IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Note: Simcoe County Insulin Pump Group and it's organizers makes no warranty nor implied warranty for any of the contents and information understood from it's meetings, speakers nor for anything contained within it's correspondence nor opinions expressed herein nor otherwise and does not intend for any information provided by it's presenters or participants at it's meetings and within it's correspondence to supercede in any way any advice from health care professionals. Simcoe County Insulin Pump Group does not endorse any brand, model nor manufacturer of Diabetes Management equipment nor supplies. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ SIMCOE COUNTY INSULIN PUMPERS MEETING # 16 February 23, 2004 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm We had a total of 16 people attend. As always there were refreshments and snacks. Thanks once again to Zehr's for their kind use of their Community Room! +++ I wish to extend a warm welcome to all the new people who came to our February 23rd meeting! We had seven new "members" attend, bringing our "group" up to 50 in number! Three pharmacists also attended to learn more about insulin pump therapy. We had some comments that this meeting had "negative overtones" due to the discussion of serious complications many of us "old timers" have. It is important to note that we've never gathered to dwell on the ill's of long term Diabetes. Personally I find the intestinal fortitude of many I have met with advanced complications very uplifting. Plus, many of us 20, 30, 40 year duration people are (I dare to say) somewhat "proud" of how well we handle the complications. Based on my experience with the many wonderful people in this group, I believe the point of this discussion of complications was to show that if insulin pump therapy had been made available to many of us five, ten, twenty years ago; we would not be experiencing the serious complications that we are today. I think the message we were trying to convey is "hope" for the newly diagnosed and especially for the kids who hopefully will never know what it's like to try and manage Diabetes without the aid of a pump and modern blood glucose testing! This is one reason many of us try to promote insulin pump therapy and education about managing type I diabetes in the hope that more people and kids will be able to take advantage of and be successful on insulin pump therapy. The above discussion of long term complications arose from the desire to show the attending pharmacists how necessary insulin pump therapy is to avoid complications. It was also due to Paul Beckwith's talk about re-running his petition to have OHIP cover the full costs of insulin pumps, supplies and diabetes supplies so people could afford better diabetes management: Petition to have OHIP cover the full costs of insulin pumps, supplies and diabetes supplies: Paul Beckwith, co-founder of our group, has worked very hard in past to secure and submit over 10,000 signatures to the House asking for OHIP coverage of diabetes supplies including pumps. Paul related to us that he had recently been approached by MPP Joe Tascona to re-circulate his petition. According to Mr. Tascona, he feels that such a request, made by petition, has an excellent chance of being considered by the current government. It was reported by Paul that MPP Garfield Dunlop also supports this petition and the coverage by OHIP of pumps and DM supplies. Currently the only government coverage for pump supplies is for those on Ontario Disability Support Program. This program covers 100% of all pump supplies but not the cost of the pump itself. Paul said that both Garfield Dunlop and Joe Tascona were willing to attend one of our meetings to discuss effective methods to execute this petition but were unable to commit at this time due to scheduling problems. Comments followed from attendees as such: - Diabetes care costs the governments of Canada over $13.2 billion per year - a single pacemaker (covered 100% by OHIP) costs over $16,000 - dialysis costs government over $60,000 per year per person until a transplant operation - use of insulin pump therapy and adequate coverage of supplies by government has the potential to reduce or eliminate the above costs. Most people at the meeting said they'd be willing to help Paul gather signatures when he was ready. Antique Insulin Pump: One of the new attendees kindly brought along a surprize:Ê A 1984 Insulin Pump! Its a 1984, Eugly Insulin Infusion Pump made by Travenol Labs. The gentleman who brought this antique described insulin pumping in the 1980's. Just shows:Ê pumps are not a new thing! He promises to bring the pump to future meetings for others to see. Yet another new attendee took a couple of pictures of this 1984 pump - Thanks Ray and John. You can see the 1984 pump on your web site: http://homepage.mac.com/dp66/SCIP ICES Study on Diabetes care in Ontario: Karen Cauch-dudek, Research Coordinator for the Institute of Clinical and Evaluative Sciences, gave us a short talk on her institute, its programs and their current study on diabetes care in Ontario. Since October, Simcoe County Insulin Pumpers and Insulin Pumpers Canada have been informing people about this study. This study is still in need of participants. Now is your chance to be heard!Ê You can find out more about this study at your website: http://homepage.mac.com/dp66/SCIP Karen explained that ICES is monitoring the health care system in Ontario to find gaps in the health care system. One group of people, in this case insulin pumpers, may find excellent support in one region but none at all in another region. The results of this study and others like this one will aid the Ontario government to provide more uniform care throughout the province. In past, ICES has found that in many cases some people aren't aware of the services they need already existing in their own community. Of course in other cases the services don't exist at all. ICES needs 1200 surveys filled out but so far only 500 have been completed. Karen plans to attend more Simcoe County Insulin Pumpers meetings in order to keep us up to date and to continue to provide surveys to any members wishing to participate. Thanks Karen for coming up to see us! +++ General Discussions: - comments were made by some that they were very pleased to find an insulin pump support group in Canada, let alone locally. It was reported that the Ajax DEC is very pro-active in pump therapy. - private insurance coverage and strategies were discussed. It appears many private insurance carriers will only pay for an insulin pump if one's A1C is very high. If you have "adequate control", say an A1C under 9.x they probably won't cover a pump. Clearly there is a great need to educate insurance firms on diabetes and insulin pump therapy. - a survey on insulin pumping is operated by an anonymous firm on the Internet:ÊÊ http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=97961390609 - one new attendee is looking for a low cost pump. If anyone has any leads on used pumps; please drop me an email: insulinpumper@sympatico.ca or drop Paul an email: p.c.beckwith@sympatico.caÊ This lead to discussions about ways to obtain low cost pumps and supplies which many of us have used in order to be able to afford insulin pump therapy: - MiniMed sells refurbished pumps at a reduced price but only guarantees them for 6 months - eBay appears to be no longer allowing the sale of insulin pumps As always much more was discussed and shared by all. See y'all on March 15th! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ NEXT MEETING: MONDAY, MARCH 15 2004 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm Zehr's Community Room, Bayfield St, Barrie. Tino Montopoli, BSc, Pharmacy, CDE and insulin pumper of Stutt's Pharmacy & Diabetes Care Centre 1-888-678-8887 will be telling us about their store, pump supply prices, delivery and his personal experiences and Q&A session on being a pumping pharmacist. Tino intends to explain to us why we must take various oral medications to help prevent complications such as appropriate drugs for kidney, eye and heart protection against marco and micro vascular disease.Ê This is an important bit of knowledge for everyone of all ages! Even the kids! From Tino: As an enticement, I will offer a free One Touch UltraSmart blood glucose meter kit with the first 20 clients who place orders with me. This is compliments of Stutt's Diabetes Care Depot. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Note: Simcoe County Insulin Pump Group and it's organizers makes no warranty nor implied warranty for any of the contents and information understood from it's meetings, speakers nor for anything contained within it's correspondence nor opinions expressed herein nor otherwise and does not intend for any information provided by it's presenters or participants at it's meetings and within it's correspondence to supercede in any way any advice from health care professionals. Simcoe County Insulin Pump Group does not endorse any brand, model nor manufacturer of Diabetes Management equipment nor supplies. NOTE: Information supplied by Simcoe County Insulin Pumpers or Insulin Pumpers Canada is not a substitute for professional medical advice in any way.