Dear Remaining Insulin Pump Companies.
Hi. In the diabetes community, I’m known by many as DiabetesDad. I write a column such as this. My heart belongs to my two children who have diabetes. My heart belongs to the world around us who are on this diabetes journey. Many people have diabetes. Many have a child, or two, or three (or more) who live with this disease.
Many of us, have our ear to the ground. We hear things. We don’t know for sure, we’re just living our lives. If you are with an insulin pump company, chances are you are a family person too. You love your family and do not want any harm coming to them.
Neither do we.
It was announced that Animas is closing their doors. Sad as this is, it happens in business sometimes and we understand that aspect of this world. We have watched other diabetes companies over the years close their doors too. The 100,000 plus people on an Animas pump must now look elsewhere for an insulin pump. They will be looking for a new pump, they may be looking to you and your company.
We are just parents. We are just people who live with this disease. You are the corporate mavens in this world. Deep down inside, you really know how soluble your company is. The hardship of taking our child off one pump and putting them on another is excruciating. No one likes change. Our children will look to us and know that we are doing what is right for them. But we do not know everything…………………………….
………so as a parent, I’m asking, pleading, begging to ask you to look inside your heart. If you have a gut feeling that your insulin pump company will not be here in the near future——please let us know. Be honest, this is our children’s lives.. I ask every parent who is s presently on an Animas Insulin Pump and will have to switch to another pump company, no matter who that company is, demand a message from their highest ranking official what they believe the future of their company to be. Let them know how painful this is and that you do not want to go through it again a few months down the line…….ask them to be honest with you.
Then choose your new insulin pump company wisely. We are not stockholders, we are people. Our future, and the lives of our children, are in your hands. What will you tell us?
We are sorry to see Animas go…….we trust, as parents yourselves, you will not steer us wrong. God Bless you.
I am a DiabetesDad.
Please visit my Diabetes Dad FB Page and hit ‘like’.
11 replies on “An Open Letter to the Remaining Insulin Pump Companies”
My heart broke as I read this…this company fills a vital gap for kids on pumps, my daughter has been on a Medtronic pump for 10 years so I can only endorse their products so if your referred this company I know you’ll be ok…after a time. Sorry this is happening to these families.
Thank you for your ‘endorsement’ from the trenches. I urge everyone to speak to otehrs to come to a solid solution on what to do.
I am stunned I didn’t know that they were closing their doors. What do I do?
Check out other pump companies—-inconvenient? Yes. But also VERY doable.
Absolutely, will have to check out other companies. It just frustrates me as we just went through this process last year when our warranty was up. We decided to stay with Animas because it’s the BEST fit for my child.
I totally understand—-over teh years we have had to switch for our kids quite a few times from pumps, to meters, to even insulins. You’ve got this—–just take it slow. 🙂
Thank you for having our backs!! I appreciate it.
I may be more plugged in than others, but this was not really a surprise to me. I know in our area Animas reps were advising people that selecting them was likely not the best idea.
When I looked at my pump choice this year I looked at the financials more than the features. The financials then the features. Because, money never lies, at least not in the long run.
In this case, J&J was not financially strapped, but they also were not investing in the business. Its always the money.
I saw in many groups over the past few days that many did NOT know this was coming. One family received their pump a mere 3 weeks ago, with no warnings from their Animas rep, the educators, etc. And insult to injury, the announcement about Animas’ decision was not done in a letter to pump users – it was posted on social media and in a PR.
That’s what I find reprehensible.
And indeed your feelings are completely justified.
Reprehensible indeed.
Thanks for writing and more than that, good luck in your search.
These types of things often worry me ALOT! November 13 will make 2 years my daughter was diagnosed. Andrea has been using the Omni pod and we love it and have become dependent on it. As a mom and compassionate person I can not imagine what the people using Animas pumps are feeling. My daughters PDM for pump malfunctioned and we were without a pump for 2 days and it broke my heart to see my daughter injecting so many times. I wish people and all these companies would really take a minute and think about the impact their companies have on the life of an individual who NEEDS these gadgets to make life a little more normal.