We have some big problems in the United States in terms of access to and affordability of insulin. But when you look around the world, there are still many other countries with bigger barriers for people with diabetes. This week, we're talking to a group trying to make a difference in some of the places that need it most.
As you'll hear, Marjorie's Fund was started to honor the memory of a woman in Uganda who died from type 1 diabetes at the age of 29. Dr. Jason Baker is an endocrinologist who lives with T1D. He explains why he was in Uganda and what happened to make him take the leap to start Marjorie's Fund. You'll also hear from Sandy Narayanan, co-founder who lives with type 2.
This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider.
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Episode Transcription
Stacey Simms 0:00
Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario Health manage your blood glucose levels increase your possibilities by Gvoke Hypopen the first premixed auto injector for very low blood sugar, and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom.
Announcer 0:21
This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms.
Stacey Simms 0:27
This week what happens in countries where the most basic diabetes technology - syringes insulin test strips - is incredibly scarce. Dr. Jason Baker, who lives with type one found out when he spent part of his endocrinology studies in Uganda,
Dr. Jason Baker 0:43
and I thought to myself, man, if I would have been diagnosed somewhere else than where I was diagnosed, would I be able to be where I am free of complications, having my life not hindered, but actually enhanced by diabetes?
Stacey Simms 0:58
Dr. Baker shares how that experience led him to start Marjorie's Fund, now called M Fund. He and his colleague Sandy Narayanan explained the goals of the group and how we can help.
This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider.
Welcome to another week of the show. I am always so glad to have you here. Hi, I'm your host, Stacey Simms. And you know, we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. Well, for the last few years. I've had a lot of people tell me you have to talk to Dr. Jason Baker. I feel like it's just one of those names here over and over in the diabetes community. Dr. Baker is Assistant Professor of clinical medicine and attending endocrinologist at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell medicine in New York, New York. He is the co founder of M Fund, the medical director and the board chair. Marjorie's fund, as you'll hear is named after a woman Dr. Baker met in Uganda. She was diagnosed as an adult and she only lived to age 29. During her short life, she was able to advocate and educate her death, it could have been prevented with better resources and she did inspire doctors and patients and many others to carry on this cause.
Dr. Baker is joined in this interview by Sandy Ryan on their board Treasurer program committee chair and she lives with type two diabetes. They have a big event coming up and I will link all of the information up at Diabetes connections.com so you can learn more if you would like to help and you've already heard me use interchangeably Marjorie's fund and M Fund. They are in the process of renaming to M Fund. Of course, the legacy of Marjorie is at the core of this organization.
So all of that coming up but first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Gvoke Hypopen, I mean you have diabetes and use insulin, low blood sugar can happen when you don't expect it. That's why most of us carry fast acting sugar and in the case of very low blood sugar, why we carry emergency glucagon, there's a new option called Gvoke Hypopen the first auto injector to treat very low blood sugar Gvoke Hypopen is premix and ready to go with no visible needle. In usability studies. 99% of people were able to give Gvoke correctly find out more go to Diabetes- Connections comm and click on the Gvoke logo Gvoke shouldn't be used in patients with pheochromocytoma or insulinoma visit gvoke glucagon.com slash risk.
Jason and Sandy, thank you so much for joining me. I'm really interested to learn more about M Fund and everything that you all are doing. Thanks for being here.
Dr. Jason Baker 3:33
Thanks for having us. We're excited to be part of the conversation.
Stacey Simms 3:36
Let me start with you, Jason, if I could just tell me a little bit about how M Fund came to be it's quite a story.
