Diabetes Awareness

November is Diabetes Awareness Month, so now is a good time look a little ahead and discuss what awareness means and how it can help with prevention, education, and research.

The growing knowledge about the significant health costs of diabetes in both human and economic terms is a double-edged sword. More awareness is a good thing, but much of it is coming about because more and more people are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

With more attention comes greater diabetes awareness, but there is still much more work to be done in terms of prevention and general education. For example, many people still often confuse the two types. You’ll also find some who think that diabetes is not very serious because the tools and knowledge for managing it have improved. As anyone who has diabetes knows, better tools and knowledge are terrific, but that is completely different than an actual cure.

So awareness is crucial for 3 reasons.

1. Prevention. A key contributor in most cases of type 2 diabetes is an unhealthy lifestyle. So educating people on the connection between unhealthy choices and risk of diabetes is one of the best ways to stop more cases from developing.

2. Understanding. The more people can understand the disease of diabetes, the more those who suffer from it will find a friendly and supportive environment. At work, within families, and among friends, the more they understand the disease and its consequences, the more support you can expect as you manage diabetes. Even if it is something as simple as a kind word, every bit of awareness can contribute to a positive environment.

3. Research. The blunt truth is that more awareness usually means more funding. As the number of people aware of the serious consequences of diabetes increases, more dollars go to research. Not only are people more likely to give, it also promotes a climate where public grants, private endowments, and other important sources of research funding flow toward research on cures, prevention and better treatment.

What Can You Contribute to Diabetes Awareness?

Maybe after reading the benefits of awareness, you are ready to step up and add your contribution to the cause of awareness. Here are a few suggestions on how you can add your voice to the cause:

• Visit the American Diabetes Association page about the upcoming American Diabetes Month.
  They have a list of some terrific informational resources available. As of October 1^st, they will also be collecting personal images via Facebook. The images should reflect what the theme “A Day in the Life of Diabetes” means to you or a loved one. Full details are available on the page, but uploading an image to Facebook also means you are making a contribution. CVS has agreed to donate $1 for each upload to the American Diabetes Association up to $25,000.

• Get a grey ribbon to show your support for diabetes awareness.
  Piggybacking on the great success of pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness and other similar campaigns, the blue circle or the gray ribbon (often with a small red mark representing a drop of blood) has become a statement for those supporting the cause of diabetes awareness. Fun fact: the Diabetes Awareness Ribbon Facebook page has over half a million fans and counting and is quite active in terms of posts and comments.

• Raise the attention of local media.
  Keep in mind that journalists, bloggers, and others in the media are always seeking good, relevant content. Local media in particular always have their radars up for stories that are both timely and can be tied to a national trend. National Diabetes Month is a perfect opportunity to suggest to a local newspaper or other media outlet a story on diabetes prevention or covering a local fundraiser for diabetes.

Of course, sometimes the best kind of raised awareness is the type delivered one-on-one during informal conversations.  For example, maybe wearing a ribbon will lead to a conversation in the line at the grocery store and is a chance to tell people how common diabetes has become and its startling costs.

When they ask, you can communicate these attention-grabbing statistics from the American Diabetes Association. Almost 26 million children and adults have diabetes, and another 79 million can be considered pre-diabetic with elevated risk for developing type 2 diabetes. You might add that, in a time of great concern about higher healthcare costs, the American Diabetes Association puts the total national cost of diagnosed diabetes at $174 billion.

With numbers like that, the answer to the question about how much diabetes awareness is enough seems obvious. However much it is growing, we could use a lot more.

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Managing Diabetes With An Active Lifestyle: Join In!

Exercise is seriously important for people and especially if you have been diagnosed with diabetes, a silent killer. The benefits derived from regular exercise in unaffected individuals are well known but have you realized the many health benefits received by those with diabetes? This particular metabolic disorder can lead to horrendous results, if kept unchecked. Therefore, for maintenance of normal blood sugar levels and optimal cardiovascular lung functions etc, an exercise routine is vital.

All diabetics who have included this healthy habit as a part of their daily lives experience a noticeable spruce in energy levels and have more steady control over their weight. This all leads to elimination and reduction in intensity of many of the possible complications associated with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. To burn calories and to regulate the level of glucose in your blood stream that in turn works on the sensitivity of insulin, exercise is highly recommended.

How Exercise Impacts Blood Sugar Levels

During and even after any exercise session, the body utilizes quite a lot of energy. Consequently, blood sugar levels are diminished during exercise and need to be replenished. This is one of the key reasons why various exercise forms are recommended to those suffering from diabetes, especially in case of type 2. Medication, proper diet plan and the willpower to stick to the fitness regime can make a tremendous difference.

Which Type of Physical Activity is Best For Diabetics?

As a matter of fact, any physical activity that has the ability to raise the heart rate for approximately twenty to thirty minutes, and is done routinely, will lead to health improvement. Brisk walking is perhaps the most convenient and safe for most diabetics, at least starting out. Plus, it requires no special equipment. Other activities that are equally effective include swimming, dancing, a long session of gardening, stationary bicycle riding and so on. There are plenty of exercises that can be done without hitting the gym!

According to several studies, aerobics is an exercise that proves quite helpful in maintaining good health. Patients with type 1 diabetes will notice a marked difference in their cholesterol level and blood pressure too. Besides that, resistance training has potential to strengthen your heart muscle and burn unhealthy fat. Certain flexibility exercise such as Pilates and yoga make use of stretching and core muscles that are beneficial as well. Take note: Always warm up prior to exercise.

However, regardless of the type of exercise, a diabetic must address a few special needs before initiating any type of exercise program. Here are a few examples:

Always consult your doctor before exercising. Give details regarding the type, frequency, duration and intensity of the physical activity. Some of the exercises must be avoided and your physician will inform you about them. Also, get information on how to avoid injuring your legs and feet. Lastly, you must always carry some form of carbohydrate that gets quickly absorbed by the body. Take for example- a snack bar or orange juice.

Follow the above-mentioned tips and exercise options for a longer and better quality of life.

Plus, What Better Way to Kick-off an Exercise Program Than With the The Big Blue Test?!

The Big Blue Test - Video Intro

The Big Blue Test is a program of the Diabetes Hands Foundation that encourages people with diabetes to test their blood sugar, exercise for 14-20 minutes, test again and share their experience on BigBlueTest.org. For every test, people with diabetes in need receive life-saving supplies through Big Blue Test grants that are awarded to humanitarian diabetes charities in the US and around the world, made possible thanks to the program sponsor.

Be part of the 20,000 people who will do the Big Blue Test this year. Help yourself and help others. Get active, join the movement at BigBlueTest.org.

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Happy D-Labor Day

Whether Labor Day represents the sad end to Summer or a welcome return to routine, navigating holidays with diabetes presents a unique challenge. We’ve put together some tips for eating and traveling, plus info on a super kewl Labor Day Blogfest for Diabetes Awareness.

Labor Day Food – D-Style
Get-togethers usually mean tons of food and as a diabetic, the thought of party food probably makes your BG spike! So when a Labor Day barbeque or party is on your agenda, the most important thing you can do is to plan for it. Here are a few tips to help you plan:

• Make sure you stick to your meal plan before and after the party — just in case you eat one too many hors d’oeuvres while you are there.
• Schedule your meals so that you have eaten within 2 hours of arriving at the party — don’t show up hungry!
• See if you can find out anything about the menu ahead of time. This will give you some time to think about your meal choices ahead of time and also allow you to bring a diabetes-friendly dish, which is usually much-appreciated by the host/hostess.
• Load up on carb-free appetizers like vegetables and dip, grilled items high in protein.
• Stay active. Enjoy the last days of Summer by planning games and activities outdoors. Not only is this fun, but will improve your BG levels.

Labor Day Weekend Travel – with Diabetes
An estimated 34 million Americans will be on the road during Labor Day weekend, many of them with type 2 diabetes. Road travel can interfere with blood sugar management and lead to low blood sugar, which can cause serious complications, if not treated quickly.

In fact, according to a recent survey by the American College of Endocrinology, 37 percent of people with type 2 diabetes have experienced low blood sugar while driving or traveling. Here are some tips for safe travel:

• Pack extra snacks, drinks and testing supplies , so that you are prepared in the event of delays.
• If you take insulin, make sure you store it properly for the road trip. Click here for more information on proper insulin storage.
• Take identification that explains your condition in case you are unable to give instructions yourself. Keep a Diabetes ID card in your wallet in case of an emergency.
• If you are taking a long car trip, test your blood sugar before leaving. If it is 70 mg/dL or below, eat or drink something that will raise it quickly, and wait until it is back to normal before getting behind the wheel.
• Research restaurants at your travel destination so you know your healthy options for meals in advance.
• Research emergency clinics along your travel route. Ask your doctor to fill in this medical travel certificate for you, and keep it with you when you travel.
• Test yourself at regular intervals.
• Stop periodically to walk around, stretch your legs and give your body a break from sitting down.
• Follow your regular daily dosing routine.

