Claire M Blum, MS Ed, RN, CDE, CHWC

Claire Blum is a Registered Nurse, Certified Diabetes Educator, and Certified Health & Wellness Coach through Wellcoach®. She holds a Masters degree in education, and her training includes studies in family and consumer economics, nursing, nutrition, social work, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), experiential learning, and adventure-based outdoor education. She serves as insulin pump specialist at University Diabetes & Endocrine Consultants in Chattanooga TN; and program coordinator for Partners & Peers for Diabetes Care, a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to empowering people with diabetes to actively participate in their health care through partnerships that promote trust and enhance learning. Throughout her years of work as a diabetes educator and health coach she has learned that it is easy to tell others what they should do in order to manage their diabetes. But, as a person who also lives with diabetes, she knows that managing diabetes takes much more than factual information. It requires inner wisdom, a willingness to listen to that inner wisdom, and a great deal of compassion. It is an ART that can be learned, which adds dimensions to life that are often missed. Claire has lived with Type 1diabetes for more than 35 years, and worn an insulin pump since 1986.