Early in the year (holy smokes, how time flies!) I shared some news about a new tool that Gary Scheiner was putting together called Type 1 University.
Since that time I have tried a few of the classes, and I loved them.
Gary lives with type 1 diabetes himself, is an exercise physiologist and a Certified Diabetes Educator. All of that mixed together means that, for most people, he totally gets it. I also think he has a gift for explaining things in a way that make sense and that can be used in the real world. While Gary knows a lot of “doctor talk”, that’s not the language he speaks.
Gary has been successful in finding many ways to overcome the challenge of location when teaching people about diabetes. As long as I’ve known him, he’s used technology to his advantage and has done remote consulting using all of the tools the internet has to offer. He currently works with people all over the world, and I think that’s pretty cool.
With Type 1 University, he is taking tools that are commonly used for “webinars”, allowing multiple people, regardless of geographic location, to tune in and watch an interactive presentation. It sounds dry, I know, but it really works well! You get a live shot of Gary (or whoever is teaching), a place to ask questions, and then the slide show. It’s really engaging, and I found myself completely immersed in the class through the tools.
To take it another step further, Gary is recording all of these sessions so that people can access them on-demand.
The live classes usually last 45-60 minutes, and run $29.95. The pre-recorded sessions are $19.95. Check out the sample class on the Type 1 University homepage to get a feel for it and decide if it’s something you want to try.
Disclaimer
I was allowed to try a couple of classes free of charge. This review/promotion would not be fair if I didn’t share with you the arrangements made to try the classes. There was no expectation that I write about them or not write about them, but there was hope that I would find them to be a valuable resource well worth the price Gary is asking. And I do. The value, in my opinion, far exceeds the prices being asked. Once I’ve got some solid income rolling in, I’ll be taking advantage of the other classes I’m interested in. I hope you try one, or a few, and share with us how you like them.
You might not be aware of the exciting research taking place at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. A Harvard researcher, Dr. Denise Faustman, accidentally cured life-long type 1 diabetic mice while preparing them for beta cell transplants. Their immune systems had been killing the transplanted beta cells, so she was able to isolate the particular immune cell that was doing this and used a generic drug, bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), to kill that immune cell without harming the rest of the immune system. The morning after she gave the drug, she came into the lab intending to do the transplants but found the mice were controlling their own blood sugars without needing insulin. Their whole lives they had been continuing to make beta cells and this immune cell was continuing to kill them off. So now transplants were not necessary. The mice were cured! That mice experiment has now been successfully repeated by four U.S. labs and one Asian lab, and so the FDA has approved human trials. The first, which tests for safety, was financed by the Lee Iacocca Foundation, and now the Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials are being set up, but funds are needed. See http://www.faustmanLab.org
Thanks for the reminder about these classes Scott. I had meant to try some of them.