For more tips on traveling with diabetes or information on air travel, click here.

Labor Day Blogfest For Diabetes Awareness
Wayman Publishing is teaming up with a whole smattering of awesome authors for a kickin Labor Day weekend event. Between September 2nd and 4th, you can download several of the featured e-books FREE.

You can also enter to win CASH or physical books by outstanding authors such as Valerie Bowen, Adrienne deWolfe, Peter Thomas Senese, Lucy Swing and Kara Tollman.

In honor of Melynda Fleury — who has been fighting diabetes and has almost completely lost her eyesight as a result– Wayman Publishing, as well as several of the participating authors (see below), is also donating 5% profit from select physical book sales to the American Diabetes Association.

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On top of everything that a parent worries about, t1 parents have an extra helping of stress to weigh on our minds. One of the many worries is the anxiety of whether or not our son, Nick, has everything he needs with him to survive.

Like most t1’s, Nick carries his supplies in his “D” bag (yes, it’s very funny, glad to see you still remember teenaged humor!). In public, people probably wonder when they hear us say, “Don’t forget your D-bag!”

The D-bag contains everything Nick needs to manage his diabetes and help him in an emergency. It holds his extra Omnipod and PDM, multiclix lancets, test strips, glucagon, alcohol wipes, apple juice boxes, glucose tablets, triple “A” batteries and insulin.

For those readers who don’t have type 1 or type 2 diabetes in their lives, insulin is very, very expensive. The last thing you need is extreme high or low temperature ruining it. The window in which insulin is safely stored is between 44 and 86 degrees. It may sound like there’s a lot of wiggle room, but it’s a little too close for my comfort.

Enter CLiMAPAK, the newest addition to the D-bag family.

The folks over at Kewl Innovations gave us the opportunity to get an advanced, hands on look, at their product- something that’s going be a must have for t1 families- and give it a test run.

Without looking at the instructions I was able to get up and running in a few minutes. There’s a chamber that holds two insulin pens or two vials of insulin, or a combination of both. The controls are reached by removing the insulin chamber from the main unit and are intuitive for even the most technophobic user. Overall, the CLiMAPAK weighs in over a pound and should fit most field bags or even large purses. It runs silently and there are no moving parts or anything to trip you up. Load your insulin and the lithium battery and you’re good to go.

Speaking of the battery, I want to devote an entire paragraph to that. Kewl Innovations brags that the battery charge will last four or five days. In my experience, I’d say they are being modest.

We put our CLiMAPAK together sixteen days ago and the charge is still holding. That’s pretty darn impressive. When it runs out, I have a spare battery to last me another couple weeks. And if I’m on the go, there’s a car adapter for your battery charger. They thought of everything! Someone over at Kewl must have diabetes or something. Oh wait, the CLiMAPAK creator does.

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. Here was someone thinking. Thank you, Mike Wilkinson.

Thank you, Dan, for your review. We are thrilled to hear that ClimaPak has been a positive addition to your family!

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The one thing the Kewl team has in common is a love for travel. CEO Tom Borger has been to every continent except Antartica, Director of Sales & Marketing Crystal McFerran pretty much lives for her next international vacation and Community Engagement Specialist Shayne O’Sullivan ended up in Dallas after meeting the love of his life during a semester abroad. Not to mention the fact that Kewl intern Madeline is currently scuba-diving off the coast of Bali.

All of us agree that these days, no getaway is complete without digital accessories. Having the right gadget can completely transform a trip, allowing you to capture and instantly share memories, connect with friends and family and access endless avenues of entertainment in even the most remote locations.

We have no doubt that ClimaPak will be the ultimate high-tech travel “gadget” for people with diabetes. In order to celebrate our product launch, we wanted to put together a fun Summer promotion, so our Keepin’ it Kewl Sweepstakes was born. It was a no-brainer to select must-have travel gadgets as giveaways. We selected prizes that, like ClimaPak, are portable, rechargeable and/or just all-out kewl travel companions. (Yes, we throw ‘kewl’ out a lot around here.)

