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Month: August 2011

Demand for Diabetes Educator Increases – Now What?

Chris Stocker

I recently read this article posted on Endocrine Today, Demand for Diabetes Educators Projected to Increase Sharply.  My first question when I read this is if the demand is going up, then is the supply going to increase as much?  I am not going to give an economics class here because most of you all know this, but when the demand increases, the supply tends to go down.  But the supply for diabetes educators is already low, so, I’m not a genius but this doesn’t sound look a good situation.  I think that we already knew that the demand for diabetes educators is going to increase sharply because the disease itself is increasing, so this article does not really tell me much or help the situation.

One question that was some-what answered in this article that I was interested in is how Medicare and insurance companies would reimburse for these diabetes education classes.  Would they cover only one a year, or 50% of each visit, or not cover any of them at all?  I think that it is important for diabetes education to be covered by insurance because people just don’t have the money to spend on education.  So if they don’t have the money to show up to a physical classroom setting or one-on-one lesson, or even a group diabetes education session, where else are they going to turn to?  Pick me, pick me, I know, I know.  The Diabetes Online Community, the DOC.  I mentioned this briefly in a post the other day also.

I think that it is essential to take diabetes education online.  There may not be live sessions on the internet, but quality recorded videos may be able to provide essential answers to some of the top diabetes questions.  One way to do this may be to submit your questions before hand and the diabetes educator can answer all the questions in one sitting and provide answers to all of the questions.

I know you are asking…. who’s going to pay for this?  Well, the answer is, I don’t know yet.  Who is going to produce the videos, edit them, finalize them, distribute them, what CDE is going to do this, how are we going to collect the e-mail questions?  I don’t know the answers to all of these questions, but I truly feel that the more I ask these questions, the more people are going to step up and answer these questions.

We all have specialties in the DOC, it is about damn time that we start pulling all of our personal resources together and start putting them together and start kicking ass with our skills.

Beginning today, Diabetes Education has now been put on my top todo list.  It was always on there, but it wasn’t as high as it is now.

Appreciation is Nice

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

What are the rewards for the things that we do?  There are a lot of rewards  that come with blogging and helping other diabetics out.  That is one of the main reasons that I continue to do this.  It also helps me cope with any issues that I may have, but I know that it is helping others too.  From time to time it is great to see physical examples of the appreciation of the work that you do.

So, now let me get to the point of this post.  Every Friday at my job they send out a company newsletter highlighting some of the work that we have been doing for clients as well as spotlighting several other fun things.  The other day in the cafeteria I was talking to the head of our Marketing and Communications team who supervises the weekly newsletter about diabetes and my blog and some of the goals and initiatives that I have with my blog.  He was very excited about it and told me to send him the links to the blog and Facebook page.

Yesterday when I read the newsletter, this is what was included (please click to view larger):

Quote – ” We know that we all work with amazing people, but this is just awesome. Did you know that Chris Stocker is a national leader when it comes to advocating for people with diabetes? He has an informative and motivating blog and Facebook page, so please check them out and give him some “like” and re-tweeting support. Great work Chris – you’re an inspiration to us all!”

Diabetic Blog

 

This is just awesome.  It doesn’t matter that it was spotlighting me, but the fact that it was spotlighting diabetes and how diabetes awareness was spread to over 150 people instantly with an e-mail.  This makes you feel that what you are doing is well worth it and that you are accomplishing things.

By the way, #dsma got some face time too with the banner.

 

What We Can Do About Diabetes Education

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

The other day I wrote a post about who is certified to be a diabetes educator and I received a lot of great feedback from the DOC and also some great comments on the post.  I appreciated those that commented with their information about the certification process.  Also, good luck to Lauren if she decides to become a CDE.  Today I wanted to touch on a different subject related to diabetes education, and that is the lack of it.  I had wrote about this a long time ago, maybe two years ago, not sure?  The lack of diabetes education is scary.  I have attended sessions where a doctor will sit down with 10 patients and go over their charts in front of everybody and try and give education and advice that way.  That is way too difficult and is not fair to the individual because their diabetes is not being individually treated, but just the disease as a whole.

Every single person that is newly diagnosed must have access to diabetes education.  They may only get a limited amount of time with a certified diabetes educator because there just are not enough in this country.  So how are they going to get answers to their questions at 2:30 a.m. on a Saturday night?  I know, I know, pick me, pick me.

The DOC

No, not this one…..

This one…. (not the entire DOC just the only pic I have from San Diego Roche Social Summit.

Roche Social Media Summit 2011

This is why it is so important for the online DOC to become just the DC.  I can already see a lot of you beginning to take the “O” of out DOC.  I think that the presentation that was just given at AADE is going to be huge.  I don’t know how well it went, I haven’t had much of a chance to read up on any posts or any feedback on it, I’m sure it made an impact.  If it didn’t at that exact time, then it definitely will begin to.

So how do we make sure that newly diagnosed and those that just don’t really know much about diabetes or want to know more about their diabetes get the education that they need?  There are several things that we can do:

  1. Get to a point whre CDE’s and HCPs are willing to give their patients information about the DOC.
  2. Online diabetes sessions with CDE’s (would require an hour or so of CDE time to do an online training session with as many people as possible)
  3. Get additional funding and aide for those that cannot afford to go see a CDE

Those are just a few ideas that pop into my head quickly.  I do not have the answers, but I sure don’t mind trying to be part of the solution to the problem however.  We have a lot of intelligent people in this community so I am sure among all of us, it can be done.  Who wants in and trying to get something done?

Have an awesome Saturday and rest of weekend everybody.

I’m Taking My Diabetes Talents to Tallahassee

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

First, for those that don’t know, I live in Florida. For those that do know, Tallahassee is the state capital. This is where the state capitol is and also where our Governor lives. Now that I have schooled you all on some crazy Florida social studies, let me tell you what I am talking about. I have been working closely with some local government representatives here and they have been able to get me in front of some “importnat people” up in the state capitol. I am very excited and have a long list of things that I want to talk about and open up the dialogue about. If you live in Florida and have some concerns, please let me know what they are and I will try my best and get those covered as well.

This is very gratifying and shows that if you work hard at something, it will pay off. You have to be persistent as well. I literlly have been sending 1,000’s of e-mails a month to different representatives, hell ones in areas that I don’t even live in. I’m hoping that these meetings go well, and that we can use this as some momentum for DC and if so, I will be marching proudly up the national Capitol building.

Well folks, it is Friday, so this is going to be a short post, but, since it is Friday I must leave you with this clip.

Who is Certified to Give Diabetes Education?

Chris Stocker 7 Comments

So with the AADE annual conference going on right now, it got me to thinking about diabetes education.  Who is qualified to give diabetes education, who shouldn’t be giving diabetes education, and should people who do not have a certification be able to give diabetes education?  Well, why wait, let’s get into all three of them now.

Who is qualified to give diabetes education?

Currently, if you are a CDE (Certified Diabetes Educator) you are qualified to give diabetes education.  Because you are certified!  What if you aren’t certified, does that mean that you are not qualified to give somebody some education about diabetes?  I do not think so.  I think that there are many things that I can give better education about than even a CDE can.  I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on tv, but I am a diabetic, so I may know a thing or two about diabetes.  I don’t claim to be a diabetes guru, but if somebody comes to me with a simple diabetes question, I feel that I am qualified to give an answer.  There are items, such as diet or very scientific items that I will not give education on.  Maybe some advice, but would definitely refer them to somebody who is more certified.  I have always felt that I learned more from the diabetes community than I do from a CDE.  I look at it as the difference between a class at college or an internship during college.  During a class you learn everything in the book, but you don’t actually learn how to apply or adapt to these items in the real world until you actually do them, like during an internship.

Who shouldn’t be qualified to give diabetes education?

Diabetes Douchebags like Dr. Oz and Wendell Fowler. Enough said, moving on.

People without a “Certification”

I am not going to pretend like I know what are the rules and regulations are for this.  I do not know the legal, financial, medicare, insurance billing, or accountability factors (if somebody does, please comment). To me, it seems that the knowledge is there for a diabetes educator, they just haven’t taken the test.  I once spoke with several CDE’s who were encouraging me to go back to school and become a CDE, but I couldn’t afford it.  They joked and said that I probably knew more than most CDE’s, but I don’t know any “technical” terms and would fail the test miserably.  So this becomes a very tricky question and one with an answer in a gray area.  Do we allow diabetes educators without a certification to give education about insulin and diet without having the backing of an accreditation?  Or is the accreditation just a piece of paper with a few signatures?

Now I’ve gotten to the end of this post and now I confused myself and I’m not sure where I stand anymore.

What are your thoughts?

How to Take the Online to the Offline

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

Last week during DSMA a question was asked about how we can do more to create more offline efforts and offline communications.  My biggest efforts for the offline world are communicating with JDRF and ADA local chapters and trying to get them to communicate together and work together for a larger goal of getting people with diabetes the information that they need.  One piece of that information being access to the DOC.  How do we go about this?  It sounds all fun and dandy to have the JDRF tell every single person they talk to about the DOC, but how do we do it?

