All posts by Stacey D.

Roche Summit Part 2. Technology.

BG Meters, Community, Education, Events, Roche

One of the things I enjoyed most about the trip to Indianapolis was the opportunity to visit and see firsthand Roche’s main campus, including their Research and Development area and the test strip manufacturing plant.  Seeing before my own eyes how much equipment and effort goes into making Accu-chek test strips was mind boggling.  Just to give you an idea of the magnitude of their production – there are 100,000 vials of 50 test strips manufactured in just one lot.  200 vials per minute are packaged for different countries.  Whoa.  And that is just one test strip manufacturer.  Imagine putting them all together?!  Our tour guide mentioned that the motto in the plant is that “every strip counts”.  I like that.  With how valuable and critical test strip results are, it was good to hear and I hope that all involved take it that seriously.

We also got to hear from some of Roche’s executives on the current and future state of their diabetes technology.  Believe it or not (and I’ll take their word for it) there are 180 companies involved with diabetes technology in one way or another.  180!  They want to make products more useful with integration which was reassuring since isn’t that what we all want?  But it is a work in progress.  And with the FDA seemingly so slow with approving diabetes devices, we have to do our part as patients to assist all pharma companies in dealing with the FDA by voicing our opinions and providing feedback whenever possible.  Their new Combo insulin pump system was discussed and October of this year looks to be when it will be available here in the US.  They shared some upcoming products with us so it looks like they will be busy for some time.

Now to the fun part.  I was given an Accu-chek Nano meter from Roche.  Since I already have one (why yes I do tend to get myself the latest and greatest diabetes equipment!) I would love to give this new one to one of my readers.  To be fair, all attendees from the Social Media Summit will not be eligible.  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and I will use one of those handy-dandy random number generators to pick the winner and will announce it here on Friday.    The deadline to participate is Thursday, August 9th at noon EST.  It comes with 10 Smartview test strips and the new FastClix lancet device if you haven’t tried that yet.  It is a nice little meter and I really like it but if I’m going to be honest, two things hold me back from using it as my primary meter – lack of a port light where you insert the strips and the batteries it uses (CR2032).  Good luck!!

Roche Summit Part 1. Overall Impression.

Advocacy, Community, Events, Roche

It’s been three days since I returned from the 2012 Roche Social Media Summit in Indianapolis and I’ve been thinking a lot since. It was an experience with a lot to digest. I think there may be some notion that the diabetes summits held by companies like Roche are nothing but fun and games and hanging out. Before attending, I honestly never thought that. But after being an attendee, I can say it’s certainly not all play and no work. The first morning being in the meeting room, I looked around and saw everyone at their respective table, iPad or laptop at their fingertips, taking notes, tweeting to their followers, sharing what was being learned. Most importantly, taking the summit seriously. Monday was the only full day however activities did begin Sunday evening and lasted throughout Tuesday afternoon. There was a lot packed into less than 48 hours.

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I’ve heard from past attendees that having speakers wasn’t the tone set each year. Having nothing to compare to, I felt having Josh Bliell and Steve Richert share their stories with us was extremely moving and inspiring. If you haven’t heard of Josh, he is the community spokesperson for the NFL Indianapolis Colts. He is a marine who lost both legs from a bombing in Iraq and although he doesn’t have diabetes, he shared his story of having courage and hope when your “normal” completely changes. If you haven’t heard of Steve, he is a fellow type 1 diagnosed as a teenager, with a mission to climb a mountain every day for 365 days to raise awareness about diabetes. These guys are so admirable. They took a bad situation and made the best of it. Something that everyone should have the guts to do.

We all got to know each other better. When we registered for the conference we were asked to provide a brief description of ourselves. Using those descriptions, they were put on the screen anonymously and we had to guess who wrote it. I have to say that most of them were guessed correctly. That showed me that even though we may not be together in person always, we know a lot about one another from our online relationships. And that’s pretty cool. Roche was getting to know us better as well. As Todd stated, the attendees to these summits play an important role in their partnership with patients. They want to interact and understand the patients. Rob said he sees every day how we motivate ourselves to interact with others and motivate others. To quote him “we want to be the arrows pointing to all of your resources, not competing with them”. This is what separates companies like Roche from others. Their interest and initiative to reach out to patients. They get what the diabetes online community is all about.

Of course there was bonding. And laughing. Crying. Hugging. That was all icing on the cake. There were also serious discussions. Important questions asked. Ideas shared. Motivation gained. All this happened for the good of the diabetes community everywhere.

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(photo courtesy: Chris Snider)

Disclosure: Roche paid for my travel, hotel and meal expenses for my trip to Indy. They have not however, required any blog posts from any of us. Feedback provided by me is completely my own opinion.

Thank You.

