5 Minutes With Diabetes Educator and Advocate Bridget Wood
Want to get to know some of the people making a difference in the diabetes world? In our “5 Minutes With” series, we talk to experts and advocates who share inspiring stories and their take on the latest in diabetes care.
This week we interviewed Bridget Wood, a registered dietician and certified diabetes care and education specialist (CDCES), about her experience living with type 1 diabetes and becoming an advocate for others.
Wood has made significant contributions to the diabetes community through her work as a diabetes coach at Your Diabetes Insider and as an advisory board member for Risely Health. She is also the founder of Bridget Wood Wellness, where she leads diabetes education workshops to promote awareness and provide people with practical tools for improving diabetes management.
In addition to her work as a dietician and patient advocate, Wood was also an implementation specialist at Glooko, a health management platform that allows users to easily track their diabetes data and share it with their healthcare providers.
Anna Vidovszky: Can you share what your journey with type 1 diabetes has been like and when you first learned about your diagnosis?
Bridget Wood: When I was 17, I had just started working at my first job at Old Navy and I started feeling really unwell – I was exhausted and always thirsty. One day, I was getting ready to go to my shift and couldn’t even get up off the floor. I told my mom, “We have to go to the ER, something’s wrong.”
When I got there, they checked my blood sugar with a finger prick and it was 425 mg/dL. My mom cried when the doctor told us that I had type 1 diabetes. In my mind, I still hadn’t grasped the full gravity of the situation. I stayed in the ICU for about a week, and then when I got out, it was a new life, a new journey, and a new me.
Vidovszky: How did your family and friends react when you were diagnosed?
Wood: When I was first diagnosed, having one of my parents with me at all of my appointments and diabetes education classes was transformative – their support really helped me adjust and become more comfortable with my diagnosis.
It wasn’t until I went to college that I started to feel like more of an “other.” I had just started wearing my insulin pump, and it began to feel like something that I wanted to hide. I didn’t talk about my diabetes very openly back then. Even now, some of my friends tell me that they didn’t even know these things were happening to me.
My diabetes educator was a present and positive voice at the time, and it wasn’t until I met my now-husband that I realized what a difference it made to have someone in my life who was willing to learn from a judgment-free and caring place. That made me open to pursuing a career in the diabetes world.
Vidovszky: What are some challenges you’ve faced since being diagnosed?
Wood: When I was younger, I think one of the biggest challenges was being met with negative responses from adults who were supposed to protect and care for me. I remember I was trying to get one of my professors to sign off on accommodation paperwork so that I could have snacks in classes for my lows, and when I handed her the paperwork she said, “Shouldn’t you be over this by now? My mom has diabetes and she’s fine.” It still hurts to this day. That response placed a doubt in my mind, and made me think, “What am I doing wrong?”
Another example is when I worked at a medically supervised weight loss clinic after college. I’d show up to work after doctor’s appointments with gauze from where I got my blood drawn and was told by my coworkers that I looked like a druggie.
Being young and hearing these kinds of things from people I expected grace from gave me the strength to give that same grace to people experiencing similar things. I want to make sure that people with diabetes feel empowered, and that they don’t feel like they did something wrong.
Vidovszky: What resources would have been most helpful to you in overcoming these challenges?
Wood: I think that if I were to be diagnosed in this day and age, it would be a whole different experience. When I was younger, the only diabetes representation we had was Nick Jonas. But I’m not Nick Jonas, I’m Bridget Wood from Houston, Texas! Since then, the diabetes online community has taken off with groups like diaTribe, Beyond Type 1, and the American Diabetes Association.
But even now, I still don’t think that mental health resources are as integrated into the diabetes community as they should be. There are unique conversations amongst people with diabetes that more generalized mental health resources don’t address, and having diabetes-specific mental health care (or chronic illness-specific mental health care, for that matter) would be so helpful.
Vidovszky: How have you navigated interactions with healthcare providers? Have you felt heard and respected?
Wood: When I was first diagnosed, my interactions with healthcare providers were fantastic, for a couple of reasons. One of my parents was always with me at each appointment – having that representation and support in the room made a huge difference.
I also felt like I had more time with my provider back then and better continuity of care. For example, the diabetes educator was located in the same building as my endocrinologist and the lab. I’d be able to go to all three in one visit, which isn’t the case for me now.
Another difference I’ve noticed is if I tell a provider that I’m a registered dietitian and CDCES, the conversation often turns to them trying to refer their patients to me or getting my input as a medical provider on new diabetes technologies. I also noticed that they don’t always use person-centered language like I try to in my practice, and they’re not always cognizant that they’re speaking to someone with a chronic illness.
There’s also been an astronomical increase in the number of people with diabetes since I was first diagnosed, and there simply isn’t enough time for providers to get the information they need in a quick and easy way to learn about diabetes. With more people to treat and a shortage of available endocrinologists, there’s been a marked difference in how these healthcare interactions go.
Vidovszky: In your experience, do you think there are differences in how people of color with diabetes are treated compared to others?
Wood: A lot of assumptions have been made about my diet and the food I was eating, or that I didn’t understand what carbohydrates were. If my weight fluctuated, they’d assume I wasn’t eating well or exercising.
I’ve been very fortunate to have great experiences with my diabetes care providers, but I have definitely experienced bias with other healthcare providers. For example, there was an instance where I had to go to the ER because I hit my head and wanted to make sure I didn’t have a concussion. The first thing that the physician said to me was, “Are you just here for pain meds?”
As soon as I told her I was a medical provider, her demeanor changed. It was an eye-opener to me that someone would be so blatantly presumptuous – nothing in my chart or my chief complaint stated that I wanted pain medication, I just wanted to make sure my head was okay and see if I needed a scan. That experience made me want to have a positive impact in this field for others.
Black people and people of color are not a monolith – we’re all different. At the end of the day, we are coming in to get care and we trust these people with our lives. The expectation should be that we’re receiving care without judgment. While others are being met with grace, receiving appropriate prescriptions, and getting diagnosed in a timely manner, there’s an uphill battle for me of having to prove that I’m as sick as I am before getting appropriate care. And that shouldn’t be the case.
You have to arm yourself with knowledge and be confident in the fact that you know exactly what you’re going through. Nobody else is living in your body, and when it comes to advocating for yourself and your health, do not accept no for an answer.
Vidovszky: Looking back on your journey, what advice would you give to someone who is newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes?
Wood: I cannot emphasize this enough: Find your tribe and your community. Whether it’s online or in-person, having that support is crucial. Having someone in your life that you can turn to like I can with my husband, is tremendous. Even if it's something as simple as coming home from a long day of work and leaning on them to go out and get that juice box for you, it can make a huge difference. You don’t need to go through this alone.
Learn more about advocating for yourself with diabetes here: