WHAT YOU ALWAYS WANTED
TO KNOW BUT DIDN'T KNOW WHERE TO ASK
(Resource Column)
Inclusion of materials in this publication is for information only and does not imply endorsement by the Diabetes Action Network of the NFB.
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 with no further cost. For information contact: American Diabetic Supply, Inc., 400 S. Atlantic Ave., Suite 108, Ormond Beach, FL 32176; telephone: 1-800-453-9033.
THE COUNT-A-DOSE
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) maintains the "Materials Center," at the National Center for the Blind, our headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland. One of the many tasks performed there is the sale of appliances and literature of interest to the blind. Some of these items are useful for dealing with diabetes. One we recommend highly is Jordan Medical's Count-a-Dose Insulin Measuring Gauge, which allows reliable non-sighted drawing and mixing of insulins. Currently manufactured in the one-unit "low-dose" (50-unit BD syringe) version only, it is supplied with cassette instructions. While supplies last, the Materials Center also has a few of the two-unit version (100-unit BD syringe), good for those who need to draw a larger dose (no cassette instructions supplied with this version). Both versions are priced at $40 each at the Materials Center (Jordan's list price is $59.95).
For further information, to place an order, or to obtain a free catalog (in large print or Braille) of items offered by the NFB, contact: National Federation of the Blind, Materials Center, 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, MD 21230; telephone: (410) 659-9314.
DIABETIC SPECIALTY PRODUCTS
FROM THE EDITOR: If you have diabetes, you may need alternatives to some commonly used items, like cough medicine (full of sugar!), table sugar for cooking and baking, or a good moisturizing skin cream, for the dry skin so many of us have, especially on our feet. Health Care Products offers all of the above. I've tried them, and I am impressed by their quality.
DiabetiSweet is an alternative to table sugar, without the dietary impact. It handles just like sugar, and you don't need complex math to figure out the proportions.
Diabetic Tussin is a line of cough syrups, formulated without sugar, sodium, alcohol, fructose, sorbitol, codeine, or dye.
DiabetiDerm skin moisturizer, available in cream and lotion, uses many natural ingredients, and is made without a petroleum base. All three of these items are available in most major drug and discount stores. For information, contact: Health Care Products, telephone: 1-800-899-3116; or at their website:
http://www.diabeticproducts.com
DIABETES SUPPLIES
Diabetic Supply Distributors Inc., helps you save four ways with your diabetes supplies:
1. Insurance billing. They file the claim, and they pay for delivery. No advance payment needed—and THEY do the paperwork.
2. Medicare billing. Medicare pays for approved diabetes supplies, (and, since last July that list has covered type 2 diabetics!). Diabetic Supply will handle the details.
3. Free, fast home delivery. Your order comes quickly to your door.
4. Friendly personal service. You're not talking to a computer.
Contact: Diabetic Supply Distributors Inc., PO Box 1820, Laurel Springs, NJ 08021; telephone: 1-800-962-8098
NEW TALKING BLOOD GLUCOSE MONITOR
Roche Diagnostics has developed a new talking blood glucose monitor. Based on the proven Accu-Chek Advantage meter, the new Accu-Chek Voicemate provides the following: Clear, high-quality speech synthesis, talking the user through preparations, test procedures, and results, without the need for sighted assistance; an "insulin vial identifier" which reads Lilly insulin vials and speaks their type, as a safety aid in tactile insulin mixing; a new, improved, "touchable" test strip—the Accu-Chek Comfort Curve (no more "hanging" drop of blood!); no meter cleaning required; and a new "code-key" system for programming test strip codes.
The Voicemate comes with an adjustable over-the-shoulder carrying case, with meter, voice box, battery, adapter cord, 10 Comfort Curve strips, earphone, insulin check-vial, manual and quick-reference guide (in print), and instructions on audiocassette. Also included is the Accu-Chek Softclix lancing device, and a packet of 10 lancets. The new meter (catalog # 2030802) can now be ordered through any pharmacy (suggested retail price $495-525). Have your pharmacist contact Roche Diagnostics, 9115 Hague Road, Indianapolis, IN 46250; telephone: 1-800-428-5076.
ADAPTIVE COMPUTER EQUIPMENT
People who are blind, or who have diminished vision, have a number of tools and devices that can help them use state-of-the- art computers. Sighted Electronics, Inc., offers many of these items for sale. They have Braille printers, Braille embossers, Braille (keyboard) displays, video page magnifiers (CCTVs) and much more. For information, contact: Sighted Electronics, 464 Tappan Road, Northvale, NJ, 07647; telephone: (201) 767-3977; website http://www.sighted.com
NUTRITION SUPPLEMENT
Your insulin or oral diabetes medications are only part of your diabetes self-management. Although food supplements do not replace your medications, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not evaluated their efficacy to prevent or treat any disease, a healthy diet is important, and research is continuing on the role specific supplements may play in controlling diabetes. AlphaBetic Multi-Vitamin Supplement is a food supplement formulated for the special needs of diabetics. A blend of vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals, it is available in sugar-free caplets. Contact: Abkit, Inc.; telephone: 1-800-226-6277; website http://www.alphabetic.com
DIABETES SUPPLIES
Can-Am Corporation carries a full line of discount-priced diabetes supplies, including: test strips, Dex-4 glucose tablets, skin cream, etc. The company also markets the Monoject line of insulin syringes and lancets. Many Can-Am products are also sold as "house brand" at major pharmacy chains. Their low price in no way compromises their high quality.
