[Diabetes-talk] For those who have Liberty Medical to get these prodigy voice test strips

Tue Nov 23 00:59:21 UTC 2010

I unfortunately don't have the money to do this, but I wondered how it 
would go down if one could open a restaurant which catered exclusively 
for diabetics, I mean in terms of portion sizes and a reasonable 
modification of the so-called generic diabetic diet to meet the needs of 
people who had gone a bit beyond the mere dietition's framework with 
meal planning. You would of course not mention that it is a restaurant 
for diabetics, but you could still as part of the cover-up, if you like, 
still have the sugar on the tables for the non-diabetics. I wonder if 
non-diabetic patrons of such a restaurant would even be anything the 
wiser for it?

The point that I am making here is that if everyone ate like diabetics, 
they would not starve. I eat well on my diet and although the meals are 
smaller than I used to eat, I can honestly say that when I stick to the 
eating plan that has been developed for me, I am actually full after 
meals. Temptations to eat inbetween save for my scheduled snacks is kept 
to a minimum.

When I have counselled diabetics here, I have always tried to encourage 
the family to also eat as if they are diabetics, and when a diabetic is 
referred to a dietition, I refer the whole family.

As to the lunch which was not diabetic friendly and for which the state 
affiliate paid, it sucks. They should actually get their money back for it.

However, I wonder if a lot of caterers really understand diabetes. I 
have an absolute picnic when I go out to formal dinners and nowadays, 
even appear picky to the extent of being an offense to people at the table.

Michael Park
"I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness." (psalm 84:10 NKJV).

We support NVDA, a free screenreading program for the blind, giving high quality computer access to many commercial applications, as well as portability.

  NVDA 2010.2 has been released.