Dr. Jason Baker 3:43
Yeah, I absolutely love to because it really is a story. I think of all too many people who live with diabetes in this world of ours. And just as an anecdote, you know, I myself have type 1 diabetes and I was diagnosed as an adult I was 24 years young medical student actually, and it changed my life. But when I was diagnosed, I had everything I needed to do a good job with managing and never got any complications don't intend to knocking wood knocking side of my head here. It is a very difficult condition as we know that takes a lot of resources and and as soon after I was diagnosed I started to do some international work and had the opportunity to travel to Africa when I was actually a fellow in endocrinology, so a young trainee in endocrinology. While I was in Uganda, I met some people living with type 1 diabetes and was struck at all of the struggles that they had. And in subsequent travels, I met other people with diabetes and I thought to myself, man, if I would have been diagnosed somewhere else than where I was diagnosed, would I be able to be where I am free of applications, having my life not hindered, but actually enhanced by diabetes, really thriving with diabetes. So it really struck me What a discrepancy there was in access to care for people living with diabetes. And I really felt this huge drive and obligation to help change the narrative. For a lot of other folks who may not have been born in geographic areas or into areas with economic opportunity to get the resources they needed to thrive. On top of this, I was meeting a ton of folks who are doing work in the field of type 1 diabetes and helping kids. So there were a lot of organizations focusing on children living with diabetes, but I realized that you know, there was this rule about how old kids could be and still be part of those programs. And it entered in to my mind at the time like, well, what happens when adults are diagnosed with Type One Diabetes, or diabetes? in general? What happens when they grow up? Where do they get their resources? So these two main themes kind of emerged in my mind about what happens to adults living with diabetes, and what happens to them living in these resource poor areas, and what can I do, and a team that was built around this concept do to improve upon those lives. So the organization was born out of those ideas, basically, giving people of all ages an equal chance working to give them an equal chance to not just survive living with diabetes, but to thrive, to empower them to be able to have the tools they need to thrive? long winded way of answering questions.
Stacey Simms 6:44
I'm gonna ask you one more thing to make it even longer. Excellent. I like to talk me to what does it do? What does the fund do? Do you send money to other organizations? Do you go back to the countries you mentioned?
Dr. Jason Baker 6:57
Yeah, well, we do both. So we we have three main folks I are focuses of interest, if you will. So we've got an educational component where we focus on diabetes education for healthcare providers, and for patients, we have another component where we focus on access to health care. So we'll do things like running a clinic, helping people to be plugged into their local healthcare system to access care and the like. And then the third thing we do is we have economic empowerment projects, because we really have realized that the folks that were working to help oftentimes don't have an education to literally earn the money, they need to buy the resources locally for managing their diabetes. So we're really into economic empowerment work to give people the economic health, they need to thrive as well. You know, as part of this, we travel back and forth to country to site, do site visits, meet with partners. And unfortunately, COVID interrupted that a little bit this past year, but we're eager to get back boots on the ground.
Stacey Simms 8:02
Sandy, let me bring you on, and ask you, why are you part of eM Fund? What's your What's your story?
Sandy Narayanan 8:09
That's a good story. Good question. Actually, the story is, I grew up with a father who had diabetes, and was on intensive insulin therapy for pretty much most of the time that he had diagnosed, what had been diagnosed with diabetes. So he passed away when he was just 65. We think it was type two on insulin, it could have been type one, it could have been any other kind of diabetes. And this was an India where I grew up, and we noticed that he was able to access insulin, but there was no monitors, he would basically be on a stick once a week, or once in two weeks to find out how he was doing and to titrate insulin. And there were people you know, who were around us, there's obviously you know, as we know, there's a lot of poverty and, and there's a lot of diabetes in India. And even as I was growing up, I noticed that there were many other than my father, who had diabetes who didn't have the quote unquote, luxury, if you will, of even having insulin or even going out and getting tested once a week to see how they were doing with their glucose management. So I was always kind of interested in diabetes. And then I got diagnosed myself with type two diabetes about now almost 1314 years ago. And there I was checking my glucose at 10 times a day and I was able to do that and I was initially on insulin and initially thought that I myself might have the same type of diabetes that my dad did and that I would need to be on insulin forever. But I really was able to come off insulin within about 10 weeks or so and really within Monitoring and changing my diet and just my lifestyle habits. And so I really thought, oh my goodness, you know, how things have changed since my father's time. And what is happening in countries like India and anywhere else where the resources are not available that I have here when, you know, in America to be able to even manage type two diabetes with 10 strips a day, yeah, I could afford it. I had insurance. I actually, when Jason who was at the time, Dr. Baker to me, and who actually was the one who diagnosed me, he brought up the idea that he was going to do some create a nonprofit for people with type 1 diabetes, I immediately jumped out at I've been toying with the idea of doing something myself truly wanted to give back especially to communities in need, in underserved areas, population, women, I'm very, very interested in ensuring that women have parity in treatment, and in access to care and supplies, and especially with type 1 diabetes, the need for intensive insulin therapy, and the need for monitoring just was my became my passion. And I joined forces with Jason up until then, actually, at the time that I that Jason was starting March respond, I was in corporate human resources, and it created my own business and had been working on what zation effectiveness, etc. So it became sort of a natural complement to Jason's medical and healthcare vision.
