{"id":2519,"date":"2009-11-11T08:25:42","date_gmt":"2009-11-11T13:25:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=2519"},"modified":"2015-12-30T06:29:04","modified_gmt":"2015-12-30T11:29:04","slug":"manny-hernandez-diabetes-community-pioneer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=2519","title":{"rendered":"Manny Hernandez, Diabetes Community Pioneer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photoreminderHAND1\"<\/a>Manny Hernandez, founder of the diabetes social network site, TuDiabetes.com<\/a>, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2002.\u00a0 In 2007, Manny founded TuDiabetes, a community for people touched by diabetes and its Spanish language\u00a0sister community, EsTuDiabetes<\/a>. Manny hopes that diabetics of every type, newly diagnosed and veterans, moms with gestational diabetes, as well as parents of children with diabetes–no matter the ethnicity or nationality– will join in and make the most of diabetes social networking.<\/p>\n

Manny Hernandez grew up in Venezuela, and studied at Cornell University.\u00a0 In September 2007, he began to write a monthly column for dLife called “Hola Diabetes.”\u00a0 In April 2008, Manny and his wife, Andreina Davila, started the non-profit organization, Diabetes Hands Foundation, with the goal of having no one with diabetes feel alone, and to help people without diabetes learn more about what it’s like to live with diabetes.<\/p>\n

How did you find out you had diabetes?\u00a0 Did your doctor explain\u00a0 the diagnosis well?\u00a0 Is there something your doctor or nurses could\u00a0have done better?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

My diagnosis was practically by accident, but a “fortunate” one, in a\u00a0way. I was used to getting a yearly checkup and in 2002, the checkup\u00a0resulted in being diagnosed with diabetes. However (because I was\u00a0overweight and 30 at the time), I was incorrectly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and sent home with a “typical” type 2 treatment, based on\u00a0Metformin, diet and exercise. After a few months, this treatment\u00a0proved to not be working so my primary care physician referred me to\u00a0an endocrinologist who found that I tested positive for GAD antibodies and had very low C-Peptide levels. Hence, I had actually type 1 diabetes and was put on an insulin treatment right away.\u00a0 Over time, I learned that my type of diabetes is also referred to as\u00a0LADA:<\/p>\n

[youtube]http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5CxG3BZ_DRA&feature=player_embedded[\/youtube]\n

What is missing from diabetes care?\u00a0 What needs to be done?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Empowering the patients more: Giving patients more resources (online and offline) to go to when\/if\u00a0they have doubts or questions. Emphasizing the importance of being member of an online community: http:\/\/tudiabetes.com\/profiles\/blogs\/ten-reasons-why-you-should<\/a> This doesn’t take away from the critical role of the medical team: it\u00a0rather compliments their work by offering much needed support to those\u00a0living with a chronic condition like diabetes.<\/p>\n

What do you find the most fulfilling project that you are working on with your foundation, The Diabetes Hands Foundation?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"BigBluetest1\"<\/a><\/strong>We are very excited about the three projects we have currently under\u00a0way for World Diabetes Day:
\n1) With Making Sense of Diabetes<\/a>, we are calling on people with\u00a0diabetes to do a 2-3 minute video focusing on their lives with\u00a0diabetes through one of the five senses.
\nIn time for World Diabetes Day (Nov. 14), we will be doing a\u00a0compilation video highlighting some of the best submissions we’ve\u00a0received. We’ve been blown away so far<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2) We are collaborating with several other champions in the diabetes\u00a0social media space to raise the profile of World Diabetes Day in the\u00a0USA, where things were a bit too quiet last year. We launched WDDUSA.org a few weeks ago to invite people touched by diabetes in the\u00a0USA to make a difference and do things to get the word out about this\u00a0important day. WDDUSA also has a Twitter account<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3) On Nov. 14 at 14:00 hours (2 pm local time, wherever you may be) we\u00a0will hold The Big Blue Test. The idea is to have people with diabetes\u00a0(and their loved ones) test their blood sugar, do 14 minutes of\u00a0exercise, test again and share their reading on TuDiabetes.org or Twitter. You can read more details about this here<\/a>.
\nWe expect to have many thousands of people with diabetes participate\u00a0thanks to our collaboration with eight other diabetes online\u00a0communities. We are not alone in our lives with diabetes, but activities like this one make it easier to remember and realize it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Giving patients more resources…This doesn\u2019t take away from the critical role of the medical team, it rather compliments their work by offering much needed support to those living with a chronic condition like diabetes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1429,1434],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nManny Hernandez, Diabetes Community Pioneer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Manny Hernandez, founder of the diabetes social network site, TuDiabetes.com, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2002. 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