Sometimes I think of the Diabetes Online Community (or DOC) as a huge beach, and each of us are the tiny grains of sand that make up our beach. Sometimes we quietly lay there, sometimes we drift in and out with the tides, and sometimes we come together and do something huge. When that happens, I see us as a big beautiful sandcastle.Last week I once again attended the HealthEVoices conference. (I attended in 2015 as well, but didn’t apply last year because it conflicted with another event). I love this conference because it opens my eyes to all of the other health communities out there. Amazing people doing amazing things. And although their conditions may be different from mine, a lot of what we are addressing is the same. Stigma, advocacy, privacy, burn out - these are just some of the topics we discussed that we all relate to. When we share what has worked or hasn’t worked for us, and why, we can learn from each other. We make our communities stronger. We all become more effective.
So my take away from #HealthEVoices17? You are but a grain of sand on a large beach. But don’t forget that your beach is not the only beach. Take a look at the other gorgeous beaches and all of the beautiful grains of sand they hold. You can learn so much just by visiting their shores. There are a lot of the other amazing sandcastles out there!
Disclosure: Janssen Global Services paid for my travel expenses for the conference. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.
Karen, I think that as we go forward the world of treatmetn for autoimmune disease will look more similar than different. Yes we will always need insulin while others will not, and others will need specific medical interventions. But for prevention we are all in need of finding ways to control, suppress or otherwise manipulate the autoimmune system.
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