Sharon A. Denham, DSN, RN Professor, Ohio University School of Nursing

Sustainability of your program is of GREAT concern

SUSTAINABILITY  What are Your community’s goals?  What do local people think is important?

 What does social networking offer?  Connecting people  Person-to-person  Taking charge on own terms  Future of health education in digital age?

 Listen (spoken and written words)  Talk (new forms of education, active involvement, open exchange of ideas)  Energize the community (innovation, novel approaches)  Embrace others as collaborators (e.g., Blogs, Wikis, Twitter, U-Tube, online communities )

 A dedicated leader is essential.  A group of supportive community leaders or a team of like-minded persons.  Clear goals for what you intend to accomplish.  Long term strategic plan.

 Select and train additional SUGAR Helpers.  Take action in the broad community.  Evaluate time, talents, money, & other resources.  Review your accomplishments.

 Disclose facts about specific community problems.  Present information about steps taken to reduce or address problems.  Enable community members to learn about healthy lifestyles.  Increase the visibility of diabetes and its related problems.

 Influence social norms of the community.  Tell stories about group and individual accomplishments.  Encourage volunteer SUGAR Helpers to tell their stories.  Supply facts for grant writing, fund raising, and media reports.

 Evaluate volunteer satisfaction with educational sessions.  Record volunteer monthly activities.  Effectiveness of strategies to attract community people to activities.  Determine whether money spent for event resulted in expected attendance.

 Numbers of events or activities.  Numbers of community people attending a specific event.  Numbers of volunteers recruited and attending support sessions.  Local statistics (e.g., healthy lifestyles, diabetes prevention).