Stacey Simms 11:33
Jason, the last couple of years, as I've done this podcast now since 2015. And you know, price access all that has been an issue, even in the United States, right, where we, some people have very, very good private health insurance. Some people have public health insurance that covers things. But I feel like the conversation of last couple of years has really shown issues here in the United States where one of the four people are rationing, insulin and that sort of thing. Absolutely. I I know it's difficult, but I have to ask you, how are you all doing? This is not a new effort for you. All right. You've been doing this for almost 10 years? Have you seen things kind of change in the conversation around this? Because so much more of the conversation in this country is about affordability and access?
Right back to Jason answering that question. But first, Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario. Health. And over the years, I find we manage diabetes better when we're thinking less, but all the stuff of diabetes tasks. That's why I love partnering with people who take the load off on things like ordering supplies, so I can really focus on Benny, the Dario diabetes success plan is all about you. All the test strips and lancets you need delivered to your door, one on one coaching so you can meet your milestones weekly insights into your trends, with suggestions on how to succeed, get the diabetes management plan that works with you and for you, Darrius published Studies demonstrate high impact clinical results, find out more go to my dario.com forward slash diabetes dash connections.
Now back to Jason answering my question about access to insulin and high pricing here in the US.
Dr. Jason Baker 13:17
Absolutely, I mean, I think you know, it's interesting because it's, it is different, right? So like, if you're thinking about what's happening in some of the countries who don't have national healthcare systems, for example, or who really have a truly disrupted continuous supply chain of insulin, and sometimes not reliably good quality insulin, certainly that don't have test strips, or any of the technologies we have here, you're dealing with kind of almost a warzone situation where you are bringing in opportunity, and in many cases in which there's very limited as certainly for the people who are living in poverty, it has certainly been a conversation with us and all of our partners, as we have done our work largely overseas to help to fill in these gaps of care, to say, Well, what the heck are we doing in our own backyard? And why is it not working? Well here in the United States to you know, what are the problems here in the US? And it's very interesting, Stacey, you asked this because internally, we've been asking ourselves, what more can we do in the US? Well, and we're working on some, yeah, we're working on some projects on that end, but in my opinion, right now, in the US on the US side, we have challenges with number one, using resources that actually we might have access to correctly. And in many cases, those resources may not be used as well because of perhaps underlying depression, anxiety, diabetes, burnout. All of those things that plague all of us living with diabetes at some point or another, unfortunately, it really hinders the ability to do good self care and self management. But then on the opposite end, or not on the opposite, but but complimentary, you definitely have people who don't have access, their co pays are too high, they're in this gray zone in between not having Medicaid seeking care through the emergency room, maybe they're undocumented, lots of reasons that might lead to either rationing or simply not having the supplies. I've had seniors, for example, living with Type One Diabetes, coming into my office crying to me about being in the doughnut hole and not being able to afford their insulin, and being completely overwhelmed by the complexity of some of the insulin assistance programs here that might be intermittently available to people. So there is definitely an issue, definitely an issue in the US with resources being inadequate, or sometimes resources also not being used correctly. But again, you kind of take that particular situation that absolutely exists here, and you pour some kerosene on it, and then you find the situation that we oftentimes deal with that our sites overseas. Does. Does that make sense?
Stacey Simms 16:26
Yeah, and I don't want you to misunderstand that. I don't think you did. But you know, I'm certainly not saying that we have to put Americans first and full of solve this before we can help anybody else. I mean, the problems are vast, and they are different. As you've said, Can you give us a little bit of insight into how M Fund has helped?