 

Unfortunately, these local chapters have national “rules” that they have to follow and they can’t just add something into their newsletter that is “endorsing” something unless they have approval.  So the first part that I would recommend is to reach out and just simply explain what it is that you are trying to accomplish and see how they react.  If they don’t respond via e-mail or letter or phone call, then try again.  These offices are under-resourced and sometimes it may take a while to get back to something because they just don’t have the manpower to get things done in a timely manner (which is why volunteers are such a huge deal to them).  If after a few attempts, they are not responsive then you have to take it to the next level.

Call them out…… politely….. on Twitter or Facebook and just ask them to participate themselves a few times in DSMA or just comment on some blog posts and lurk around on Twitter.  Once they see for themselves how amazing this community is, then they will be more responsive to your ideas.  Do not make enemies with them, they are some of the few friends that you have on your side, if you work it the right way.  Be friendly and be willing to work with them.  See if there are events that you can volunteer at and be able to speak with some of the attendees.  This is a way to get your foot in the door and help build a larger relationship.

Once you have established relationships with both, it is now time to try and get the parties together and start having them communicate a little bit.  I know that this is like asking a Democrat and Republican to agree with each other during an election year, but at the end of the day there is a common goal, to what is best for the majority.  The majority in this situation is the people with diabetes that are directly affected by the decisions that these organizations make.

The best advice that I can give is to not give up.  Do not give up on the local chapters.  That is where you are going to make the biggest impact.  National change comes from local outrage.  Do not settle for something that doesn’t work.  Strive for the best.  You must be willing compromise however, because not everything is going to turn out exactly the way that you want, but keep at it!

Another thing that you can do is constantly remind your endo or any other HCP about the DOC and how beneficial it is.  Doctors usually care about their patients enough that they want them to have access to support.  I know there are some legal issues that may arise with this having to do with a doctor referring a patient somewhere and then something going wrong.  However, it doesn’t hurt to try.  I am lucky enough to have an endo that is type 1 diabetic myself, so I am excited for the next time that I see her to try and get her involved.  Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts I haven’t seen my doctor in almost 6-7 months and I won’t see her again until November because of how booked the both of us are.  Not good, I know it sucks, but that’s for another blog post.

Where Are You Obama?

Chris Stocker

Today’s post is going to very short and simple.  Today, a letter to President Barack Obama was published asking him to take a leading role in the UN NCD Summit in September of 2011.  This letter has over 80 signatures from people all over the diabetes community.  Below is a link to the slideshare version of the letter for you to easily share.

I encourage you to do the following with this letter:

  1. Post it on Twitter and anytime you see somebody else post it, Retweet it.
  2. Post it on your Facebook account and ask others to share it
  3. Share it with colleagues
  4. Share it with friends and family
  5. Print it and mail a copy or two yourself if you want
  6. E-mail it to your local representative and ask for their help in moving it up the chain
  7. E-mail your state reps and do the same
  8. E-mail it to the Diabetes Caucus
  9. Once you reach this step, go back to Step 1

And here is the link:

We ask President Obama to take a leading role in the UN NCD Summit, Sept. 2011 

 

Insulin Close Call

Chris Stocker

This weekend provided me with a close call.  I knew that I had to re-order my insulin soon, but it was a little sooner than what I had expected.  I normally re-order my insulin when I see that I have about 3 vials left.  I thought that I had 4 vials of insulin, so I felt awesome that I was going to re-order it even sooner than I usually did.  Well, I only had 1 vial left.  There was 4 boxes in the bag still, however, I forgot that I took the vials out and didn’t throw the box out because I was too lazy. Last time that is going to happen.

I am not worried too much anymore because the last time that I checked online it said that it was going to be shipping tomorrow (Tuesday, August 2), and since it normally ships overnight I should have it before Thursday.  I go through insulin fast, but not that fast.  I use about 150 – 180 units of insulin a day so a vial is only about 4-7 days, depending on how much I eat.  On Sunday I wasn’t exactly sure when it was going to ship, so I didn’t eat as much food for dinner and then I skipped out on dessert for Amanda’s brother birthday.  It wasn’t because I can’t eat ice cream, it’s because I CHOSE not to eat ice cream.

You may be wondering why you haven’t seen me around on Twitter or blogging a lot often.  I am going through some big time thought process over here.  I can’t really talk about it too much on here for several reasons, but it would be a huge, as the Big Brother contestants always say, game changer.  Stay tuned