Search This Blog

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Diabetes Conference Helps Diabetics Cope

Diabetes Conference, the 30th one presented by the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi was such a big help for the diabetics because there were topics on how to look after the condition from diabetes educators themselves. This allowed the attendees to put the things they need to do right in the forefront of their minds.

This type of diabetes conference should be offered all over the country so every diabetic can avail himself of the chance to attend. This is great news for JPS Health Network to consider coverage for weight loss surgery. It's a good thing they are doing more than paying lip service to the prevention of diabetes.

Although the patient will still have to go through counseling regarding nutrition and diet, it is still a step in the right direction to have a plan like this come on the board level. Hopefully all others will follow suit. And this is what some people do. Let me tell you the story.

Someone attended his very first conference on Children with Diabetes and he was impressed. He thought it was incredible and changed his life in more ways than one. So over a few months he tried to explore the experiences he had and the things he learned.

The Friends for Life Conference he attended was unique in the sense that it focused on Type one diabetics. Other conferences had to balance the needs of type 1 and type 2 diabetics. That was okay for him because he was able to make those conferences worth his time. An example is here for you to scroll down for a video on pre-diabetes conference in Barcelona .

But this large conference was different for him. For one thing the organizers asked for his help. Jeff and Laura the organizers had been doing this for 15 years and now the children they are trying to help are growing up. They will continue to focus on children with diabetes but they want to do it for adults too.

So they needed some feedback and gave the people a chance to help shape the conference designed for type 1 diabetics. Imagine having the chance to shape up a huge diabetes conference. What would you do? It was easy for they needed answers to these questions:

  • What challenges in life were thrown to you most often? Do you have the help to deal with those challenges? Do you need more resources? If so, what are they?
  • What do you think is the best format for the conference? Should it be with a panel of experts or just someone leading the discussion?
  • What topics should be included in the sessions that people will find worth offering?

There you have what they need. They understand that recognizing the needs for the conference may take a few years. It is our responsibility to help them do this. We know that people wanted something like this. They know that a meeting like this magnitude will good and one way to help the diabetics is through a diabetes conference.

No comments: