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There are no chips with this SALSA.

This is a great blog on Diabetes and you have to love their acronym!

Diabetic Foot Blog - Southern Arizona Limb Salvage Alliance (SALSA)

Dedicated to amputation prevention and healing in persons with diabetes. For information on diabetes, diabetic foot complications, and the philosophy of caring for people with the disease.

DFU & VA

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most serious problems facing the health of the general US population. This year over 7 percent of the population, or 21 million people, will be diagnosed with diabetes and among these individuals, 15 percent-25 percent will develop a Diabetic Foot Ulcer ("DFU") during their lifetimes. This is a very serious problem since DFUs are the leading cause of non-traumatic amputation. Since over 20 percent of patients with a DFU require an amputation, it is expected that between 650,000 to over 1 million unfortunate individuals will face having an amputation each year. Moreover, these patients also face a higher risk of additional amputations and a higher 5-year mortality rate of 39 percent to 68 percent.

The Heritage Medical Research Institute confirms that this is an even more serious problem among this country's veterans who are three times more likely to have diabetes as compared with the general population. Not only do veterans account for over half of all hospitalization for LE ulcerations, but almost two-thirds of all hospitalization for LE amputations in the VA healthcare system is among veterans with diabetes.

The 64 percent LE amputation rate among veterans with diabetes is considerably higher than the 50 percent amputation rate among diabetes in the general US population. It is therefore not surprising that the costs of treating diabetic patients with LE amputations have steadily increased in the VA system from 1989 to 1998 and is expected to increase unless we are able to prevent DFU.

YOUR SHOES COULD KILL YOU

This article is making the rounds. 

If The Shoe Doesn't Fit...

"More than 80,000 foot amputations are performed every year on people with diabetes. Most of these are preventable, and one of the culprits for amputation is right below your nose: your shoes....'One person in four or five with diabetes will develop a diabetic ulcer," said Leese, adding that shoes that don't fit are a big part of this problem.' "

In a famous, Nobel Prize-winning and historical experiment, people demonstrated that they are twice as afraid of losing something as they are optimistic about gaining something. It seems the fear of loss, as an emotion, is twice as strong as faith in gain. (Source)

Are you a...
Certified Pedorthist? (CPed)
Certified Orthotist? (CO)
Certified Fitter in Orthotics? (CFo)

You should be all over this article and pitching like crazy to your local media.

Be like Nike...

O&P Business News, November 1, 2007
Cover Story

Diabetes and Niche Marketing
Be like Nike and communicate that you are aware of, and have designed your products and services to meet, the needs of certain patients.

By Elizabeth Mansfield

© 2007/DigitalVision/Getty Images

On Sept. 25, Nike unveiled what it said is the first shoe designed specifically for American Indians, an effort aimed at promoting physical fitness in a population with high obesity rates. The Air Native N7 is designed with a larger fit for the distinct foot shape of American Indians, and has a culturally specific look. The N7 name is a reference to the seventh generation theory, used by some tribes to look to the three generations preceding them for wisdom and the three generations ahead for their legacy.

The design features several “heritage callouts” including sunrise to sunset to sunrise patterns on the tongue and heel of the shoe. Feather designs adorn the inside and stars are on the sole to represent the night sky.

I would call this a great example of micro-niche marketing. I would also call it a brilliant publicity move by Nike.

Biggest niche market ever

Why not be like Nike?

Diabetes and the diabetic population could be considered one of the biggest niche markets today. Everyone and their grandmother is jumping on the diabetes marketing bandwagon. On www.monster.com and www.careerbuilder.com, there are job openings specifically listed as “diabetic marketing managers.” The diabetic market overall is booming.

But what about the niches?

Customer relationships

The American Marketing Associations’ definition of marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.

Health care providers are stakeholders in the care of their patients with diabetes. They are also your customers. Create, communicate and deliver value with your niche marketing efforts.

Who are two primary stakeholders? They are diabetic nurse educators and primary care physicians. Did you know that primary care physicians are the number one provider of diabetic care, managing 90% of care? If the stakeholders are convinced of the value you are offering, you have succeeded. The publicity or awareness generated by successful communicating can be worth its weight in gold.

Case in point. Stakeholders in the Native American community had this to say about Nike’s Air Native N7 shoe.

Kelly Acton, MD, MPH, director of the national diabetes program for Indian Health Services, said she was dubious of working with a corporation at first but said she was delighted with the result, saying Nike “‘bent over backwards’ to design a shoe and respect public health needs.”

John Dickson, a member of the executive council of the Native American Leadership Alliance in Washington, D.C., said in a news report on www.yahoo.com, “The reason I like it is that, even if there is not a big Native American market, it gives people the impression there is a constituency that deserves attention.”

Financial opportunity

According to Nike, the company anticipates selling at least 10,000 pairs and raising $200,000 for tribal programs. At $42.80 wholesale, it represents less of a financial opportunity than a goodwill and branding effort.

Nike gets it. They realize that there are other markets out there similar to the Native American market, like say, the worldwide diabetic market. Don’t be surprised if, after they have ridden the Native American wave, Nike debuts a diabetic sneaker.

Niche and grow rich, right?

Source

Preventing Lower Extremity Amputations

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is working to prevent more diabetics in South Texas from needing amputations.

The university's School of Medicine has established the Lee J. Sanders Professorship in Lower Extremity Amputation Prevention. This endowed faculty position will be housed within the Health Science Center's Department of Orthopaedics.

The medical school has not yet named an individual to fill this position.

The professorship is named in honor of one of the country's foremost leaders in the prevention of lower-extremity amputations in diabetics. Sanders is chief of podiatry service, acute care and specialty services at the Lebanon VA Medical Center in Lebanon, Pa.

Local Health Science Center podiatrist Larry Harkless began fund-raising for the endowment during the American Diabetes Association's Scientific Sessions conference held in 2000 in San Antonio.

Wine (Do you really need more in a title? I don't think so.)

Back in the day (like 3 years ago) I used to put together a custom gift basket as a raffle prize whenever I exhibited at an O&P meeting on behalf of OPAF.

The wine I chose to put in the basket?

Barefoot
Of course!

It was the only decent O&P related wine I could find.
(Fat Bastard - was a close second, but...)

Anyway, it's just been named Wine Brand of the Year.

As a result, according to Market Watch Magazine. The award recognizes wine, spirits and beer brands that showcase the most promise in their respective categories, based primarily on increased brand awareness and sales growth figures.

" Barefoot more than doubled its growth from one million cases in 2005 to more than 2.4 million cases in 2006, largely due to word-of-mouth and distribution successes." (Gotta love that word of mouth.)

So, are you putting Barefoot Wine in your gift baskets?

It's Kinda Like "OnStar" For Diabetics

Last night I saw an "OnStar" commercial about their email diagnostics program for your vehicle (I think it was the one with Jeff Gordon) - didn't think a lot about it until this morning I got this email about:

"My Diabetes Connector" (sm) Online Tool Can Help Individuals Better Manage Their Diabetes

The American Diabetes Association announces a new Web-based diabetes management tool, My Diabetes Connector (sm), that allows people with diabetes to track and monitor blood-glucose levels in collaboration with members of their health care team -- no matter where they are located.

Developed by MyCareTeam, Inc., this online application lets users upload information from multiple blood glucose meters directly to their computer and share the data with their personal Care Team -- including doctors, nurses, caregivers, and family members -- in the form of easy-to-read charts and graphs.

Like I said. Kinda like "OnStar" for Diabetics.

When is your friendly global micro-processor knee (or foot or ankle) manufacturer going to offer "On Star" for their wearers?

Seasonal variations in non-traumatic major lower limb amputation in Hong Kong Chinese diabetic patients.

Original article: A retrospective study of 770 diabetic patients hospitalized for lower extremity infection during the period 1995 to 2004.  The study focused on monthly incidence of admissions for diabetic foot sepsis and non-traumatic non-neoplastic major lower limb amputations correlated with the monthly average humidity and temperature.

1285 episodes of hospitalization and ensued 208 corresponding major lower limb amputations showed that warm and humid weather of Hong Kong exerts a seasonal variation on the diabetic foot infection presentations. Warm temperature aggravates the severity of infection and precipitates amputation. More intensive patient education and clustering of medical services in late winter and spring might reduce the incidence of diabetic foot amputation, which is a preventable complication.

Original article, click here.

Source

It's Not Exactly a 'Happy Meal," but...

Marketing is marketing.
Hospitals have to do it too.

In my "Everything I Learned About Marketing, I Learned from McDonald's (Branding using specialized patient management programs" talk, I talked about the importance of packaging and promoting what essentially are McDonald's two products (hamburger and chicken) to a variety of different target markets.

"Happy Meal" versus "Hamburger, small fry, small drink, cheap plastic toy made in Asia in a cardboard box."

It's all in the name.

From the Associated Press

Special Teams Fight Diabetic Amputations

"...'Tuesday in the office, they're fine. Friday, they're in the emergency room with gangrene in a toe,' says Dr. Peter Sheehan, diabetes chief at New York's Cabrini Medical Center.

It's a little-known statistic: Foot problems — wounds that won't heal, infections, warping bones — are the most common reason diabetics are hospitalized.

And many of the 80,000-plus amputations of toes, feet and lower legs that Americans diabetics undergo each year are preventable, say specialists who brought more than 900 health providers to a meeting last week to figure out how to do just that.

One recommendation: For hospitals to create diabetes limb-salvage teams.

It sounds simple. But it involves pairing specialists who seldom work side-by-side — like podiatrists and vascular surgeons — to shave weeks off the time it can take to get proper care for a festering foot.

'It gets them everything they need right away, without months of waiting (between doctor appointments) while the wound is going downhill,' says Dr. John Steinberg, a podiatrist with Georgetown University Hospital's limb-salvage team....

Infection is the chief reason for amputating. But there are no firm guidelines on when a limb is beyond salvaging — and a 2001 study of Medicare-covered diabetics found large differences in amputation rates in different parts of the country....Between those vascular and ulcer-patching surgeries, patients see a lot of other doctors. Endocrinologists get blood sugar controlled enough to allow surgery. Infectious disease specialists find the right antibiotic cocktail. Orthotists design casts and special shoes to keep pressure off the foot's weak spots...Treating a simple diabetic foot ulcer can cost $8,000; an infected one, $17,000..."

Source

Name it, Package it, Promote it.

Nike Micro-Niches For Major News

Well done Nike.

Perfect example of:
"Advertising is what we pay for, publicity is what we pray for."
"Niche and Grow Rich"(er)
Cause Marketing coup

I could go on and on....

Nike designs shoe for American Indians

By SARAH SKIDMORE, Associated Press Writer                             

BEAVERTON, Ore. - Nike on Tuesday unveiled what it said is the first shoe designed specifically for American Indians, an effort aiming at promoting physical fitness in a population with high obesity rates.

The Beaverton-based company says the Air Native N7 is designed with a larger fit for the distinct foot shape of American Indians, and has a culturally specific look. It will be distributed solely to American Indians; tribal wellness programs and tribal schools nationwide will be able to purchase the shoe at wholesale price and then pass it along to individuals, often at no cost....

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