The first prize, being given away THIS FRIDAY, is a Kodak Mini Video Camera. When I say mini, I mean mini…it’s literally the size of a credit card. Not only that, but it’s waterproof. Take it to the beach, the pool, kayaking, out on the boat, then drop it in your pocket or your smallest clutch for a night out. It’s all about convenience and this is definitely convenient enough to take anywhere and capture any of life’s moments. Its rechargeable Li-Polymer battery and pop-out USB arm makes it easy to share these moments with your friends and family on Facebook and YouTube. Who couldn’t use this?

If you haven’t already, make sure you Enter to Win!

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Independence Day is a day for every American to revel in the freedom that citizenship in this great nation grants.  Whether you’re hanging out pool-side devouring hot dogs, or sitting under roaring fireworks in a crowded field with picnic blankets and families spackling every square inch, the whole point of these activities is to celebrate the fact that on July 4^th, 1776 a gaggle of adventurers on Columbus’s continent made a most noble and dangerous commitment to individual liberty.  While some historians squabble over the actual date that the Declaration of Independence was signed, the ‘Fourth of July’ has been America’s accepted Date of Birth since the document was created 236 years ago.

Despite all the ‘Star Spangled Glamour’, in the eyes of diabetes, the Fourth is just another day.  Carbs to count, blood to test, injections to take, and so on.  The diabetes party doesn’t hold, not even for something as mighty as America.  Instead, diabetes invites it-self to all the festivities and demands ones attention, no matter how loud you blast Yankee Doodle or how bright the glare from the fireworks may be.

On the Eve of America’s Birthday we’d like to pose a few simple questions….

How prepared are you to manage diabetes during tomorrow’s action –packed holiday?

What are you doing to ensure you maintain your diabetic liberty?

Having diabetes doesn’t make you a slave to it.  You are free.  Declare your freedom over diabetes, just like the Founding Fathers did, and take every step you can to keep diabetes from inhibiting undeniable right to personal liberty!

So from all of us at the Kewl Team, Happy 4^th of July! & remember to use the offer code “JULY412” to receive 10% your ClimaPak or ClimaPak bundle, a great way to declare your freedom to diabetes on this Independence day.

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The challenges you face as an individual are especially unique.  This face is amplified when it comes to diabetes.  Despite sharing a diagnosis, each individual with diabetes has to have a management strategy custom tailored to their needs.  Furthermore, each PWD (person with diabetes) goes on forever tweaking and altering their management strategy as they learn more about their body and the nature of diabetes.

Last month the Kewl Team headed south to San Antonio, TX for Diabetes EXPO 2012, put on by the American Diabetes Association.  After pit stopping at the Alamo we made our way into the convention center armed with a Flip Video camera to capture conversations with PWDs about how they manage diabetes, and what measures they take to preserve their insulin.

Below, we’ve segmented the footage into a handful of clips and commented on the themes each clip touches on.

We started the day talking with Art, a friendly type 2 who explained the rigors of injecting cold insulin.  This was quite a testament to one of the less talked about features of the ClimaPak™.  ClimaPak operates within the appropriate temperature window for insulin (44-77 or 44-86 degrees F), which means that users benefit from the assurance of reliable temperature control, without the pain of injecting bitter cold insulin.  While this feature isn’t as flashy as nano-technology, or awesome battery life, it is a subtlety worth noticing.

Gill was in attendance largely on behalf of her father, a type 2 PWD (person with diabetes) who had been managing well until a separate medical complication forced him onto injected insulin.   Adding insulin to the diabetes management equation seemed to be the tipping point for Gill’s father.  While he takes steps to cool his insulin, usually by packing it in a case with ice, this method falls well short of the varying dynamics that can impact insulin care.  As Gill explains of her father starting insulin, “It really has just changed his game plan for everything.”

This Team Type 2 cyclist explained the hardships of managing insulin during endurance events.  It’s easy to see how your insulin would be vulnerable while running in an ultra-marathon, or any other event that requires hours of exposure, but the real eye opening thing was that this rider also went into the need for a solid insulin management strategy in the day to day routine.  Fact is, you need to protect your insulin from the heat, doesn’t matter if your running a marathon or just walking your dog.

The biggest take-away from our day at the Diabetes EXPO 2012 San Antonio,was simply being saturated in an environment of eagerness and enthusiasm.  The place was full of PWDs actively seeking the help they need.  It is this motivation that drives the innovation behind the management tools of the future, and it’s what keeps us inspired!

