Letter from the Editor: "Our bags are packed and we're ready to go"

Steve, Andrew and I are on our way to the 2010 AADE Annual Meeting & Exhibition in San Antonio, Texas. This should be a very interesting meeting because education is a major focus of the new national healthcare plan. The AADE has been at the forefront working with many different groups of medical professionals to increase access to diabetes self-management training. The information we learn this year may go a long way to making the use of diabetes professionals part of the "Shared Medical Appointment" and "Medical Home" concepts that we keep hearing about.

Speaking of Shared Medical Appointments, I gave a talk this past weekend at the annual meeting of the Florida Society of the American College of Osteopathic Family Practitioners on how SMA's can improve care and profitability. The feedback I got from the attendees was very positive and I look forward to bringing what we learned to San Antonio to benefit your patients and your practice.

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Sheri Colberg, Ph.D, and I were talking recently about the plethora of TV shows focused on yelling and screaming at people to get them to lose weight. She pointed out that those patients get a lot of attention till the show is over. Because of the onscreen success though, everyone wants to go on the same plan, so people spend lots of money to buy their own set of screaming and yelling DVD's. She recommended that it might be better if we gave our patients the quieter but effective, "52-Week Online Fitness/Lifestyle Program for Everyone."

Announcements:

TCOYD Conference and Health Fair, Saturday, September 11, 2010, Providence, Rhode Island 
The TCOYD team will be at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, RI, on Saturday, September 11, for a full day of panel discussions, health exhibits, workshops, physical acitivies and hands-on sessions. Special Guests include: Charlie Kimball (Indy Lights Race Car driver) and Kim Lyons (Fitness Expert, Professional Trainer and Certified Nutritionist). For more 2010 upcoming conference details, please go to TCOYD.org.

Please answer this week's Poll question (in the right-hand column):

Do you recommend a Dental Check-up as part of your discussion with your patients?

Check out this week's "Test Your Diabetes Knowledge" question!

Dave Joffe, Editor-in-chief