By
AmyT on
October 17, 2007
When I first arrived in Germany in the middle of winter about 18 years ago (ahem…), I immediately caught a bad cold. Every time I sneezed, my brother-in-law’s girlfriend would bark, “Health!” It took us a while to work out that Americans say the same thing, only in German. And maybe a little less like a command. Anyway, we had a good laugh. In recent years, I’ve come to appreciate that salutation in ways never…
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By
AmyT on
October 16, 2007
Can you hear my horn tootin’? Some good stuff (most of it mine that I’d like to plug today:
* My latest dLife column, Straight Up with Amy, welcomes you to the Health 2.0 movement. In fact, if you’re reading this post on DiabetesMine.com, then you’re part of the movement, whether you know it or not. You are helping to change the world of healthcare just by being here, so thank you!
* A conversation…
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By
AmyT on
October 15, 2007
Another interesting development apropos to recent rants on lowering medical costs, in part by breaking down some traditional delivery mechanisms in favor of a more quick-shop, commercial approach to healthcare: now the FDA plans “to expand the the middle ground between drugs that require a prescription and those that anyone can buy off the shelf.” This new gray area for medications is termed “behind the counter” (BTC).
BTC has already gotten a lot of media…
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By
AmyT on
October 12, 2007
It’s really crazy how ignorant some otherwise-intelligent people can act around chronic illness. Even people working in supposedly progressive health institutions. Here’s a note I got lately from a woman in Germany (with an English mum), who lost her job in a medical lab over her diabetes. Yes, she did have some issues with hypoglycemia. But she feels her employers knee-jerk reacted, never giving her a chance. Her story:
I am 37
years old and…
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By
AmyT on
October 11, 2007
I wonder, does your local shopping mall or drugstore contain a so-called Retail Clinic — a mini-health clinic where nurse practitioners provide walk-in treatment for very basic health issues? I haven’t experienced one in my neighborhood, but I am told there are now more than 500 around the country, in stores like Target, Wal-Mart, and CVS, with forecasts of more than 1,500 coming by the end of 2008.
Some of the leading chains are MinuteClinic,…
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