In case you’ve been comatose, which by the way, I hope isn’t the case, you probably know that World Diabetes Day is just over a week away. I’ve been concocting various plans, and I wanted to give you an update on my WDD comings and goings.

Last year, I did a community art project at the Philadelphia WDD event, hosted by Temple University’s School of Podiatric Medicine, and this year, I will be returning for more of the same. The project is basically the same, although I’m adding a teeny-tiny modification. Last year, I offered participants 12”-square pieces of white paper on which they could draw what diabetes means to them. The drawings were then framed by a blue paper circle. The modification I’m making is that this year, I’ll be asking participants to trace their hands in the circle, and then decorate in whatever way they wish.

I didn’t get the level of participation for which I’d hoped last year, for a variety of reasons. This year, I’m hoping that altering the project, some logistical adaptations, and the presence of children will mean higher participation. I also got on board a lot sooner this year so I’m hoping the volunteers will be better informed about who I am, what I do, and will thus encourage attendees to participate. (Edit: World Diabetes Day at Temple’s School of Podiatric Medicine)

The doctor who organizes the event at Temple mentioned that another area teaching hospital, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, is having an event on the day before WDD, so I launched a mission to get myself involved. I found one mention of it online, on what appeared to be a bulletin board of sorts for goings-ons at Jefferson. It mostly just listed the departments that were participating, but not much else, not even a contact person or number. The endocrinology department was one department listed, the one where my endocrinologist is, so I started there by emailing my diabetes educator. While I waited to hear from her, I tried calling various other departments, leaving messages and hoping for a returned call. Waiting for someone to get back to me, and pondering how it could be so difficult to volunteer, I expressed some frustration on Facebook. Turns out, a friend knows someone who works at Jefferson, so he put me in touch with her, and she was able to get me the names and email addies of two of the alleged organizers. I emailed the doctor in charge, and she immediately emailed me back, inviting me to the planning meeting they had scheduled for today.

This morning, a got my stuff together to spend several hours in the city, and even managed to get to the train station on time, an unusual feat for me. I ended up being late anyway though, thanks to a rather persistent low that had me wandering around Philly a little longer than I would have been otherwise. I got there only a couple of minutes late though, and they welcomed me.

I had no information about the event coming into this, so I just tried to gather what was planned so I could figure out what I’d even be able to do. They discussed what sounded like a relatively small health fair, set up in the lobby of the building, which I couldn’t picture because when I’d walked through it 15 minutes earlier, I had been too busy concentrating on not dying, and worrying about how much I would stink from sweating through my t-shirt.

I sat, crunched some peppermints, and tried to absorb what was said. They discussed having blood pressure cuffs, blood sugar testing, scales, nutrition info, handouts of various kinds. Someone representing pediatrics mentioned they’d have some pencils and other things for people to take. There was a discussion about blue, black and white balloons, and signs to draw attention. Their efforts to advertise the event were discussed, and I mentioned the importance of listing it on the WDD website, which supposedly one lady did while I was there, but when I checked later, I didn’t see it. Maybe someone approves it before it’s listed though. (Edit: Here it is! World Diabetes Day Health Fair at Jefferson)

A doctor from the internal medicine department had a sample handout about the Body Mass Index and risk factors for diabetes, and how being in the overweight or obese categories can be a risk factor. Because it just said “diabetes”, I suggested she add “type 2”, which then led to a general question to all the attendees if there was any literature about the difference between T1 and T2 that would be available. One of the doctors responded by telling me that because the vast majority of diabetics are T2, upwards of 90% of diabetics as we know, she didn’t see a point to differentiating.

OK, so I’m not always at the top of my game when it comes to responding to people’s idiotic comments about diabetes during face to face interactions. Give me a few minutes to write something down, and I can be pretty darn snarky, witty, and semi-intelligent. Talk to me, and it’s mostly just stuttering, wide eyes, and possibly a little drool. Although to be fair, someone jumped into the discussion and headed in another direction, and the doctor from Internal Medicine with the BMI handout sitting next to me, leaned over, smiled, and told me she thought adding “type 2” was a good idea.

In retrospect, it was a weird situation in which I didn’t know how to respond. I’m an outsider coming into their planning meeting, and I’m grateful to be included. I didn’t want to come across as antagonistic or hostile, nor did I want to derail the agenda. I was very disappointed and displeased with Dr. Who-Cares-About-T1 though. I know we all grow weary of perpetually having to educate people about diabetes in general and T1 specifically. “It’s an auto-immune disease, and no, I didn’t do anything to cause it, and there’s nothing I could have done to prevent it.” It was unsettling that in a meeting about an event designed to raise awareness and educate people about diabetes that a doctor would say such a thing though. I mean, I’d find it hard to believe if I hadn’t listened to her and seen her waving her hand in the air like she was erasing us from existence. Luckily, Dr. Who-Cares-About-T1 isn’t the main doctor in charge though, so hopefully my interactions with her will be over or limited from this point forward.

I proposed some ideas for an art project, and they seemed to favor a large mural-style project, so I need to design something that will work with the logistics of the space which will be somewhat limited. I also passed out my brochures, in hopes of providing a bit more insight into what I do. Apparently another mental health professional is participating, so I got their contact info since they weren’t present, and I’ll be contacting them in hopes of coordinating our efforts. I thanked Dr. Organizer, and was on my way

So next Friday, day one of ‘Operation WDD Awareness Through Art’ will commence, and Saturday, the awesomeness will continue. I think I can even find a way to work in a basic explanation of type 1 and type 2 into my handouts, in which case I’ll be sure to give a copy to Dr. Who-Cares-About T1.