A few ideas...Let me know what you think!

General
1

So I guess over the past 2 yrs have been the hardest so I've been thinking of way to help not just myself but other T1's too.

So what I've been thinking about is that this site has given someone like myself that has had T1 for the past 13 yrs support in the fact that I don't have to be embarssed about discussing a topic with any one on this site(which gives alot of ppl comfort that they won't be judged) & groups like Diabetes Association & JDRF have support groups for us, but what about having groups that would be setup by T1's for parents &/or family & ppl who are newly diagonsed so that questions/concerns can be addressed & these ppl can learn from our experiences. I don't know I guess from my own experiences it would have been nice to have someone around my own age at diagnose to ask questions or to get info about what I might experience in my first yrs of diagnose.

But this isn't all cause I think that between all of us we have so much experience & knowledge that we can pass onto all those that are just learning or need a refesher b/c I've found that so many ppl on this site are very knowledgable & are so up to date w/ new techonolgy/advances in the field of our disease. So maybe something like a mentoring program & once new T1's/parents/family feel comfortable w/ handling their own diabetes, they may want to give back to inform others.

But also another big side of Diabetes is the cost & I know myself that I've needed help just to survive and finding help for someone on a pump is very hard(if any help actually exists unless it counts that I can sometimes get help from a local diabetic nurse that deals w/ my pump comany). What about finding help for all of us no matter if we use a pump or MDI & having a listing of major centres that would be able to give us the help w/ supplies that we need. Places/Supplier that might be able to give us supplies or donate supplies at a discounted rate or free until we are able to pay again.

I was thinking of a non-profit org. maybe in conjuction w/ juvenation so that everyone has access to the infomation. Right now these are only ideas but take a look & let me know what you think cause I have no idea if there is any need for these types of services/info, incase I have missed something. I haven't started this project yet & the name I was thinking of was D2D(Diabetics 2 Diabetics)!!!!??????

Thanks for all your comments & ideas

CJ

2

This sounds like a good idea.  I'm not sure how difficult it is to implement, but if you are planning on letting lots of diabetics come together to make a catch-all collection of information you might want to consider using a wiki.  There is some research that suggests they are easier to search and modify while not requiring too much time from the people running them.

3

I can't tell you how helpful something like that would have been when my son was diagnosed. For 2 1/2 years I had no support and had never said more than a sentence to another T1 or parent of a child with T1. Sure, his nurses and D care team are great, but they don't have diabetes or a child with diabetes. I never got any real life, first-hand advice until I found Juvenation. One of my son's nurses recently said she is taking names of parents who would be willing to talk to parents of newly diagnosed children. My name is on the list. :)