A few weeks ago I dropped in at Freeport, in The Bahamas
when going on a short cruise for abit of R&R (escape from Old Man Winter
... like many Canadians do at this time of the year). It was to finally meet up with Christine
Snisky who is a pharmacist and CCDE (Caribbean Certified Diabetes Educator) and in her free time she also runs The Grand Bahamas Diabetes Education group on Facebook. She is a Super D Woman in my eyes!!!! Able to leap tall buildings in one leap!!!
Ahhh, there's nothing like life in The Bahamas |
My main goal in meeting up with Christine was to
present her officially with the blue circle pin, as part of the Pin a Personality Campaign that was started last year by IDF for World Diabetes Day (held
every year on November 14th).
Even though I think she thought I was silly saying that she's “a
personality”, I still think anyone who works in the public doing what she does....
is a personality in my eyes. I felt very
honoured to have meet her and knowing how valuable she is to the community in
educating diabetes.
She herself has Type 1 diabetes, which she feels was brought
on by her autoimmune system being compromised by drugs that she had to take for
a condition called Recurrent
Respiratory Papillomas (RPP). She had numerous surgeries to remove the tumors
from her respiratory tract (leaving her with a whispery sexy voice ... or at least that’s my take on it
<lol>). If she hadn't had the
surgeries, she would have died of suffocation. The good thing though
is that she is one of the lucky ones,
having been in remission for a long time. And of all days, as I post this blog, on
February 28th … it is the RareDisease Day celebrated all over the world to raise awareness amongst the general public and decision-makers about rare diseases and their impact on patients' lives.
Before meeting up with Christine though, since she was
working until 1:00 that day, I sauntered around some of the ports shops outside
the port, talking to some of the locals.
This is the best part of travelling for me, speaking to locals, finding
out what makes them tick, and sometimes finding some of the best deals that the
locals go to (and not the tourists).
What became clear to me, and more so after meeting up with
Christine. Bahamas is in dire need of
proper education in the diabetes sector.
I was talking to one shop owner, and of course, in my
excitement I told her I was meeting up with Christine later that day and that I
had had Type 1 diabetes since 1967 (I am such a blurter out person about my
diabetes aren't I?).
She told me that she was a Type 2 diabetic, but after
speaking with her, clearly to my unmedical eyes/ears, she was a Type 1. She'd basically been put on insulin right
from the start. The scary part was she didn't
know how to use her insulin, or what it exactly does. She relayed the story of having a 400 mg/dl
(22 mmol/l) blood sugar reading the day before, and “being oh so ever thirsty”
and that she’d drank orange juice (OJ)!!!
I told her that OJ has sugar in it, and it would only make matters
worse. She seemed to understand this,
but to make her feel not so bad, , I said she could always have put a dash of
OJ in the water, to make it taste less boring than just plain water, but to try
to drink just plain water and to give some fast acting insulin.
My DH in the back listening to Christine and I yaaking about diabetes and life in The Bahamas |
Fast acting insulin? She did she not know how to correct
her blood sugar with fast acting insulin or really what it was (I explained to
how I gave one insulin for food, and another type of insulin for just keeping
my blood sugars level). I could see
this was beyond her comprehension but the good thing is she told me she wished
she knew these things. That's when I
told her that the same day I was visiting, a meeting at the hospital was taking
place, that Christine runs every Tuesday at 7:00, and that if she could – she might
want to attend. She had heard about
these meetings, and said she would go. I left hoping she did.
As I went around, I came across others with similar
stories. One store owner, an American
who had married a Bahamian, knew about this lady having the high blood sugar and like myself, knew that treating it with orange juice
was a no no.
Crikey, she's driving on the WRONG side of the road :) |
Finally it was time to meet up Christine (I was worried
we wouldn't meet since I had had no data or mobile since we’d left Miami a few
days prior). Luckily, Freeport isn't
that big and I was wearing my smoking cat t-shirt as promised so she could spot me in a crowd. Just when I’d sent my darling husband (DH) to scout the public
parking lot, who zooms up in their car but Christine!!! She came out of her car, and I was soooo
excited. We hugged each like we'd known
each other for ever!!! Oh, I’m such an
emotional twit aren't I?
Sock Monkey sampling the local brew of The Bahamas - what a trooper |
She drove us to a nice quiet area of the island, far away
from the floating city folks that were on the boat with us ... and we just
chilled out and talked about diabetic education in the islands. One thing that really got to me, as of January 1st - VAT (ValueAdded Tax) is now placed on drugs in The Bahamas.
The minimum wage on the islands is barely enough to pay rent and
purchase drugs. Plus most do not have a
private insurance like Americans do or a government plan - but that is in the
works - but when it will happen who knows.
So, with the 7.5% VAT added, for some people, balancing their income to purchase insulin, etc. is difficult.
Luckily, the cost of insulin though is not as highly overpriced as it is
in the USA; the islands seem to sell their insulin and other medical supplies
similar to how we have it set up here in Canada. Maybe this is due to Bahamas and Canada
being an independent Commonwealth realm (we both retain Queen Elizabeth's II as
our monarch) - so we follow somewhat same government, but I'm no expert in this
area.
Presenting Christine with the blue circle pin which one day will hopefully be the universally recognized symbol of diabetes awareness (I mean who doesn't love blue?). |
So, over a few beers (Christine is gluten free -
so she had unsweetened ice tea) - we had a good time planning adventures for
educating within The Bahamas ... and hopefully meeting up at the IDF World Diabetes Congress
in Vancouver this November where
I'll be working as a volunteer again and cracking the brains of doctors /
researchers / you name it I'll delve into many subjects!
The only one drawback of the whole meeting? Time flew by way too fast. Before we knew it, we were speeding off to
get back to the port to catch our cruise ship that was going to the next port (Nassau). Quick
hugs, running to the gates to get back on the ship (we were about 10 minutes
late for passengers to get back on) - what a rush!!! For the first time, we were part of
the entertainment for folks watching us from the ship, being the last
passengers on (hmmm, wonder if they paged our names a few times)!!! Thank goodness I can
run like a crazed woman when I have to ... with Sock Monkey screaming in my ear - go go go!! Of course,forgetting what I educate other diabetics I mentor, I did not bring any spare insulin with me, etc. but then, if I'd been stranded on the island ... I had Superwoman Pharmacist Christine to help me out for my legal drugs ;)
Till we meet again
Christine and the folks in The Bahamas!!! Who knows, maybe that dream
of living in the islands will be coming faster than planned ... we can be the
Team D Crusaders - sailing to various islands in the Exumas / Abacos... have insulin ... will travel!!!
You can view more of my blogs at Diabetes1.org ... my first blog on this recent R&R can be found at this link ... thanks for reading my fluff (Sock Monkey made me say this).