Brock Hughes Annual Report

ME E T Ms. Stoots

A long-time employee in the service industry and a hard worker to boot, Wendy Stoots found herself without health insurance options because her employers did not offer these benefits. She was unable to afford the high premium costs associated with health insurance, but also earned too much

Monitoring System. The cost of a Continuous Glucose Monitoring system to help her monitor her blood sugar while at work would have been more than she could afford on her income. However, as part of the Chronic Care Management (CCM) program at BHMC, Ms. Stoots was supplied with a Continuous Glucose Monitoring system beginning in June of 2022. Since beginning to use the system and meeting with the pharmacist approximately once every other week, Ms. Stoots’ average blood glucose has improved from approximately 209 to 158, according to the most recent readings. The system alerts Ms. Stoots when her blood sugar level is dropping while at work so that she can immediately have a snack to raise the level before it becomes dangerously low, which would then affect her being able to work. Ms. Stoots has also seen improvements in her blood pressure during her participation in the program. The CCM program has been funded in-part by the Wythe-Bland Foundation since 2020. This program is significantly improving the health outcomes of other BHMC patients diagnosed with chronic diseases, like Ms. Stoots. Ms. Stoots is grateful the clinic has been here for her for so long. Without BHMC, her options for primary healthcare and pharmacy services through the years would have been slim to none. She indicated that the individual time Dr. Sword has been able to spend with her and the diabetic supplies the Clinic has been able to provide her through her participation in the CCM program has been invaluable to her and has allowed her to continue to live a high-quality lifestyle and maintain her work.

to qualify for Medicaid. Her only option in the mid-1990s was to turn to the then Brock Hughes Free Clinic which was located in the Wythe County Health Department. In 1996, Ms. Stoots was diagnosed with diabetes. Ms. Stoots began participating with Keri Sword, PharmD, in the BHMC Chronic Care Management program more than two years ago. At that time, the program was a new addition to the services provided by BHMC. In addition to being a diabetic, Ms. Stoots has trouble maintaining her blood sugar levels in the optimal range, experiencing periodic hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) episodes, which can be very dangerous. These episodes threatened her ability to continue her work. Ms. Stoots needed some way to monitor her blood sugar levels more consistently while working while also not disrupting her workflow. Dr. Sword recommended that she try a Continuous Blood Glucose