On 2010/11/22 20:41, cheryl echevarria wrote:
> well Michael they don't get it right here either.  I belong to the NY State
> Affiliate I am the treasurer of the Greater Long Island Chapter. I did not
> attend this year's state convention, but I am the a board member officer of
> the NY State Diabetic Action Network and the Hotel that they had our state
> convention in, there idea of a diabetic lunch was to give us all Giant
> cookies for desert.  I don't' remember what else was served, but was told
> the lunch was not a diabetic one and we ordered one.
>
> The biggest compliment you can pay me is to recommend my services!
>
> Cheryl Echevarria
> http://Echevarriatravel.com
> 1-866-580-5574
> Reservations at echevarriatravel.com
>
> Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel CST-1018299-10
> Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Absolute Cruise and Travel Inc.
>
> join my yahoogroup
> echevarriatravel-subscribe at yahoogroups.com
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Michael Park"<pageforpage at gmail.com>
> To: "Diabetes Talk for the Blind"<diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 1:34 PM
> Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] For those who have Liberty Medical to get these
> prodigy voice test strips
>
>
>> Hi Cheryl.
>>
>> You are not alone in this one. We have similar problems here in South
>> Africa. On the government health care system, they require you to have
>> an Accu-chek Active meter in order to get strips from the government.
>> However, some little idiot in the burocracy is clamping down on people
>> getting free testing strips here.
>>
>> I currently use a One Touch Profile, without a voice, of course, but my
>> wife does the checking for me. I had considered changing over to the
>> Accu-chek till my diabetologist advised me on the state of the nation as
>> far as strips go. The strips for the One Touch Profile are hellishly
>> expensive, but having done my sums, I have found that in the long term,
>> staying with Johnson And Johnson is actually going to be cheaper for me
>> than to switch over to the Roche product. For one, glucometers are
>> expensive here and for another the Accu-chek Active strips cost ten
>> percent more than the strips for the One Touch Profile.
>>
>> A significant part of the reason why diabetics in this part of the world
>> do not test as regularly as they ought, is the cost of the strips.
>> However, I operate as a diabetes counsellor both in our local church and
>> under the umbrella of an organisation called Disability Connection,
>> having fought a long, lonely  and bitter fight to get the organisation
>> to recognise diabetes as a disability, and yet it still happens that
>> diabetics are not always catered for at functions. I cannot be a
>> diabetes counsellor with a less than exemplary lifestyle, and I am very
>> conscious of my own situation.
>>
>> On a recent occasion at a DC meeting, for instance, due to rank bad and
>> unprofessional organisation, lunch was served two whole hours late with
>> the embarrassing result that I went hypo during a meeting. While hypos
>> can always be fixed, I would surmise that it would actually be better to
>> try and prevent them rather than fix them. It goes without saying that I
>> had a word or two to say to the organisers, that does not bear repeating
>> here.
>>
>> I don't know how you are intending to tackle the problem with congress,
>> but I mention my argument here that diabetes is a disability, purely on
>> the basis that I understand a disability to be a condition which has as
>> its effect, the denial of a person to the normal amenities of life.
>>
>> Sure, diabetics are not necessarily crippled as a result of the
>> condition, but if I take myself as an extreme example of a relatively
>> healthy diabetic for instance, I cannot just eat and drink as I like. I
>> have to be on a special diet which lays down requirements not only of
>> what I may and may not have, but also the times when I have to have
>> specific things and in my book, that effectively entails the denial of
>> enjoyment of the amenities of life. If a diabetic goes hypo, for
>> instance, that also involves a denial of the enjoyment of the amenities
>> of life. When I do go hypo, I am unable to function for the rest of the
>> day.
>>
>> I mention this because in our bill of rights to the constitution, health
>> care is supposed to be an entrenched right and so too, the right of
>> disabled persons not to be discriminated against. The reason why I
>> fought this campaign out here is quite simply, to get diabetics onto the
>> same ticket as people with disabilities, thereby effectively
>> strengthening the case of the diabetic community to bargain a better
>> deal for itself.
>>
>> I speak under correction, but if my memory serves me right, one could
>> interpret your bill of rights in a similar manner to ours, namely that
>> the right to health care is entrenched, and that discrimination against
>> disabled persons is unlawful. Furthermore, your Disabled Persons Act of
>> 2000 also has a very net of provisions protecting disabled persons.
>>
>> In my experience, people generally don't consider diabetics either and
>> so I reciprocate mutually. Come snack time during the day, I fish out my
>> fruit without asking and explaining and if people don't like it, then as
>> far as I am concerned, they can hop. As I said to one person rather
>> bluntly recently, they are not going to take care of my health, and so I
>> will do that on my terms. Even when I go to functions now, and my
>> medication has been changed so that I don't have as many hypos anymore,
>> I take my precautions for the meal being late and I take an extra fruit
>> along with me just to help keep my sugar stable. My diabetes counsellor
>> did caution that I must not take it for granted that I will never get a
>> hypo, and remembering that it is not a pleasant experience when it
>> happens to me, I just do my own thing anyway.
>>
>> I don't know what strategy you are going to adopt, but for my two cents'
>> worth, I would suggest that in order to argue a stronger case for the
>> rights of diabetics, diabetes should, in addition to being a health care
>> concern, also be dealt with as a disability. Believe me, if my
>> experience is anything to go by, even a liberal constitution, without
>> the political will to enforce the rights of persons, has a value which
>> does not exceed a piece of toilet paper. The only way in which you can
>> stand a very good chance to win this one, is to try and fit as many
>> strings to your bow as possible.
>>
>> I must conclude on a positive note by saying that due to its structure
>> and mechanism, the NFB naturally lends itself to the kind of strategy I
>> advocate. The fact that there is a diabetes list on the NFB site rather
>> speaks for itself in this regard. What needs to happen is that this mode
>> of thinking is something which you would have to communicate to your
>> congressmen over there, as well.
>>
>> HTH.
>>
>> Michael Park
>> "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the
>> tents of wickedness." (psalm 84:10 NKJV).
>>
>> We support NVDA, a free screenreading program for the blind, giving high
>> quality computer access to many commercial applications, as well as
>> portability.
>>
>>    NVDA 2010.2 has been released.
>>
>>
>> On 2010/11/22 18:08, cheryl echevarria wrote:
>>> Here in NY I have had 5 people call me one after the other, who have
>>> insurance companies that get the prodigy test strips from Liberty
>>> Medical.
>>>
>>> Liberty Medical is telling people and sending out letters that Prodigy
>>> is
>>> not making the meters and strips any longer.
>>>
>>> I just got off the Prodigy.com they said no such a thing is going on.
>>>
>>> For some reason Liberty Medical is no longer carrying the prodigy
>>> products.
>>>
>>> My question is for Kelly and others on the list.
>>>
>>> Um, what do people do who have no other choice with there insurance on
>>> who
>>> to use for the durable medical supplies for the prodigy strips.  First
>>> ADS
>>> and now Liberty Medical, they are also a company that handles a lot of
>>> Medicare clients, since they are a durable medical supplier for
>>> Medicare.
>>>
>>> Should we be aware of other companies that are not carrying the product
>>> anymore?
>>>
>>> This is a legit question, I am not trying to be rude and nasty, since I
>>> was
>>> just elected as board member of the Newly created DAN Division here in
>>> NY.
>>> I will be doing a lot of fact finding not only for NY but for this
>>> division
>>> as well, since I am a medical insurance specialist as well, that people
>>> need
>>> alternatives to getting there supplies.
>>>
>>> Like myself I am still having issues in the future of getting my lantus,
>>> my
>>> doctor had to call in an override to the insurance company and into
>>> Medco
>>> where I get my meds.
>>>
>>> I have spoken to my congressman's office and they are helping me with
>>> this
>>> issue.  Hopefully but the end of the month I will not have to worry
>>> about
>>> Lantus, we are trying to get me on the insulin pump, but at the same
>>> time if
>>> I cannot get on it, and I can't use another insulin for my diabetes, we
>>> need
>>> to talk to congress when we are in Washington this year about this, and
>>> let
>>> them know the problems with our insurance companies and suppliers as
>>> well.
>>>
>>> The biggest compliment you can pay me is to recommend my services!
>>>
>>> Cheryl Echevarria
>>> http://Echevarriatravel.com
>>> 1-866-580-5574
>>> Reservations at echevarriatravel.com
>>>
>>> Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel
>>> CST-1018299-10
>>> Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Absolute Cruise and Travel
>>> Inc.
>>>
>>> join my yahoogroup
>>> echevarriatravel-subscribe at yahoogroups.com
>>>
>>>
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