We finished the day chasing down this duck at the San Antonio River Walk.  While he declined to answer any of our questions, he did request a cameo appearance on the company blog.  We were happy to oblige.

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Okay, I’m sitting here in the Kewl Innovations office with a head phone in one ear (listening to the local radio weather reports) and a radar screen pulled up on my browser.  I must inform you, that being a native Rhode Islander, the whole tornado thing are still pretty new (and scary) to me.  Justifiably… considering that a funnel could shoot down on a whim and rip around as it wills.

Thankfully, it looks like we are sitting a sliver of the DFW area just between the most severe parts of today’s storms.  Our neighboring communities haven’t been as fortunate though.  As of 2pm today, Oncor, local electricity provider, released a figure of 28,000 DFW homes having lost power and that number continues to grow.

Most of the time I try to figure out how folks with diabetes can make use of our device in their average, everyday lives.  However, today’s storms have served as an abrupt reminder of a far more sobering use-case.  Emergency situations pose a very real threat to people with diabetes.  Losing power, or access to ones management supplies, could mean serious repercussions.  It’s hard enough trying to get this blog post written in the midst of today’s chaos… I can’t image trying to prepare for the possibility of managing diabetes in the middle of an emergency or disaster.

While I hope people think of our device as WAY more than an  ’emergency shelter for insulin’, in the right scenario, a scenario like far too many of our neighbors are facing today,  it will be just that.

Stay safe Texans!

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What if we thought differently about diabetes educators and endocrinologists? What if, instead of looking to them to have every answer, and know every nuance, we simply realized that they too are people trying diligently to manage a vastly complicated condition?

Yes, they are considered experts, and should be a reliable source for diabetes advice.  But PWD’s know as well as anyone that diabetes can be unpredictable, and that sometimes trying to manage it is just as challenging as breaking a wild stallion.

Management is an ongoing, ever-changing process.  Unfortunately, educators and endos can’t be there or every step of the way.  But what they can do is provide sound information and feedback on management techniques, and chaperone their clients toward a multitude of resources.

Earlier this week, the Kewl Innovations team had the privilege of attending a North Texas AADE meeting.  There we got to learn about the current challenges that educators are facing with their clients, and get feedback about where exactly our solution fits in the bigger diabetes management picture.

As I participated in the meeting, I noticed something profound.  The educators and endocrinologists in attendance were indeed ‘diabetes experts’, no surprises there.  But they were also incredibly well versed in another subject, a subject extremely prevalent to PWD’s, although in a less obvious way than BG and insulin injections.

It dawned on me that educators and endos know a whole lot about healthcare.  That may seem obvious, but actually it is a really really crucial thing.

Why? Because this is how most people see healthcare….

It’s a big scary jungle, that they don’t want to claw their way through.  Fact is, at some point most people need to adventure through the healthcare jungle. And when they do, they’ll need a guide to get them to where they need to go.  Educators and endocrinologists are friendly with the local tribesmen, who know their way through the bush.  They are on your side, in all likelihood, can help you navigate to the valuable resources, buried deep in the inner-workings of the healthcare jungle.

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The only purpose of our company is to provide something useful to people with diabetes (PWD’s).  Sounds simple enough, but I want to talk about the unique PR challenges/opportunities that come with working in such a niche.

Whenever I engage with PWD’s via Kewl, my foremost priority is to connect and interact on what I like to call, ‘The P level’.

PWD is a acronym crafted to replace the sometimes-stinging term ‘diabetic’.  Maybe you think that’s a little too fluffy, but personally, I like PWD.  It allows me to focus on the P level of interact.  P stands for people, if you haven’t figured that out.

Lo and behold, people with diabetes are people.  You wouldn’t always think that though just by watching some diabetes brands interact with the folks that count on their products.  I want to be different though.  Not just because we ought to be, but because it actually makes the most sense when you consider what our brand offers.

What we do, is enable people to be diabetics less and people more. So it doesn’t make any sense to try to interact with our market just on the basis of having diabetes.  Instead, we get to know the P in the PWD first, that way we can understand how what we do can specifically help each individual.

This post was inspired by a write-up on DiabetesMine.org

It provides some really good insight on the industry-customer relationship, and even includes a poll for PWD’s to share how they feel about interacting with companies.

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