diaTribe Petition: Please help
from the diaTribe petition at change.org
At a recent meeting of Oregon’s Health Evidence Review Commission (HERC), the state panel recommended reducing access to test strips for people with type 2 diabetes on the Medicaid-funded Oregon Health Plan (OHP). A new plan would severely restrict access to strips for type 2 patients unless they are newly diagnosed, take insulin, or meet a few other special requirements. For people not taking insulin – which covers the vast majority, about 70% of all type 2 patients – those with an A1c above 8.0% would be entitled to one test strip per week, while those with an A1c below 8.0% would not be provided with any test strips at all.
This recommendation would severly limit test strips and set a dangerous precedent for other states looking to cut overall health care costs. It's difficult to understand how the HERC imagines people with an A1c below 8.0% will manage their diabetes without test strips, and a test strip every week is hardly meaningful for patients or providers. Furthermore, any cost reductions will likely be more than canceled out in the long-term due to increased complications, hospital visits, and operations that inevitably folow poor control. The decision is currently scheduled for December 5. If you are a person with diabetes or a caregiver, we encourage you to sign this petition and write to Oregon Health Authority’s Director Dr. Bruce Goldberg and the members of the HERC about the importance of having access to test strips and self-monitoring blood glucose.
Read more about the issue and what you can do at diaTribe.org
Your participation made a difference! Read the update from diaTribe.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
If you've read my first book, 'Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal' and enjoyed it,
I hope that you'll consider picking it up as a holiday gift for the readers on your list.
...and if you've yet to pick it up, I can't wait for you to find
'Life Is Short'... I'm so very proud of it.
Please consider checking out the many reader reviews on Amazon,
and Barnes & Noble, I think you'll be glad that you did!
Thank you, as always, for your generous support.
My very best, Scott
Your Favorite Posts: November 2013
Diabetes Awareness Month 2013 was the most popular month in the six year history of Arden's Day, surpassing April 2013 (The month my first book was released).
After Arden's Day first appeared online in 2007, it took one year to reach 1,000 views and I was so amazed that I grabbed a screen capture to mark the occasion - a lot has changed since then.
The top five blog posts from November 2013 (ranked by views)
When Things Go Wrong, They Go Wrong
The Blood WOn't Come Out: Day of Diabetes Deeper Look
Lace Up 4 Diabetes Shoe Laces GiveAway
Most months, the popular posts on the site differ from what is popular on the Facebook page. This month however they were very similar, with the exception of this post (I think it was the picture that people loved)- After School low, meet Ben and Jerrys.
...and my announcement that I'll be reviewing the Prep Pad made many of you very happy (I'm excited too!).
The most popular topics on Twitter had to do with the Novo Nordisk shoe laces giveaway and my 'Day of Diabetes' tweets.
Thank you all so very much for your continued support and for fervently reading the site. The guy who took that screen capture of the thousandth page hit... he would have fallen off his chair if he saw how many of you read Arden's Day in November of 2013. Seriously, I'm staggered, thank you!
Arden's Day is on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr and Google+. I follow back and love hearing from all of you through these various social media channels. Stop bye and say hello. I'm @ArdensDay or ArdensDay in all places.
Now for a shameless plug: My parenting book, 'Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal: Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Dad' is available everywhere that books are sold and would make a perfect holiday gift for the readers in your life.
Thankfully
Thankfully, it is not difficult for me to answer the question, "What are you thankful for?". A great many of us will answer that question today with words like 'good health', 'family' and 'a roof over our heads', but what of those who struggle to make even these meager claims? In my heart I know that today is for those souls, the ones who are not be able to answer such a question with warmth, joy and hope in their voices. Today, I'll think of them as I count my many good fortunes.
I am grateful for insulin and the people who continue to work on ways to make it better
A family that buys me a silly hat to wear when I make them special meals
My wife's strength and patients
My son's heart, my daughter's spirit
A warm home
My mother, brothers and extended family
Health, happiness and the staggeringly amazing diabetes community
I am thankful that the people who make up Spry Publishing let me write books... their kindness rescued my love for thinking
I'm thankful for all of you and I wonder if you understand how much helping you... helps me
Of all the things that I listed and all of the things that I didn't but could have, if you made me choose just one. If I had to tell you that I was thankful for one thing and that my gratitude meant that the rest of it would magically disappear, I'd choose insulin. None of these things would exist in my life if there were no insulin.
Without insulin, I'd be too sad to think, love, find friends or care about the world around me. Insulin is everything, it's what I am grateful and thankful for. In it's absences, I would be the one of the people who struggle today to find a warm word of thanks.
Think of those people today. May you share this day, and each that follows with your family, in a way that brings honor to those who weren't lucky enough to live in a time when their "insulin" existed.
Have a very happy Thanksgiving!
Best,
Scott
Oh Canada... It's DexCom time!
The DexCom G4 continuous glucose monitor is now available in the true north! I'm not exactly sure how DexCom got their device ready for sale in Canada. Perhaps the transmitter will be wearing a tiny little hockey sweater? Who knows...
Getting started looks pretty straightforward. Go to dexcom.com/en-ca and then click "Contact Distributor". The link takes you to www.animas.ca, the company that is handling the distribution for Canada. The Animas page doesn't have any DexCom specific links. I would use the "Contact Us" tab at the top right of the Animas page and ask how to get started.
I found this contact information for Animas Canada at the bottom of the Canadian DexCom page linked above.
Local Dexcom DistributorAnimas Canada200 Whitehall DriveMarkham, OntarioL3R0T5General inquiries: 1-855-293-5083 orCustomerCare@Animas.caProduct support: 1-866-406-4844
I'm so excited for my Canadian friends, you are going to love having a CGM!