Dr. Jason Baker 16:45
Absolutely. And I can take a first stab at this. And Sandy would love to hear you chime in too. But one of the things that we are extremely proud about is the center that we have opened and have been running for the past five years in a remote region of Uganda kasay, which is bordering the Congo a very, very remote region, which we had become a partner of a few years ago and have subsequently helped to renovate a physical building, which is now housing a diabetes organization in which we are now running a twice weekly medical clinic, along with an Eye Clinic, none of which existed before and which is really serving about 350. folks living in the region with diabetes, who otherwise were unable to get care, due to transportation issues due to monetary issues are due to, again, hospitals being too far from where they live. So we are so proud of this center. And we're also so proud because it's created a system of peer education by which it is our partners are a group of diabetes patients on the ground who, who came together to survive, partner with us and are really helping their compatriots to learn how to better manage their diabetes with pushing educational components, helping with access to healthcare and taking the lead in various economic empowerment projects through this centers. So you know, we have folks who are making art and selling it abroad and locally in the monies come back and help them to have the resources to buy their there and take care of their diabetes and buy their supplies, we have a piece of land that we grow cash crops on there, and the resources go back to the group to help care for themselves with diabetes related costs. Lots of layers of this. And we are very proud of this center that we want to replicate in other locations. So that is kind of where our biggest champion work is right now. I'm helping this group in a remote area of Uganda. And by the way, they're all adults, they're all older, and unable to access other existing programs of aid. So we really feel that this is serving an acute need in that area. And we're we're just really, really proud of it. And again, it always breaks my heart a little bit though, Stacey because when we're asked this question, I think, well, it's great. We're doing these things and other locations doing similar work, but it always strikes me that we need to be doing more in to do so we have to continue to grow as an organization and we have to continue to get more person power to the table in order to do greater outreach to other folks because the more we dig on this in, the more we people we help the more it's uncovered, that there are more people to help and in other ways than we are currently doing. So that's the tricky thing. I think about foreign aid work when it comes to diabetes. It's such a complex and unruly beast, that the more work you do in helping folks, the more you realize you need to do to kind of take it to the next level, you can't go in and just cure something, right? It's like a socio economic project of unknown duration. Right? And we are really excited about the progress we've made so far and helping this group mean, because as a fan, did
Stacey Simms 20:29
you want to jump in?
Sandy Narayanan 20:30
Yeah, I want to say also, as Jason mentioned, the primary work is in Uganda right now, the biggest number of beneficiaries are there. We also have a very thriving program in Rwanda, originally, the Rwanda Diabetes Association, had a program where they had a group of patients with type 1 diabetes, come to a center, and spend six months there, and actually learn a trade and get diabetes, self education, and self management education. And they had the opportunity to spend time with other patients with type one. So they could have a lot of back and forth and peer support. And we really, in some ways, wanted to lift and shift that model, which we thought was great. But of course, to get other places where you can have a group of people come and spend six months, I mean, six months diabetes camp, if you think about it, would be quite the challenge. So we really, though, took the concept of making sure that that the patients had some form of vocational training or some ability to be economically empowered when they went out back into their communities to live with, with diabetes, and to take away a little bit of the stigma as well, that they might feel, because they see that there are others who have the same condition. Sometimes they're isolated, and they believe it's something that has been sort of there, they're smitten by some curse. Oh, no, yes, way, they can be with other people and get that sense of togetherness and say, Okay, this is something manageable. And this is something I can do. And there is a support system available outside of even the my peers, because they can see that there are organizations helping. So we have helped nearly 120 students graduate from that center. And then when that center moved, we would we have to take a little bit of a break. But we're again sponsoring some people back into they've got a new center now at a different location. And they're starting to get people coming back in learning trades. And we've also established a conduit for people to get tailoring training, for instance. And we set up a tailoring cooperative, where we have people making beautiful backpacks and things like that which have sold on the US market very well through your thrift shop, which is our partner. You know, that is another piece of some of the work we do. Where again, those same three aspects of our work of healthcare, access, health, diabetes, education, and economic empowerment. It's really about motivating and empowering our beneficiaries to thrive
Stacey Simms 23:23
in just listening to you talk. It's amazing to me where we are, and people through this podcast, we're so fortunate, we are very technologically advanced, even for the United States. You know, many people who listen to this show are very much do it yourself. They have hybrid closed loops or closed loops that they've made themselves, you know, they have basically the best technology. And to know that there are still people 100 years after the discovery of insulin that are, you know, I know, we have issues here, we've talked about them, but that, you know, think about this as a curse or think about this as a literal curse. Not just you know, Darren, I hate diabetes, it's really kind of hard to listen to. And it's hard to think about it that way. When week after week, I'm saying, well, when is the Dexcom g seven coming out? Why can't it connect to my watch? Right? So Jason and Sandy, what do you need from us?
