Sugar Surfing April 2018 Newsletter: The Quiver

APRIL NEWSLETTER

March was a very busy month for Sugar Surfing. April will be even busier. This is the April 2018 Newsletter for Dynamic Diabetes Management Inc, a 501(c)(3) public non-profit educational charity.

BOOK DISTRIBUTION:

March Sugar Surfing™ print books sold: 265

eBooks are being steadily ordered across the globe (over 30 in March). Sugar Surfing is now in over 65 countries in e-book or print format. Thank you for supporting our mission to change the way diabetes is managed worldwide.

eBooks for newly diagnosed: due to greater awareness, we have sent a record number of books to newly diagnosed patients and families (over 50 in March). We define 'newly diagnosed' as 90 days or less. The link to the free e-book is prominently displayed at the top of the webpage.

Amazon fees to sellers increased in March. These fees have a significant impact on DDM business operations. Many potential book buyers go straight to Amazon to buy the print book. However, you can also purchase the book from the website sugarsurfing.com and we highly encourage this. When the print book is purchased from the Sugar Surfing website and not Amazon, DDM makes more income which is able to be invested in the projects described below.

WEBSITE

Our webmaster was away most of March. He’s now back. Expect upgrades to the website format over the next several weeks.

WORKSHOP UPDATES

San Juan PR is now active for registration! This Workshop is being hosted by Carlos Leyva MD. The workshop will be presented at Auditorio Recinto de Ciencias Medicas en Centro Medico, San Juan PR next to the School of Pharmacy from 11AM-200PM. DDM is offering this full workshop at no cost to attendees out of deference to the challenges all our Puerto Rican friends have faced over the last 6 months. To register, send a message to registroprsurfing@gmail.com This workshop is less than 4 weeks away, so the time to register is NOW. SHARE, SHARE, SHARE.

Registration is active for Des Moines (June 2nd) and Atlanta (October 6th). Portland Oregon (September 8th) Workshop registration will go live soon. The Portland venue will seat ~ 300. Our local champion team there has been incredible to work with and very enthusiastic. Yay Gavin!

DDM is finalizing details for a workshop in Northeast Texas this summer. Details to come. Venues which have been under consideration include the Washington DC-Baltimore area, Oklahoma City and Phoenix. Inquiries come in from Canada, Australia, The Middle East, and the UK, but time and cost restraints still need to be addressed.

Sugar Surfing Workshops take time and energy to set up and organize. Incoming Executive Director Patsy Ponder and Outreach Manager Allison Nimlos have been streamlining the process. We appreciate the passion that a local event host organizer brings to the table. We get many requests to come to a city or region. Each must be reviewed and discussed with local volunteers. Securing a venue is essential to this process. DDM can send out a workshop organizer packet to anyone or group interested in exploring a future workshop. Contact admin@sugarsurfing.com with inquiries about hosting a workshop anywhere.

PROFESSIONAL SUGAR SURFING PRESENTATIONS

Dr. Ponder’s AADE Diabetes Educator of the Year duties include numerous diabetes educator seminars in 2018. The first was just completed on March 27th to the Connecticut Alliance of Diabetes Educators (CADE). Over 40 CDE’s learned about Sugar Surfing that evening.

On April 6th the Texas Coordinating Board of the AADE will hear a 90-minute presentation on Sugar Surfing in Round Rock, Texas from 1:30-3:00PM. On Friday April 13th we will be presenting Sugar Surfing to CDE’s and other professionals in Charlotte, NC from 8-9AM at their annual Area Health Education Center. The April 28th Sugar Surfing Workshop will be open to health care providers too.

RECENT WORKSHOPS

The March 10th Sugar Surfing Seminar in Duarte, CA (suburban Los Angeles) was attended by 125 registrants. This was a joint effort with the T1 MOD Squad. We wish to shout out to Ana Reinhardt and Bekah Hata and their awesome team for the incredible planning and execution of this event. Although it’s not supposed to rain in southern California, they had a great turnout of between 100-150 despite a few sprinkles.

Sugar Surfing (DDM) now sends “shout out” messages to attendees to explore the immediate, intermediate, and long-term impact of learning about Sugar Surfing. We’ve gotten some wonderful testimonials which we will begin sharing soon with the new website format.

ONGOING PROJECTS

Chapter 5 of Sugar Surfing has been completely translated into Spanish. The remainder of the book has been also translated as well but in need of revisions and edits. This effort was driven by a volunteer and other team members who wish to remain anonymous now. We also have our first price quote to consider a fund-raising process to have the entire book translated into Spanish. To accomplish this goal, a fundraising campaign will be needed. There are no funds in the budget to cover this cost unless we obtain grants, a large financial donation, or fund raise.

Sugar Surfing University Courseware. Chapter 7 has been converted into an e-learning module. DDM purchased a one-year license to use the Versal platform to develop Sugar Surfing as an online course. Once completed, the prototype Chapter 7 module will be shared as part of a crowdsourcing effort to develop an entire course. Sugar Surfing ‘graduates’ will be able to assess their knowledge of dynamic diabetes management, take quizzes and be able to print certificates of completion of the coursework.

DONATIONS

DDM is a non-profit 501(c)(3) public educational charity supported by donations. For all the activities above to continue, your generous support is needed. We have been thankful for all the generous donations made to date by several of you. Some are providing monthly donations too. We are extremely thankful and aim to be the best possible stewards of this support and earn your trust.

We will soon be growing our volunteer Board of Directors to help us raise awareness and funding. More to come on that in future newsletters.

We have received a small number of donations in March. However, our agendas above are daunting and ambitious. As Dynamic Diabetes Management serves the public, that is where our support originates. Book sales and workshop fees help us break even or become slightly positive with funds, but the projects outlined about will go nowhere without a source of funding. Grant writing will begin in a few months, but much is already happening now. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT. All donations are tax-deductible in the United States. Contact admin@sugarsurfing.com or click the “DONATE” key at the top of the webpage.