LifeAfterDx: the movie

So quite a while back (April of 2009) I think I mentioned that a camera crew followed me around at the clinic. “Just act natural,” I was told with five lights and a giant camera lens in my face.

Yeah, I’ll get right on that.

The film crew came twice, documenting the story of one patient’s odyssey through New Mexico diabetes treatment.

The film was being made for Project ECHO, a University of New Mexico sponsored program that (quoting their web page) uses technology to bridge “the gap between urban healthcare specialists and providers in rural settings,” to show how their program works.

So the movie isn’t about me. I’m just a bit player.

But at the same time, the movie is about more than just project ECHO. The movie is about teamwork. It’s about the diabetes epidemic. It’s about how one state which is short on resources and large on territory is overcoming the treatment challenges. And sadly, it’s also about the differences in outcomes for patients who have access to education and resources, and those that don’t.

You also get to hear and see Dr. Colleran, who wrote the foreword for The Born-Again Diabetic, in action. Actually, due to a typo, she wrote the “foreward,” and will never let me forget it.

And you get to see my clinic, my boss, and my previous office.

Oh, yeah, and you get to see me in action too. Somewhere towards the end of the show.

The film actually came out right after the first of the year this year, and is called Tackling Diabetes is a Team Sport: A Project ECHO Initiative. But it was just recently put online at the UNM School of Medicine web site at http://echo.unm.edu/videos.shtml so I wanted to share it all with you.

So pop some popcorn. Crack open a diet Dr. Pepper. And join me at the movies.