emergency Department visits and hospitalization
- improved medication compliance
- reduced pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, stress and/or sleep problems.
“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6 out of every10 adults in the United States are living with a chronic disease,” said Jeffrey. “And 4 in 10 adults in the U.S. have two or more chronic diseases, such as hypertension, arthritis, chronic pain, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes, kidney disease and other conditions that affect a person’s quality of life.”
Classes are open to anyone living with a chronic disease and caretakers are encouraged to participate, as well. To register, visit https://bit.ly/CDSM_UMMS.
About University of Maryland Shore Regional Health
As part of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. UM Shore Regional Health’s team of more than 2,200 employees, medical staff, board members and volunteers works with various community partners to fulfill the organization’s mission of Creating Healthier Communities Together.
About the University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.
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