Dr. Jason Baker 24:14
Well, we need support. First of all, we as you as we had mentioned earlier, we want to do more. But we ourselves as an organization, you know, we need more resources, we need person power, we also need financial help. So anybody who's interested in any of our programs, wants to hear more about them, wants to participate in them reach out to us, if you want to support them, we need your support because as an organization, Stacey we work 90% of our funds are private donations. And it is because of all those supporters that we can actually do the work that we do, and COVID has only made our work more expensive and more complicated. So all the more assistance we can get on the financial side. I mean, I hate to always talk money, but to be frank, we need it. You know, we, for example, have a gala coming up on October 12. Unfortunately, it will be virtual. But fortunately given that it's virtual, any of you can attend. So watch for our email, sign up for our emails, attend our gala, hear more about our work, support us. It is because of you that all of us can come together and help our brothers and sisters overseas or even right here in the us who don't have as much as we do.
Stacey Simms 25:35
I'm also curious, I know that you're not here to talk about yourself. But you know, you mentioned you were diagnosed as a third year medical student, I think you've lived with type one for close to 20 years now. Yeah, bless
Dr. Jason Baker 25:47
your heart. I thought you're gonna say 30. I was in school when I was 10. Yes, exactly.
Stacey Simms 25:53
Weren't we all. But as you look back, I'm curious what that was like. I mean, you were learning about medicine, you were learning, I assume how to be a doctor. And then you had to learn how to be a person with type 1 diabetes. What was that like?
Dr. Jason Baker 26:05
Well, it's looking back it's actually just slightly embarrassing because truth be told, I was a terrible self diagnostician. You know, medical students are famous for saying they have everything except what they actually have, or making up things. I explained away, Paul a year, you know, having to urinate all the time losing weight to working hard, and having excessive drinking, because of stress, you know, above water. So it's funny. And finally, finally, when I was diagnosed, I had to, you know, I thought, diabetes, me diabetes, no way. And it wasn't in my family, as is the case for most folks. But quickly thereafter, a sitting there in the hospital, being the patient after having taken care of so many patients, I had this experience of being vulnerable and being scared, and for the first time in my young life, having a sense of mortality. And I thought, Man, this really sucks. And then before I left the hospital, I thought, well, what am I going to do with it, it's a sink or swim situation, Baker, so sink or swim, and I said, You know what, I'm going to swim. So I decided that I was going to apply my own personal experience. And I was going to go into endocrinology. So in work in the field of diabetes, and so you know, honestly, I haven't looked back I, I like to think that my self management personal experience in sharing that with patients might set home some cases hopefully help them. But it was scary. It was eye opening to what it's like, being a patient as a medical provider, and definitely changed the trajectory of my career, no doubt about it.
Stacey Simms 27:38
Have your fears from that time come true, or you know how I hate to always this this, like big reflection with type one type question. But I am curious, you know, looking back, what would you tell yourself, oh,
Dr. Jason Baker 27:51
I would tell myself, be easy on yourself and learn from your mistakes, instead of beating yourself up for when you make a mistake. You know, when you have a high, don't stress over it corrected, but learn so that next time it doesn't happen, be open about diabetes at all times, don't hide it, don't spend any energy in having any shame related to diabetes, but make it part of you, and let it empower you and strengthen you, and use your energies for fighting it yourself, but also helping others to be better educated about it. So they too, don't hide it. I think that those would be the two biggest things that I would go back and tell my young self to remember to hold true. And with that, I think that everybody will do fine and use what they have wisely.
Stacey Simms 28:43
Sandy, let me ask you, you know, you're, you're a certified diabetes educator, you're a registered dietician. What do you bring now to your family, to your personal life, when it comes to diabetes
Sandy Narayanan 28:52
was the same in some ways, as Jason said, you know, to be able to talk about it to say, you know, when you have diabetes, you don't, and in my case, type two diabetes, that you can manage it with just eating right? Not just, it's not that simple. And I think I do understand that it's not so simple, just because, oh, I'm not insulin dependent. You know, I bet Oh, I just managed my diet and exercise and I can reverse my diabetes, I do understand the challenges. And I bring that in my patient interactions as well. At the same time, I can speak to the fact that you are watching your diet, watching your your eating, making sure that you stay active. These are all important and I think especially to my family and my friends and the people in India and again, women, I certainly bring that message that there is so much available in terms of education and knowledge and alternatives to eating just a carbohydrate rich diet for Since I bring a lot of that in to my discussions with family, many family members with diabetes, my father was very educated I, you know, at the same time, you know, there's, there's only so much you can fight with resources that you have. And so I do bring that as well that you know, a lot of people I know, when I was first diagnosed, you know, I go back to that concept of stigma, there's some shame attached, especially if you have type two, sometimes, you know, it's I eat a lot, and you are sedentary. And so you get type two, right? It's something you bring up on yourself. And I am able to speak to the fact that that's not true, and that we have so many things that are out of our hands. But there are some things that we can do, and what can we do to be able to try for diabetes, and I'm, in terms of, you know, similar to Jason, I went through, I went through a certain period when I wouldn't talk about having diabetes at all. You know, it's really through seeing what people are going through when on our trips abroad, or listening to family and friends, listening to my patients that I realized that it's really important to talk about it, own it, acknowledge it, and seek out as much information as possible to how you can manage.
