Seminar fires up diabetics to take charge

For quite awhile, Steve Panissidi of Bigfork admits, he was in denial about having diabetes.

“My brother kept saying, ‘Steve, you’d better go get checked,’” he recalled.

His brother had diabetes and recognized his risk. Finally, Panissidi’s son-in-law, Kalispell Dr. Mark Welch, insisted on testing him in September 2008 and found he was a member of that growing club of people with Type 2 diabetes.

Welch recommended that he make an appointment with Jennifer Janetski, diabetes management and lifestyle coach. Panissidi found a little good news in his diagnosis when he went for the visit.

“She said this was my lucky day,” he recalled. “They were having this big seminar in Kalispell.”

Called the ultimate event for people with diabetes, the daylong event, Taking Control of Your Diabetes Conference & Health Fair, returns to Kalispell on Saturday, March 20, at the Hilton Garden Inn.

Just two weeks after his diagnosis, Panissidi attended the 2008 event.

“The seminar got me so fired up,” he said. “The people that they had at the seminar were so upbeat. They make you sit back and say, ‘I’m going to get a hold of it.’”

It was organizer Dr. Steven Edelman’s potential to inspire patients that inspired Janetski to spend four years sending e-mails asking him to come to the Flathead Valley. She encountered him early in her career as a registered dietitian and lifestyle coach.

According to Janetski, he makes the point that the biggest difference between diabetes and other diseases is that diabetes control is in the hands of the patient, not the doctor. She said that’s why the disease presents such a challenge to people.

“Dr. Edelman is my personal hero,” she said. “His goal is empowering people to take care of themselves.”

Edelman, who has Type 1 diabetes, wrote the field’s classic book “Living Well with Diabetes.” He finally relented to Janetski’s e-mails and came to Kalispell in 2004 to speak to a group of physicians and at a community event.

Janetski was impressed when Edelman asked her what the patients wanted to know rather than the physicians. She described him as very patient-focused.

“We had 200 people turn out to hear him,” she said. “He was blown away.”

Edelman came again in the spring of 2005 and again attracted a large crowd of interested diabetes patients and their families. He brought the Taking Control of Your Diabetes Conference & Health Fair here for the first time in October of 2007.

According to Janetski, it was successful beyond their hopes for more than 400 people.

“We had 630 people,” she said. “Everyone who goes there tells you how amazing it is.”

Panissidi said it was more than worth the minimal registration fee which varies from $15 with membership to $25 on site. The actual cost of the conference is about $150 per person but is subsidized by donors and grants.

With the power of inspiration at the conference plus Janetski’s help, Panissidi got control of his diabetes.

He lost 25 pounds right away by instituting diet advice such as counting carbs and integrating exercise into his life. Perhaps most impressive, Panissidi kept his weight at 173 and controls the disease through exercise, diet and the drug Metformin.

“I don’t have to take insulin shots,” he said.

He walks three times a week plus golfing two times a week as a snowbird in San Diego. In Montana, he adds rowing in a drift boat as well as walking while fly fishing.

“I also work out with light weights,” he said.

Panissidi said he weighs himself two to three times a week to make sure the pounds don’t creep back. He said he learned what foods to avoid and to get back on track quickly when he occasionally succumbs to temptation.

According to Panissidi, he only wishes that he knew what he learned at the conference earlier when he was in denial. He wonders if he could have staved off the disease with lifestyle changes.

“You’ve got to make some choices,” he said. “But it pays dividends.”

Janetski encourages people in the pre-diabetes stage as well as diabetics and their families to invest a day in learning and in getting inspired to make lifestyle changes.

“If you don’t make time for your health, you’ll soon make time for illness,” Janetski said. “The people who come to the conference have such a can-do attitude. You learn something new every time you come.”

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.