Inclusion of materials in this publication is for information only; it does not imply endorsement of any product by the Diabetes Action Network of the NFB.
Web Search Engine
By its own reckoning, the U.S. government maintains 27 million different Web pages! It can be a full-time job just finding the official information you need. You can always telephone: 1-800-333-4636, or go to the Web, where now the U.S. government has its very own search engine: www.FirstGov.gov.
Talk is Cheap, or Should Be
Independent Living Aids is an experienced and reliable source for a great many low-vision adaptive devices. Many of them speak, helping you perform daily tasks without sight, and most are quite inexpensive. For a free catalog, contact: Independent Living Aids, Inc., 1-800-537-2118; email: [email protected].
Diabetes Supplies
American Diabetic Supply, Inc., will ship your diabetes supplies to your door. They handle all insurance claims and provide free delivery. Folks with Medicare and/or private insurance (no HMOs) may receive supplies at no further cost. For information, call 1-800-453-9033, ext. 200; Web site: www.americandiabeticsupply.com.
Dry Skin Care
People with diabetes frequently have to deal with dry skin. Borage DiabetiCare, by Shikai, contains an important omega-6 fatty acid, gamma-linoleic acid, or GLA. Diabetes can impare the body’s ability to make enough GLA, so Borage DiabetiCare provides GLA directly to the skin. To locate a retailer near you, please call DiabetiCare Labs; telephone: 1-888-544-3427, or visit their Web site: www.diabeticarelabs.com
The Diabetic Exchange List
For a copy of the Exchange List for Meal Planning, 2003, in standard print, contact the ADA: telephone: 1-800-232-3472; Web site: www.diabetes.org/health/nutrition/exchangelist.jsp. For a copy in alternative format (Braille, $10 or 4-track audiocassette, $2), contact the National Federation of the Blind, Materials Center, (410) 659-9314; Web site www.nfb.org.
Full Service Diabetes Supplier
Access Diabetic Supply promises free delivery, no paperwork, and free in-home training in the use of blood glucose testing devices. Your private insurance is welcome, and they accept Medicare, too. They offer free blood glucose monitors to folks who sign up. Check them out online: www.diabeticsupply.com or call: 1-800-819-8738.
Low Vision Optometrists
The International Academy of Low Vision Specialists is a consortium of optometrists interested in serving people who have diminished vision. They are ready to advise you on appropriate treatment and assistive devices. Contact: Richard Shuldiner, OD, FAAO, telephone: 1-888-610-2020.
Healthy Cookbooks
JoAnna Lund writes healthy cookbooks. They are simple, “common folks” recipes, and all contain both complete nutrient counts and diabetic exchanges. There are three titles: Fast, Cheap, and Easy; Grandma Jo’s Soup Kettle; and Fresh From the Hearth. Price is $10 each, or $25 for all three. There is no shipping charge. Contact: Healthy Exchanges, 1-800-766-8961; Web site: www.healthyexchanges.com.
Adaptive Computing Equipment
Freedom Scientific is a powerhouse adaptive equipment maker for the blind and visually impaired computer user. A union of Arkenstone, Blazie Engineering, and Henter-Joyce, Freedom Scientific offers screen magnifiers (including MAGic and JAWS software), talking attachments (voice synthesizers) for your computer, scanner/reading machines like the new SARA, Braille printers and much more. Whether you need adaptive software or hardware, check them out: Freedom Scientific, 1-800-444-4443; Web site: www.freedomscientific.com.
Tax Help
For assistance with completing your year 2005 tax forms, you can telephone the Internal Revenue Service, toll-free: 1-800-829-1040; Web site: www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/forms_pubs.
Good News about ACTOS
They may have the hardest name to pronounce, the thiazolidinediones (TZDs), but the good news continues to pile up. ACTOS (pioglitazone), a TZD from Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly and Company, has now been demonstrated to significantly reduce risk of stroke and heart attack 16 percent, in high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes—those who’d already had one heart attack or other cardiac event. Their study, presented November 16, 2005, at the annual sessions of the American heart Association, tested 2,445 high-risk patients, and found a 28 percent reduction in the risk of recurring heart attack; a 37 percent risk of potentially life-threatening cardiac events, and a 19 percent risk in “cardiac composite endpoint” of non-fatal heart attacks, coronary revascularization, ACS (serious cardiac events) and cardiac death.
These findings are promising. ACTOS’ nominal purpose is to reduce insulin resistance, to be an “insulin sensitizer,” for treatment of type 2 diabetes. As type 2 is a major cause of serious cardiac events, that ACTOS is effective against those events as well is pleasant news indeed.
For more information, visit www.proactive-results.com, or www.actos.com, or talk to your doctor and pharmacist about ACTOS.
Lifescan Meter Recall
Lifescan, maker of many different blood glucose monitors, reports problems with certain lots of the SureStep blood glucose meter—including the SureStep Hospital, but not the SureStep Pro or SureStep Flexx. The display screens on certain lots of that meter are failing too early. Results could be unreadable; “8” could look like “6” or “9,” or like nothing at all. Meters have a “segment display check,” meter instructions tell you to use it each time turn the meter on.
If you have a One Touch SureStep meter with serial number between L4266RBxxxx and L5084RBxxxx, LifeScan will replace your meter with a new one. If you are a health professional, with one or more of the affected SureStep meters, please telephone LifeScan at: 1-866-679-9251. If you are a patient, and have a SureStep with a serial number in the above range, please telephone LifeScan at: 1-866-679-9250. This number is staffed 24 hours a day.
Adaptive Catalog
Active and Able, from Buffalo Grove, Illinois, offers a selection of adaptive
equipment, much of it for coping with blindness and vision loss. There are a
number of items that talk or beep. We regularly see most national catalogs,
and there are selections here
not encountered before—and competitive prices. Contact: Active And Able,
1-877-229-9993; Web site: www.activeandable. com.
Low Vision Glasses
If you are dealing with low vision, and could benefit from wearable glasses with 2x magnification, you should check out Humanware’s MaxTV glasses. They’ll help you with television, long distance viewing, and other activities. Contact: Humanware; telephone: 1-888-204-7921; Web site: www.humanware.com.
Find A Diabetes Educator
The American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) maintains a list of Certified Diabetes Educators (CDEs) in different parts of the country. To find a diabetes educator near you, and schedule an appointment, call 1-800-832-6874.
NFB Scholarship Awards
Each year, at its National Convention, in July (this year in Dallas, Texas), the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) awards a broad array of scholarships to recognize achievement by blind scholars. All applicants for these scholarships must be: (1) legally blind, and (2) pursuing or planning to pursue a full-time postsecondary course of study in a degree program, in a United States institution in the fall of 2006, except that one scholarship may be given to a full-time employee who will be also attending school part-time. Each applicant will be considered for all scholarships for which he or she qualifies. The scholarship application deadline is March 31, 2006. The applicant does not have to be a member of the National Federation of the Blind.
This year, the NFB plans to award $122,000 in cash scholarships. Other donors will award cash and items, totaling more than $80,000. All winners will receive airfare to the convention, and accommodations, at NFB expense.
For information, contact your NFB State Affiliate officers, Call the NFB (410) 659-9314 or visit the NFB Web site: www.nfb.org/ sch_intro.com.
Deceased
Recently, the NFB Diabetes Action Network lost its Vice President. Sandie Addy (pictured above), from Prescott Valley, Arizona, died on November 23, 2005, after a massive heart attack. Her NFB state affiliate (she was on their board) is preparing more complete listing of her contributions, and this eulogy will appear in the April 2006 Voice. For now it is sufficient to say she will be missed.