Stacey Simms 31:17
Alright, Did I miss anything before I start wrapping us up here?
Dr. Jason Baker 31:20
No other than to congratulate yourself for having an awesome podcast, not because of your guests, necessarily, but putting together an amazing forum for us to discuss things like this. So thank you for having us here and letting us tell you the story of M Fund and our stories. We appreciate it.
Stacey Simms 31:37
Jason at the end. Thank you so much for being here.
Unknown Speaker 31:40
Thank you so much, Stacy. You're listening to Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms.
Stacey Simms 31:52
Lots more information about Marjorie's funder, M Fund, and the gala and auction they have coming up in October, it's October 12. It's virtual. If I didn't mention that earlier. You can buy tickets and join live, you can donate money, there are there are a lot of ways to help as you can imagine. And there's always more information at Diabetes connections.com, including the transcription that I put out for every episode. So if you know somebody who would prefer to read, please send it their way. And in just a moment, I'm gonna tell you something a little bit embarrassing, and a mixup I have had for a long time about Marjories’ fund.
But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. And you know, when we first started with Dexcom, and it was back in 2013, the share and follow apps were not an option. They just hadn't come up with that technology yet. So trust me when I say I know using shared follow makes a big difference. I think it is really important though to talk to the person you're following or sharing with and get comfortable with how you want everyone to use the system. Even if you're following your young child. These are great conversations to have, you know things like at what numbers will you text, how long will you wait to call that sort of thing. That way the whole system gives everyone real peace of mind. I'll tell you what I do love absolutely about the Dexcom share. And that's helping Benny with any issues using the data from the whole day and night. And not just one moment. Internet connectivity is required to access separate Dexcom follow up to learn more, go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the Dexcom logo.
Alright, so you know, I'm never afraid to tell you when I make a mistake and even when it's embarrassing one. So I told you at the beginning of the show that Dr. Jason Baker is one of those names that I'd heard for years. And you know, people had told me to get in touch with him and have him on the show. But every time I heard about Dr. Baker and Marjorie's fund, I thought this was about the dog. Marjorie, do you know what I'm talking about? Does anybody out there understand my confusion. So this is actually kind of a sad story. But it led to a very happy ending. Marjorie was one of the dogs that was crucial inventing and bests experiments which led to the discovery of insulin. They removed these dogs pancreases and then tried to figure out how to keep them alive. And Marjorie, I believe was the first one. She was kept alive for about 70 days, and got quite famous actually, but obviously quite different from what Marjorie's fund is all about. So yeah, a little embarrassing to share would have been a very simple Google search all this time. But I'm really glad that I did get to talk to Jason and to Sandy and to do to finally learn a lot more about the work that they are doing and how we can help.
Okay, before I let you go, just a reminder to join the Facebook group if you haven't done so already. If you're on Facebook, it is Diabetes Connections, the group if you'd like to sign up for our email list, that is always easy to do just go to Diabetes connections.com there's a pop up with our latest promotion right now. It's still how to get your gear to stick and you can sign up for that or you can just scroll down to the bottom if you don't want the promotion, you know that's currently running. You can just Scroll down to the bottom and there's a little portion where you can join the newsletter list. If you're not on Facebook, I would urge you to do that. Both of those together really how I get the word out about announcements and fun stuff, surveys, that sort of thing. thank you as always to my editor, John Bukenas from audio editing solutions. Thank you so much for listening. I'm Stacey Simms. I'll see you back here in just a couple of days. Until then, be kind to yourself. Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacey Simms Media. All rights reserved. All wrongs avenged