Are You Helping YOUR Doc???….TV’s Sandra Oh and Jim Turner Help us Take a Look.

jim turner sandra ohWhen is the last time you took your child with diabetes to your doctor?  If, like most of us, it is usually 4 times a year;  are you helping your doctor, in any way, care for your child?  You should.

When discussing a visit to the Doctor’s office, and this may seem elementary, but you would be surprised how much waits for the day of/before the visit.  I’m not quite sure what we expect of our Doctor’s but there are a few thing to always remember.

First, remember, you are not the only patients.  Some practices have hundreds/thousands of patients and here you are, with 5 minutes with your Doctor and/or a diabetes educator.  DO NOT WASTE this time for you or your medical team.  Between visits, you should be writing questions you may have based on experiences over the last three months.

Keep a log.  When you see something or hear about something….jot it down.  A new technology, meter, device, procedure-in-care, and even rumors….write them down.  Shortly before your appointment, prioritize your questions.  You may not get to them all so pick the 3 biggest things you would like information about that pertains to your doctor’s advice.

The first thing is the care of your child.  Have your child’s blood test done 2-3 weeks before your appointment so your doctor is dealing with a present A1C and not one taken the week after last visit; 3 months prior.  Work this out with the office how to best achieve this outcome.

As I have stated before, one of the most creative geniuses in diabetes matters mixed with entertainment is Jim Turner.  Jim’s creative genius is evident here with his friend TV Superstar Sandra Oh in this video about seeing a doctor.  Click the dLife.

The video states clearly things you should do before you see your doctor.  It’s your 5 minutes, make the best of it.

I am a diabetes dad.
Please visit my Diabetes Dad FB Page and hit ‘like’.

Diabetes “Mad Men”…..What Commercial WOULD YOU LIKE to See?

mad menFrom my time as a producer, I can tell you that it is a very labor-consuming, frustrating, and difficult time frame, from conception to airtime, creating a commercial or Public Service Announcement (PSA).

Trying to think of a commercial with a concept that captures the viewer’s attention by being edgy like this one created for the 1984 Superbowl. (Click links to see Ad).  Is no easy task.
Macintosh

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zfqw8nhUwA

 

 

Or perhaps a lighthearted approach like this one reminding us to “buckle-up’—-this became a huge classic.

Buckle up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq3cQVrnaWs

 

 

 

And if you like Public Service Announcements, here is an all-time classic.

Like father like son

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmzDLzqQ-A0

 

 

 

In between all of these thousands and thousands of commercials and public service announcements are the ones that missed the mark. Not every commercial can be remembered like Smokey the Bear.  And when it comes to disease-specific like diabetes it gets even tougher as we learned in the last few days.  We want this, but you cannot do that; this is good, but don’t say that; OMG my kids will see that–no way; they are healthy, they could die at any moment; the list is extremely hard to navigate, extremely hard.

While at dLife I wrote and produced the PSA spot below (look for Sandra Oh and Bret Michaels) to try to engage people to ‘Test’ their blood sugar more often.  dLife had already changed their ‘Know your Number’ to ‘Test, Don’t Guess’ in print work but to run a PSA, more thought had to be considered.  So you know how difficult this process can be; while figuring the entire process, Paula (Producer colleague) and I agonized over the use of the word ‘test’ and not ‘check’ for over a week before we bought it to dLife Creator Howard Steinberg for approval and air time; the deciding factor–they are not called ‘check-strips’ they are called ‘test-strips’.  So as simple and low-budget as it was; we ran with this spot (edited together by the incredible Holleran Media Productions) which, as many now know, became an award-winning spot (Telly Award).

test don't guess

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq4SuBzl8TQ

With the recent announcement of the new IDF PSA; the DOC was not short of opinions chiming in about the spot; but that’s easy.  To look at something and say; “Fabulous’, “Realistic”, “Horrible’, “Seriously?”, and many more comments both pro and con; well that is the easy part of the commercial.  Whether you like something or not, well that is your opinion.

So here is the challenge.  By replying to this article, start to tell me what ‘your perfect’ diabetes commercial would be.  The more exact you make it, the better the understanding; so be specific.  If we can come to one unified concept, I will check with ‘some friends’ I still have and see if they can produce the spot (no promises, but I will try–I’m also not a big fan of animated, or cartoon, spots; just so you know).  Of course if someone out there knows someone who knows someone who would love to be involved…..shoot me an email.  😉

The spot needs to be engaging, thirty seconds in length, edgy enough to be talked about but not edgy enough to offend.  It can be funny, dramatic, poignant, and focused.  It must be focused.  You have one message to get across….what is it?

As you go through this process you will find that it is not as easy as it looks, or you may even think it to be.  Now I know that it ‘is not your job’ to create a PSA or a commercial, but if you had an opinion on the IDF spot, you should be able to relay what you would duplicate or what you would not duplicate.  Post your thoughts here and also feel free to comment on each other’s work.   It will be like ‘we’ are the agency creating the spot.  A little diabetes ‘Mad Men’ as it were.

Have a feel of what this process is like, and let’s see if we can come to a resolve on what the spot should look like. 

Okay………..Lights!  Camera! Action!   Rollllllllll ’em……………….

I am a diabetes dad.

Please visit my Diabetes Dad FB Page and hit ‘like’.