I am sure I’m not alone in feeling a general tension, a sort of static electricity, touching everything these days. At best, such tensions can overshadow progress. At worst, they hinder it all together.
Each person and organization has a North Star – their ‘why.’ When things go wrong it is often because people have allowed their why to become compromised. Fortunately, the opposite is true as well. Progress is the result of fighting for a shared why.
In fact, every advancement in T1D care has resulted from the community coming together to fight for better.
Now, when things seem most tense and uncertain, is when it’s most helpful to remember that this is, and always will be, the pathway to progress.
When things seem most tense is when it’s most helpful to remember what the path to progress looks like.
It is no different when it comes to our work at Blue Circle Health. Nothing we’ve done or will do is possible without the community pulling together for our shared why. This list of developments in the update below is a testament to this.
Since May:
- We surpassed 2,000 people served since launching in January of 2024. Our top source of referrals is clinicians, a sign of trust and partnership that we’re incredibly grateful for.
- Our short documentary, “Moving the Needle: The Fight to Fix T1D Care,” premiered at the American Diabetes Association’s Scientific Sessions, then screened at the annual meeting of the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists, and at the Touched By Type 1 Annual Conference. The attendance and feedback at each event was nothing short of inspiring. We’re planning a community-wide screening – details to follow (2 min trailer).
- We were honored to receive the Red Sox Foundation’s IMPACT Award, presented by the Manning Family Foundation. Winners were decided by the greatest number of votes received from the community. You turned clicking on a link and sharing the news into $15,000 worth of direct care for people living with T1D in New England. Thank you!
- We now offer services in Illinois. This brings the total number of states we serve to 21 (plus the District of Columbia). Our success in Illinois, as in all states, is dependent on the introductions and relationships so many of you help to foster. We’re eager to meet clinicians, plan and provider execs, people living with T1D, and anyone else in Illinois that you believe might be able to help advance our cause.
- We participated in the Diabetes Patient Advocate Coalition’s (DPAC) Hill Day. This was an important first step in our efforts to understand how we can use our model, the evidence we generate, and the voices of those we serve to promote policy change that will make T1D care better for all. We are grateful to DPAC and all the volunteers that spent their day meeting with congressional representatives and their teams. If you’d like to read more about the experience, I wrote it up in a short blog post.
- If you want to experience how amazing the T1D community is, attend an annual Touched by Type 1 conference in Orlando. It is a free, one day event that attracts more than a thousand people living with T1D, their families, and clinicians. The most telling number is that it is run by 70+ volunteers. We were honored to lead sessions featuring members of our team, including Eleni Sheehan, APRN, who presented “Navigating the System: Taking the Lead in Your T1D Care” on the Young Adult Track, and Zaylu Delgado, T1D Support Guide, who presented “Self-Advocacy: Finding Your Voice on Your Diabetes Journey,” on the Spanish Track.
- Carrie Matuzsan, LSW, CDCES, the leader of our Case Management service line, was a speaker at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms and Families USA’s virtual event, “Preparing for Marketplace Open Enrollment: What Diabetes Providers and Assisters Need to Know”.
- We welcomed several new members of the team, including: Mike Brin (Director of Development), Kelli Deferme (Director of Community Engagement), Nikki Hemans, LCSW (Diabetes Supportive Counselor), Sarah Knotts (Senior T1D Support Guide & Trainer), Errol Brown (Associate Business Systems Developer), Jessica Tyler (Development Coordinator), and Ashley Resh (People Operations Partner).
- We’re currently hiring an Endocrinologist/Physician. If you know someone who may be interested, please direct them to bluecirclehealth.org/careers to apply.
Finally, a sincere thanks to the individuals and organizations whose financial support makes what we do possible. Demand for our services will soon outpace our ability to provide them as quickly as we do today. Anyone interested can help us meet this demand by investing directly in others’ care via our new Donate Page. If you’d like to learn more about investment and partnership, send a note to Sara Lerner at slerner@bluecirclehealth.org.
Sincerely,
Len D’Avolio, PhD
Note: Blue Circle Health accepts support from partners to help expand access to care for people living with type 1 diabetes. All clinical decisions, research priorities, safety communications, and publications remain fully independent and are never influenced by donations or relationships. Click here to view our full Industry Partnership Policy.
