24 Hours of Amazing at AADE13
Aug 9, 2013, 01:00 AM
Day 2 of the AADE13 meeting gave us a wide variety of wonderful experiences. Most of us started the morning at the general session where Dr. Arya Sharma talked about the 5As of Obesity Management. It was an interesting talk that certainly changed some of my ideas about methods and expectations of successful management of “the obesities.”
Then, off to breakout sessions with topics covering several aspects of diabetes management providing information from novice to expert levels. Next, thousands of us went to the exhibit hall to learn about the latest and greatest in diabetes care. I talked to several of the vendors and they expressed how much they enjoy being at AADE over some other conferences because this is where they meet passionate diabetes educators that can get the information out to people with diabetes. They just couldn’t say enough about how important we are in this connection. Entering and leaving the exhibit hall, several people milled about the display cases for AADE’s Education and Research Foundation’s Silent Auction. I checked out how my donated items were doing and placed a bid. Others stopped at a kiosk to learn about AADE’s new Diabetes Educator Awareness Campaign. Look for more on this in the months ahead. The day continued with more educational sessions and then back to hotels for many to change and get ready for the big night!
BD/Lilly invited attendees to the Reading Terminal Market for snacks, beverages, music, and socializing with other educators. This is one of my favorite places in Philadelphia. Add thousands of diabetes educators and you can just imagine!
A walk across the street brought us to the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott for LifeScan’s Irish Coffee. We had a special treat this year with the exhibit of Children with Diabetes’ (CWD) Quilt for Life. Each quilt square represents someone with diabetes. It was amazing and filled with such hope, love and inspiration. I happened to ride the escalator to the gathering with Nicole Johnson, the former Miss America and an international diabetes advocate. Her quilt was the one with the crown!
Then, I was off to bed, later than intended. The alarm was set for 4:00 a.m., and then changed to 4:16, then to 4:30. It seemed to go off just a couple of hours later. Mine was not the only alarm set so early. Hundreds of us boarded buses from 5:00 a.m. to go to Fairmount Park for the Leading Through Education 5K Walk/Jog/Run-a-thon sponsored by Novo Nordisk. I was shocked at the number that made the extra effort, got up extra early, and traveled to the park as we exercised to show our support for diabetes education. This photo shows me with Ken Widelka, AADE’s Chief Financial Officer, and Deb Fillman, Chair of AADE’s Education and Research Foundation. If you can attend next year, it is definitely worth making the extra effort to join us.
I can’t believe this all happened in 24 hours! It was great to see so many of us taking advantage of each of these opportunities. Diabetes educators are amazing!