NUTTING
Cindy Nutting has spent the last 18 months helping rebuild the Puyallup Tribal Health Authority’s (PTHA) diabetes program diabetes education and services for clients.
Cindy Nutting has worked in the medical field for 34 years and was hired as a registered nurse in the tribal clinic before transferring to the diabetes program as a diabetes education nurse.
She works with patients individually and in groups to help them understand the disease, medications and treatment of diabetes. Education can range from things as specific to using and managing diabetes through insulin, or explaining the impacts and implications of the disease to a patient who has recently been diagnosed.
Diabetes is prevalent across Native American populations, which is why programming at the PTHA is attempting to reach out to diabetics for continuous and long-term education.
With the rebuilding of the program, Cindy Nutting and the diabetes team say they have done a good job at getting patients started in diabetes education. The goal for this year is to keep them participating in on-going education.
“We want people to be able to learn what they need to learn at that time, and be able to come back for further education down the road,” she said.
Cindy Nutting works with group diabetes classes once a week, and schedules individual work sessions with clients for more specific educational purposes or coaching them in healthy lifestyle changes that can impact how their body handles diabetes.
“Change can take a long time. My challenge is getting patients to see that small changes now can make huge changes later.”
Cindy Nutting said she never expected to be an education nurse, but that she has fallen in love with her job since taking it on 18 months ago.
“I’m a part of a team that has such an impact on the day-to-day life of the people, and hopefully will change things in a person’s life down the road.”
Cindy Nutting noted that she enjoys her co-workers and the team she is part of, and also values the one-on-one relationships she has developed with many patients at the PTHA.
Cindy Nutting has been married for 29 years and has three adult children, with her first grandchild on the way.
