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Bill funding diabetes report put on hold from TheStatehouseFile.com on Vimeo.
INDIANAPOLIS – When it comes to disease, knowledge can mean life or death.
For Julie Ahlrichs and her family, diabetes has been a part of their lives for more than 40 years. While she is thankful that she and her family are educated about diabetes, Ahlrichs wishes there was more information out there for the millions of other Hoosiers who are not.
That’s why she supports a bill under consideration in the Senate Health and Provider Services Committee that’s meant to provide easier access to information about diabetes.
Senate Bill 209, authored by Sen. Pat Miller, R-Indianapolis, requires the State Department of Health, the State Personnel Department, and the Office of the Secretary of Family and Social Services to collaborate with one another to identify plans and analyze information to reduce diabetes in Indiana.
The bill would also require the group to submit a report to the General Assembly by Jan. 1 concerning the financial impact of diabetes and diabetes complications.
“One of my greatest complaints about diabetes in Indiana is there is not hardly any awareness out there,” Alrichs said.
Ahlrichs was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1974, when she was young, and her husband, Steve, was diagnosed two years earlier. That’s left them battling diabetes and the complications that come with it together.
“Diabetes is a 24/7 disease,” Ahlrichs said.
Every day since their diagnoses, Julie and Steve have had to keep a constant eye on several aspects of their lives.
“Before any of the technology was available, Julie and I both had to live,” Steve said. “Insulin pumps didn’t exist, blood sugar monitors didn’t exist. Today those things do exist so it does make life easier.”
They’ve spent their lives learning about the disease. Both went to camp for diabetes in their youth. Julie is a registered nurse. They’re involved in diabetes awareness and participate in American Diabetes Association events.
But even with proper diabetes education and knowing how to live with their disease, problems still occur. And Steve said the first 25 years of his diabetes – when the technology was not so advanced – took its toll on him. He’s had heart attacks, open-heart surgery, eye bleeds, trouble feeling in his legs from his knees to his feet, and trouble moving.
“It’s not a guarantee if you do all the right thing, he had the resources and look what happened,” Julie said. “And then look at everyone who doesn’t.”
As a nurse, Julie said that there are times when she wishes she could take a break from her diabetes. On a daily basis, she and her husband must take many different medications, monitor their blood sugars several times and their food intake, and make sure that they’ve taken their insulin. All of Steve’s pill bottles alone fill a reusable grocery bag. All of these things are steps they need to take each day to stay alive.
“We’ve been told that if you don’t take care of yourself, you’re going to kill yourself,” Julie said.
Julie has spoken with hundreds of diabetic patients who have asked her: Where can I get some help?
“There are little pockets here and there, but nothing is standardized where families can go to one location to get information,” said Julie.
Diabetes is one of the state’s mostly costly chronic diseases, and to the Ahlrichs’s, the cost is important. With the price of insulin, doctors’ visits, and cost of medication, the couple spent “well over $10,000 just to survive” in 2014 alone.
With millions of people in Indiana with diabetes – and numbers on the rise – Julie says it’s important for people with and without the disease to become aware and learn more about it.
“There’s nothing really standardized on how we can fight this disease,” said Julie. “If there is, let me know because I’ve spoken with so many diabetics and they just don’t know.”
The Senate Health & Provider Services Committee postponed a vote on SB 209 this week as they work out several details. Julie Ahlrichs said that if she could tell lawmakers one thing, she’d tell them to pass the bill.
“That’s easy,” she said. “Show that you really care about your citizens.”
Jess Seabolt is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
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