EPIC Conferences Opens Conversation On Diabetes Care

DENVER (CBS4) - The Children's Diabetes Foundation is holding its annual EPIC Conference with a focus on connectivity. EPIC stands for Empowering Patients for Individualized Care, and the conference is designed to be an open conversation between experts in the field of diabetes, and people living with the disease and their caregivers.

"We have formulated it to be a very interactive conferences so each workshop is set up so that there will be a diabetes expert who will talk for 10 to 15 minutes, and then there's 45 to 50 minutes for questions and answers from conference participants," said Dr. Sarit Polsky, an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, Adult Clinic, on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

This is the fourth annual conference, and the first time they're holding it virtually.

"We're centering all the content around the idea of connectivity, so we do have sessions about connections, in terms of remote monitoring of glucose data, connections between the mind and the body, in terms of health, and mental health, as well as, connections across the country in terms of diabetes centers," Polsky explained.

The conference is open to anyone who is managing any type of diabetes, and their family, friends, and caregivers.

"It is a family oriented condition, and a lot of time, it's something that people don't handle just on their own, but they have really a team of support," Polsky told CBS4.

Some of the workshop sessions include: COVID-19 & Diabetes, Online Decision Support, Diabetes' Connection to Other Health Disorders, and Mental & Emotional Health.

"There are people all around in the conference who are dealing with diabetes, day-in and day-out. And so, it helps to be able to connect with people who are dealing with the same things that you're dealing with," Polsky said.

LINK: Register for the EPIC Conference

The EPIC Conference costs $5 per person to register, or $20 for a family of four or more. You can register for one of three tracks: Pediatric, Adult, or Advanced, and 24-hours before the conferences starts, registrants will get a link to get in.