Clinics & Centres

Diabetes Education Centre

Do you have higher than normal blood sugar and want to know how to manage it?

Is your diabetes well controlled but you still want to learn more about it?

We can help.

What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a condition in which your body:

• does not make enough insulin or
• cannot use the insulin it makes properly

as a result your blood sugar is higher than normal. You can manage your diabetes with healthy eating, medication, exercise, and stress management.

Services We Offer

The Centre supports adults, families and friends in developing a better understanding of diabetes through education on the following topics:

• What is diabetes?
• Healthy eating and meal planning
• Medications
• Exercise
• Blood sugar testing
• Foot care
• Stress management
• Coping with diabetes
• Financial and community resources

Education is provided individually and in group sessions in English, Portuguese, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, & Vietnamese (interpreters arranged for other languages).

We appreciate your needs and values and we are committed to providing exemplary services in a patient-centred manner. As a patient, you are recognized as the most important member of the health care team in managing your diabetes.

Healthcare Team

• Dietitians
• Nurses
• Pharmacist
• Physiotherapist
• Social Worker
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapist
• Psychologist

Making an Appointment

We accept referrals from individuals, family or friends, community agencies, physicians, and other health care professionals.

Physicians/other health care professionals should call or fax us with a referral and recent lab work (A1C, lipids, FBG) and we will book your first appointment. They will notify you of the appointment day and time. Referrals to an endocrinologist need to be arranged by the family physician.

If for any reason you are not able to attend the appointment, please call the centre 48 hours before your appointment time.

Your First Visit

You will need to bring:

• your O.H.I.P card
• hospital blue card (if you do not have a blue card, please arrive 15 minutes earlier to register for a blue card)
• all your medications
• blood sugar meter and logbook, if you have one
• food record, if you have been recording

You will be seen for an individual assessment by a dietitian and/or nurse. Each assessment is one hour. Have your usual medications and meals at home. You do not have to be fasting.

Your Follow-up Visits

Following your nursing and nutrition assessments your future visits with the dietitian and/or nurse will be approximately 30 minutes each. Remember to bring your hospital blue card, O.H.I.P. card, and blood sugar logbook at every visit.

Parking and Transportation

Parking - Hospital parking is available underground

• off Bathurst Street, behind the hospital,
• off Leonard Street, adjacent to the hospital, and
• off Nassau Street.

Meter parking is available along Dundas Street and Bathurst Street.
However parking spaces are limited and expensive.

Public Transportation - There are TTC stops directly outside the hospital.

Hospital Shuttle Bus - There is a free shuttle bus service between Toronto Western Hospital and Toronto General Hospital (College St. and University Ave.) which departs every 15 minutes.

Contact Us
Diabetes Education Centre
Toronto Western Hospital
399 Bathurst Street
West Wing, 1st Floor, Room 414
Toronto, ON M5T 2S8
Directions

Telephone: (416) 603-5897
Fax (416) 603-5210