Advocacy, Community, Events, Traveling

I got home tonight from my first ever Roche Social Media Summit in Indianapolis.  It was a fantastic time and I have a lot to process and sleep to catch up on so some feedback will follow in a few days.

But I wanted to start (or end the day) by saying a sincere thank you to Roche, especially Rob Muller and Todd Siesky.  I knew it was going to be a rewarding event but to be in the presence of such down to earth, dedicated and funny people that have taken the time the past 4 years to meet with people from the diabetes community to get their honest opinions, feedback and ideas on what Roche can do for people living with diabetes is very commendable.  It is something that I feel every pharma company for every health community should do.  I was extremely honored to be part of it this year and is something that will stay with me forever.

THANK YOU.

(photo credit: Roche)

First Time.

Advocacy, Community, Education, Events

The past few years, I’ve only heard about events like the Roche Diabetes Social Media Summit or Medtronic Diabetes Advocate Forum or more recently the Lilly Diabetes Blogger Summit.  These are events that are by “invite only” and are usually an expense paid type of thing.  I’ve heard nothing but good things from the people who have attended.  I always thought the attendees were lucky to experience such great opportunities to interact with companies like those and each other in extensive advocacy efforts.  Was I a wee bit jealous?  Sure.  Who wouldn’t want the chance for a paid trip to learn about the works and plans of big diabetes companies and to hang out with diabetes friends??  Was I bitter?  Nope.  The diabetes community has grown and continues to grow dramatically.  The bottom line is that it is impossible to give everyone a chance to attend these events.  And I feel that the people chosen to represent the community are chosen for a reason.

However, fast forward to this year.  I was invited.  I have no idea how but I am one of the fortunate diabetes advocates attending the Roche Diabetes Social Media Summit in Indianapolis in just 2 days.  I cannot express how honored and privileged I feel to have been asked.  I know this is going to be the opportunity of a lifetime.  I am excited to see and(or) meet the other advocates attending.  I am thrilled to get a taste of what Roche is like.  I am eager to see what the discussions will entail.  My intention when blogging and advocating about diabetes, is to support all of those who live with diabetes.  In that effort, I am really going to strive to represent people with diabetes as best I can.  If you have anything at all you would like me to ask or mention to Roche during the summit, please let me know.  If you’d rather not leave a comment on this here blog post, feel free to email me as well: staceydblog@gmail.com.

I love the fact that Roche, Medtronic and Lilly are taking the initiative to work with people from the diabetes community to hopefully come up with a plan on how they can better serve our needs.  I don’t know that other communities interact with pharma companies like this.  But they should.  There is no better way to understand the needs of patients then getting together a whole bunch of them at the same time for an elaborate dialogue.  Most of us will be tweeting about the event so please follow #dsummit12.  Of course I will share my experience once I’m back.  But most likely not for a few days after I return since the schedule is pretty packed and I have to go to work the rest of that week.  That thing called sleep I love to do?  Not on the agenda until next weekend 😉

Have a great weekend everyone!

Secret Motivation.

Fitness

Finding motivation to exercise has always been a struggle for me.  However, I have improved on that greatly over the past few months.  If I only get some kind of workout in twice a week, that is my new standard for minimal exercise, compared to the nothing I used to do.  I’m not going to lie.  I love to exercise.  I love pushing myself.  I love how I feel afterwards.  I love working up a good sweat.  But I’m also lazy.  And work a lot of hours.  So that makes finding time and energy difficult at times.

Last night when I got home from work, the weather was nice.  And I knew I had about an hour or so before the sun went down.  I wanted to go for a bike ride.  But I didn’t feel like I had the energy.  I debated for a couple of minutes.  Literally standing in the living room trying to decide.  But I went for it.  And as I figured, I was so glad I did.  I used the Map my Ride app for the first time and clocked in a 7.25 mile ride.  Not bad for someone who didn’t have energy huh? 😉

The place I love to ride is a bike path along one of the parkways in my neighborhood.  There are two near each other and I usually opt for one.  However last night I did some of both and was so glad I got to enjoy beautiful sun setting scenery along the way.  I have to say that I love and appreciate the backgrounds nature provides.  After seeing that last night, it may just be some secret motivation for me to ride some more.

Hey, whatever gets you going right?  🙂

New OmniPod Cases – Update.

OmniPod

Not too long ago, I posted about new meter bags coming out specifically for the OmniPod PDM’s from Sugar Medical Supply.  Well I received mine in the mail on Friday so wanted to share with you.

Overall the size is very comparable to the original bags from Sugar.  They are a tad bit wider and a tad bit shorter.  Here is a picture to compare (the new OmniPod bag is on the left)

The inside is very similar as well, this time with a bit more room to fit both the PDM and a pod.  The clear strap that holds a meter is sized specifically for the larger PDM.  It is still adjusted by velcro which allows for more flexibility.  I use a skin for my PDM and had to try a little harder to get the strap to fit with the skin on.  But it does fit.

The material of the outside is the same as the original bags, which to me was a great attribute to keep.  It is a very pleasant fabric – not too stiff, not too slippery, easily wiped off for cleaning if necessary,

In addition to holding the PDM, it also is a great fit to hold just my extra supplies!  No need for a giant bag to hold it all.

Right now there are two patterns to choose from – the one shown here and pink hearts.  But hopefully down the road we will see more 🙂  I would recommend this case for OmniPod users for sure and they are available for purchase now on Sugar Medical Supply’s website!

Thank you Carolyn!

Little Things to Appreciate.

Edgepark

One of the things about living with diabetes is that there are a lot of medication and supplies needed on daily basis. Very important mediations and supplies. And very expensive medications and supplies. This means that people living with diabetes deal with pharmacies, medical supply companies and insurance companies more than we’d prefer I’m sure. I am extremely fortunate to have most of my diabetes supplies covered under durable medical equipment and Edgepark is a preferred provider for my insurance. To me, this gives the comfort of knowing I am going to receive my pods, sensors, test strips and ketone test strips like clockwork, every 3 months. I am a huge fan of Edgepark. Some of you may have already heard this from me. I’ve been dealing with them for almost 3 years and have never had a bad experience.

Until yesterday that is. A shipment of test strips was being sent to me – some boxes of Freestyle test strips (backup strips that go with my OmniPod PDM), some boxes of One Touch Verio test strips and some boxes of Precision Xtra blood ketone strips was what I was expecting. Except when I got home and opened the package there were only 2 boxes of Freestyle strips. Umm, I knew the package felt way too light! In a panic, I called Edgepark to report the error in my delivery. I was told the other strips were on backorder however I was not notified of this prior to the shipment going out. Needless to say, I was very disappointed in my favorite supply company. The customer service rep checked with their warehouse in another location and was able to locate the items I needed in stock and informed me they would be going out in the next couple of days. I was beginning to run low on my primary meter strips and was kind of bummed I may run out before getting the new supply.

However, I got an email from Edgepark early this morning about a delivery notification and low and behold I received this package in my office around 10 this morning.

I was frustrated that they didn’t inform me of back ordered items but thank you Edgepark for compensating for that mistake by getting these to me in a hurry. Customer service like that makes dealing with the intricacies of diabetes life a tad bit easier.

New Cases OmniPodders Will Love.

Community, OmniPod

I not only have a thing for diabetes electronic devices.  I love the accessories that go with them.  When I switched to the OmniPod a few months ago and used the PDM as my primary BG meter as well, I was very happy that it fit into the case I had from Sugar Medical Supply.  The universal strap system allows different size meters to fit, including the larger PDM.

Then a few weeks ago I saw a post by Sugar Medical Supply on Facebook about new bags in the works just for OmniPod users.  So I reached out to Carolyn, the founder of Sugar, and tried to pry more details out of her 😉

Me: Are you an OmniPod-er yourself?

Carolyn: I am not an OmniPod user. I use the CGM and pump from Mini-Med.

Me: What gave you the idea to create a bag just for OmniPod users?

Carolyn: We were approached my OmniPod after meeting them at the AADE show in Vegas last August. We started producing samples for them in the fall.

Me: What is different about these bags?

Carolyn: If you have used our Sugar Bags, you will notice the bags are a bit larger in size. This is to allow the user to carry an extra “Pod” with them. We also made the bag have a larger vinyl/velcro strap that fits over the OmniPod PDM (Personal Diabetes Manager) better in the bag. The bag follows our design principals of our Sugar Bags- the bags are fully padded, made of easy to care for polyester fabrics that wipe clean, and use fun, fashionable fabrics. There is not a specific bag on the market designed just for OmniPod users (besides the black bag that comes with it) so we are so excited to offer Omni Pod customers something fun and new.

Me: There are currently two designs available – do you see any more in the future?

Carolyn: We will certainly add new bags if the demand is there 🙂

If you check out their site, you can see the new bags for yourself.  The bags will not be available to order online for another week or two but if you’d like to pre-order one for yourself (or a loved one) you can send an email directly to customerservice@sugarmedicalsupply.com and they will be happy to place an order for you.  It will be shipped to you as soon as they get them in.  They are also currently offering a free sample of Dex4 glucose tablets with every order as well as sale prices on their regular supply bags.  So go on and check them out!  And let me know what you think fellow OmniPod-ers!

Thank you Carolyn, for allowing me an inside scoop to share with my readers! (and image credit goes to Sugar Medical Supply)