Abstract
WOW, I just arrived home from ADCES23, and it was better than I could have ever imagined! Like all of us who were there, ADCES23 gave us all time to meet up with old friends and make new ones, to see all the new products in the exhibit hall, and to learn from the educational sessions and posters. For me, what was most meaningful was the reaction I received after I gave my president’s address at the conference opening session. It prompted so many of you to share with me your “A-Ha” moment, whether it was a patient encounter that shaped how you provided care from that day forward or the moment you realized you had found your calling. These moments showcase the powerful impact we have on our patients and they have on us.
During my address, I shared a story from earlier in my career. I was providing insulin pump education to a 9-year-old boy. His parents were very active in his care, coming to all his pump visits: introduction, saline start, and then transition to insulin.
At the time, I was working in a busy diabetes education center and seeing many children and adults. It was what I did; it was my work, and I loved it; however, it was my job. Then at the end of the last visit, this boy’s transition to insulin, I could see they were all so happy and very proud of their son who, up until then, had been living with diabetes for 2 years.
The father looked at his family and said, “I think we should go out to dinner tonight and celebrate.”
I could see the excitement in the boy’s face, and then the father said, “Oh, shoot, I have a late meeting; however, you and mom go, and I will join you as soon as I can.”
I remember looking up from my notes, and I said, “No it’s okay. They can wait for you now. You can all go together whenever you want. He is on a pump now; he eats when he wants to eat.” I remember I just said it like it was a class and I just delivered a line in my lesson; but what happened next changed my life from that moment on. The parents began to cry. They had lived a life on a schedule, a life on injection therapy that for them dictated when they ate and when they did many things. I remember seeing the family and their reaction, and I remember saying to myself, “Remember this moment; never forget it.”
We all provide more than education, more than information. I gave that family a gift. The gift of “feeling normal.” I gave them the gift of freedom. Most importantly, I gave them hope. I was humbled and changed.
To this day, I never take for granted the impact we have as diabetes care and education specialists. I saw my work from that moment on as a gift, a privilege. We can get so obsessed with outcome measures. We are measured by so many measures; however, the most important thing we do is hard to measure and yet worth so much. I realized in that moment that the insulin pump was not just an insulin delivery device, but instead, it took diabetes out of the driver’s seat and put the family in it. His diabetes was no longer in charge. They were.
As 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Barb Schreiner mentioned in her acceptance speech, we have been given a sacred trust and responsibility. In the end, diabetes care and education is a lifelong journey of learning, from one another, from our patients, and them from us.
Barb also shared with us 4 additional and related truths that she’s uncovered in her long career that will help us offer the level of care that transforms our lives and those we care for and continue to fuel our passion:
Be curious. Listen with intent and deep interest. There is much to learn even as we teach others.
As you become an expert, remember the courage and frustration it took to be a novice.
It is about service. Give some away. Volunteer.
Love what you do and do it with great passion.
It’s this passion for what we do that sets us apart and is why we get up every morning. It’s the passion that makes us a critical member of the health team. Please continue to share your voice, continue to share your stories, and whenever possible, invite yourself to the table to ensure our specialty, diabetes care and education, will continue to be a valued service for our payers, health systems, and all persons at risk for and living with diabetes.
Diabetes care and education is a lifelong journey of learning, from one another, from our patients, and them from us.
Thank you to all who shared their stories with me. Let’s keep it going! ■