For information, contact: Can-Am Care Corporation, Cimetra Industrial Park, Box 98, Chazy, NY 12921-0098; telephone: 1-800-461-7448.
A1C TEST AT HOME
Studies have firmly established that "tight" blood glucose control is the best way for diabetics to maintain health and ward off the threat of complications, such as eye, kidney, or nerve disease. To carry out tight control, you need to know where your sugars are, and where they have been. One tool your physician uses is the HBA1c, or glycosylated hemoglobin test. It is useful and accurate, and now it just got easier—you can test at home!
Express-Med announces the A1c Express, a quick and convenient A1C home test. Your doctor supplies you with the "test kit," and you collect the blood, then mail it to the lab you and your doctor choose. You should have your results in 7 to 10 business days—less if you use faster postage to ship your test. Express-Med notes that you are not obligated to use their lab (the tests are fairly standardized), but it is there, and costs $10 per test.
How do you do it? Express-Med sells their kits to health professionals only, so have your doctor, or diabetes educator call them at 1-888-834-2212. The kits should be available now.
Becton Dickinson and Company announces their A1c At Home Test. Similar to the above, it is a kit either supplied by the doctor or diabetes educator. The two-drop blood sample is returned to the lab in the special envelope. B-D plans to offer direct pharmacy sale to customers (no doctor's order required) in early 1999. Estimated cost (kit and all test fees) $35. For information, contact Becton Dickinson at 1-800-237-4554.
TALK TO YOUR COMPUTER
We have been asked to announce: Many electronics firms offer programs and hardware enabling a computer to "speak" its instructions, or the text displayed on its screen. The computer talks to you. With such devices, blind people are fully able to utilize the Internet, and to be employed in the electronics field. But what about talking back to your computer?
For some time, Dragon Systems has offered "Dragon Dictate," a program enabling your computer to "learn" and respond to your spoken commands, without your hand on the keyboard. The early versions worked well, but were quite expensive. The price has come down.
Dragon Systems now offers Point and Speak, a typing program for Windows 95, 98 and NT, that allows you to speak text, and have it typed into WordPerfect, MS Office, or many other Windows applications. This product, the simplest of their "talk-back" programs, is available through their resellers, or directly:
Dragon Systems, Inc., 320 Nevada Street, Newton, MA 02160; telephone: 1-800-4372; website http://www.dragonsys.com
FREE DIABETES LITERATURE
The National Federation of the Blind maintains an extensive literature collection, with free materials on many subjects available in a variety of formats. The articles listed below make up one part of the collection, the "diabetes" category:
"Insulin Measurement Devices," "Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy," "Diabetics, Don't Give Up on Braille," "How I Went Blind...And Then What," "Review of Oral Diabetes Medications," "Preventing, Minimizing, or Delaying Kidney Failure," "Impotence, and How to Prevail," "Can I Eat Sugar?," "Cardiovascular Health:
Bypass may be Better for Diabetics," "Arthritis and Diabetes: A Common Association," "Blind Diabetics Can Draw Insulin Without Difficulty," "New Dietary Guidelines for Diabetes Management," "Keeping Your Feet," "What Is Diabetes Mellitus?" "Talking Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems," "Diabetic Eye Disease," and "Kidney Failure, Dialysis, and Transplantation."
These articles are available in large print and four-track 15/16 IPS audiocassette for the blind. All are free of charge. To order, or to request a complete NFB literature catalog, contact: NFB Materials Center, 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, MD 21230; telephone: (410) 659-9314. The Materials Center is open 12:30pm to 5pm, EST, weekdays.
SUGAR-FREE DONUTS
If you have diabetes, you probably gave up donuts a long time ago. Most of them have too much fat, and too much sugar— you wouldn't have room for anything else! But alternative donuts are now available. Baker Charles Koons has perfected a cake donut with no fat, no sugar, and no cholesterol. Cost is $6.00 per dozen, plus $4 shipping, mail orders only. Order from:
Charles Koons, 102 Old Ebenezer Road., Lebanon, PA 17046; telephone: 1-800-796-4964 (plus extension "01").
ANATOMY TEXTBOOK IN BRAILLE
We have been asked to announce: The American Printing House for the Blind (APH) offers the publication of a new teaching resource: The "Basic Tactile Anatomy Atlas." Designed to aid blind and visually-impaired students in the study of the human body, this two-volume set features thermoformed tactile graphics, accompanied by Braille text. Diagrams and text cover the skeletal, muscular, nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular, digestive, urinary, lymphatic and reproductive systems.
Recommended for ages 12 and up. Priced at $105, the "Basic Tactile Anatomy Atlas" is available from: American Printing House for the Blind, 1839 Frankfort Avenue, Louisville, KY 40206-0085; telephone: 1-800-223-1839, website: http://www.aph.org
WHAT IS THE AAKP?
The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) is a national support group for people with serious kidney disease, those facing dialysis or transplantation, those just beginning to experience kidney disease, and their families. AAKP publishes "RENALIFE" magazine, maintains a website: http://www.aakp.org, and offers support groups in many communities. For information, contact: American Association of Kidney Patients, 100 S. Ashley Drive, Suite 280, Tampa, FL 33602; telephone: 1-800-749-2257.