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.