Big smile from Joe Solo - photo, Jeff Hitchcock
I first heard Joe Solowiejczyk when he was in Minneapolis a few years ago to speak at a JDRF Walk kickoff meeting. I liked him almost instantly. He has lived with type 1 diabetes for about 50 years, and his specialty is the mental aspect of living with type 1 diabetes. I am a big fan of Joe.
In one of the meetings I attended while in Florida for the CWD 2011 Family Support Weekend, Joe mentioned something that opened my eyes to an angle of connections that I had never thought of before. Joe is involved with the Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Institute, whose goal is to transform diabetes care by working with healthcare professionals to help them do more and help more.
Joe talked about healthcare professionals feeling like they are in the trenches all alone, and how there is power in them coming together to talk about things. Just like us. We often feel alone in our everyday lives, and we experience power in coming together to talk about things.
I thought that was pretty neat, and it made me realize that they need that connection just as much as we do.
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Scott K. Johnson
Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in April of 1980, I recognize the incredible mental struggle of living with diabetes.
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I was having some problems with my Apidra this summer and when I Googled it, landed on a message board for CDEs and nurses. It was kind of interesting seeing talk from the “other side’ of things. Just like we complain about doctors, they complained about patients (not us of course!). Some of it was the same that we talk about – did you ever have this problem type thing. You are right, they need that connection also.
thanks for pointing that out and sharing it.i confess that it never really crossed my mind. i mean i guess i knew they had problem patients but never thought about them having to vent.
so my next thought is this. we need to come together. care providers and the people they care for. is that possible? im sure we are not perfect as they are not. so knowing the problems we both face could help could it not? a summit ala roach? it would be nice to see what some of the things they think we are not doing are. i mean honestly i only deal with one d and “he” can drive me crazy sometimes!!
Scott-
I honestly never looked at diabetes from that angle. I guess we all need support from caretakers to physicians and so on…
Thanks for writing about this.
We love Joe down here. He is so down to earth and pulls no punches. We can’t wait to see him again!