I am a Diabetes Champion at the Upper River Valley Hospital in New Brunswick because I work everyday as a Diabetes Nurse Educator with patients who are living with Diabetes.

My champion and example is my grandmother Hilda Woodward who was diagnosed with Diabetes as a young woman when treatment was not as advanced as it is today. She developed many complications from Diabetes including bilateral below the knee amputaions. She loved life and lived everyday as a Champion for her family and myself as her eldest granddaughter. I am a nurse today because of my time as a teenager that I spent looking after my grandmother.I am a Diabetes Nurse Educator today because of the heartfelt desire I have to educate and make a difference in my patients and fellow staff around me as we try to change the face of Diabetes on a day to day basis. I want to assist my patients to early gain better gylcemic control so that the chance of complications is lessoned for them in honor of my Diabetes Champion -my grandmother. She passed away in 1980 just before my high school graduation and there is not a day I do not remember this remarkable woman.

In October I had the opportunity to attend the 20th World Congress- International Diabetes Federation in Montreal Quebec. There was 623 participants and I was the first overall walker to cross the finish line and the only winner from my province of New Brunswick. I was proud to walk in memory of my grandmother and in honor of my patients in New Brunswick who have taught me many lessons about Diabetes. They are the real educators and each one a Diabetes Champion.