Today’s post is written by guest blogger Dr. Roger Phelps, a VSP provider in Ojai, California. Dr. Phelps is also a certified diabetes educator.
Diabetes is becoming more and more prevalent, but still many patients either don’t know they have the disease or don’t take the proper preventative steps. Those preventative steps include not only keeping A1C levels as low as possible, but also getting an annual eye exam to check for any signs of trouble with the blood vessels.
As an optometrist and a type 1 diabetic, I am very passionate about controlling diabetes because of the damage it can do to the eyes without proper care. I sat down with Phil Southerland of Team Type 1, who is equally passionate about diabetes, and he shared with me why he takes going to the eye doctor so seriously.
When Phil Southerland was a baby, his parents were told his diabetes would make him blind. They were also told he would likely not live past the age of 25. Phil said he has never let diabetes determine what he could do with his life; he just made the necessary adjustments.
“I get regular eye exams to make sure my diabetes hasn’t affected the blood vessels in my eyes. I know it’s really important, and I want to keep the great vision that I have.”
Now 29, Phil uses exercise, diet and insulin to manage his diabetes and is thriving. He is the founder and CEO of Team Type 1, an organization committed to educating and empowering people with diabetes worldwide.
VSP® Vision Care is proud to be the exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider for Team Type 1. For more information about eyecare for people with diabetes, visit the Diabetes Discovery Center.
Vladimir Efimkin leads teammate Rubens Bertogliati into a breakaway on stage four at the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.
Team Type 1 has been cycling through Colorado competing in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. While racing hundreds of miles in often extremely sunny conditions, sunwear becomes crucial to protecting the riders’ vision as well as to enabling their top performance. The team wears Nike Vision sunglasses to reduce glare and keep the sun out of their eyes so they can relax their eyes and focus on the race. The team also has extra interchangeable lenses, which they can quickly swap out as the light conditions change, to ensure they always see their best.
In the sunny fourth stage of the race, Vladimir Efimkin paced ahead of the group and took home the Most Courageous jersey. Efimkin is a Tour de France stage winner who retired last year and returned to professional racing in August.
“I’m feeling better and better every day. This race has been a great place to come back to cycling and find my legs,” Efimkin said.
About Team Type 1 and VSP Vision Care
Team Type 1 is a group of athletes affected by diabetes. The team includes professional race teams, a triathlon team and a development team. Team Type 1 strives to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. VSP® Vision Care is proud to be their exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider.
To learn more about the importance of routine vision care, particularly related to diabetes, visit VSP’s Diabetes Discovery Center.
To learn more about Nike Vision eyewear, visit nikevision.com.
I’m from Vermont, and when people from the rest of the country talk about California they usually think about sunshine and heavy traffic on the freeways. In some circumstances heavy traffic is a nationwide phenomenon, and it varies by region and time of day.
With respect to sunshine, much the same can be said of the way the California weather works in May. We arrived Lake Tahoe a few days ago for the Amgen Tour of California and the sky was blue. All of us on Team Type 1 – sanofi-aventis were perfectly content to wear our Nike sunglasses as much as possible to get over the glare from the bright sun on the big, beautiful lake.
But due to the recent snow fall and icy road conditions, our Nike sunglasses are all undergoing a minor operation to adjust for the changing light conditions we expect for stage two.
Will replaces lenses for changing light conditions
So thankfully these shades have removable lenses, and we can take out the highly reflective mirrors that we use on bright days and replace them with either the amber or yellow lenses.
When we race, seeing the road in front of us and being comfortable are two of the most important things we do. The Nike sunglasses work just as well in grey, wet weather as they do in bright sunshine, because they keep the rain, snow and grit out of our eyes and they sharpen the flat features on the landscape.
We’ll race in lots of different weather conditions all year long on Team Type 1 – sanofi-aventis. But we’ll only have to bring one pair of sunglasses thanks to VSP Vision Care, our exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider.
About Team Type 1 and VSP Vision Care Team Type 1 is a group of athletes living with diabetes. The team includes professional race teams, a triathlon team and a development team. Team Type 1 strives to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. VSP Vision Care is proud to be their exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider.
Our professional cyclist friends at Team Type 1 recently participated and finished a nine-day Tour of Rwanda. This race was special in that they had a greater mission than just racing. They brought 35,000 test strips and 350-plus glucose monitors to help children in Rwanda diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, donated by sponsors Sanofi Aventis, Abbott Diabetes and of course VSP Vision Care. During their trip, the team also met with the health ministry and set out a plan to assist the Rwanda Diabetes Association for the next three years.
As for the race, the team finished together in Kigali after 1117 kilometers on the road and more than 13,000 meters of climbing.
Congratulations to Team Type 1 for completing the race and a special thank you for helping the diabetes community here in the U.S. and all over the world.
About Team Type 1 and VSP Vision Care
Team Type 1 is a group of athletes living with diabetes. The team includes professional race teams, a triathlon team and a development team. Team Type 1 strives to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. VSP® Vision Care is proud to be their exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider.
The win did not come without some bumps along the way. Rider Jeff Banninck was struck by a car, but was not severely injured and was back on his bike in no time. Another challenge came when rider Adam Driscoll lost a cleat when he tried to pull it out going 23 mph. He not only kept riding, but he increased his speed to around 30 mph – all this with only one cleat intact. The team came to the race to win and nothing else; they accomplished their goal and proved to the world that people with diabetes can do anything with a little hard work and determination.
Here are some words from a few of the riders in Team Type 1 about why they chose this team and what it means to them.
About Team Type 1 and VSP Vision Care
Team Type 1 is a group of athletes living with diabetes. The team includes professional race teams, a triathlon team and a development team. Team Type 1 strives to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. VSP® Vision Care is proud to be their exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider.
Team Type 1's Tom Kingery and Lonny Knabe switch leads on a flood plain outside of Alton, Illinois during Race Across America
Team Type 1′s Race Across America Update: Team Type 1 has been averaging 23.5 mph during the Race Across America and crew members suggest the team is, in fact, traveling faster, and may have a chance at beating its own 3,000+ mile record of 5 days, 9 hours and 3 minutes. Team captain Bob Schrank said Kansas was beautiful and they were lucky to have missed a massive storm that hit the night before which caused major flooding. Power was out and lines were down all over western Kansas.
The hills immediately started when they hit Missouri, and they just didn’t stop. The hills were difficult but the guys were thrilled to push each other to ride harder and faster. The team is hungry to break a record this year and plan on making the second half even faster than their first.
Personal update from Team Type 2 rider Rob Coburn: We are moving through Kansas. Now at Yates Center waiting for the transition to the other squad. One of our guys got sick last night so three of us went out about midnight local time and rode about 150 miles. It was a great night. We raced back and forth all night with another team and averaged 20.87 mph for about 35 miles.
We are just over half way through the course. The routine is working itself out and we are all adapting in ways you wouldn’t believe. Our crew is top-notch and essential to making all of this work. A huge thunder storm just went through, glad to still be in the RV. Chances are pretty good we’ll get wet at some point.
About Team Type 1 and VSP Vision Care
Team Type 1 is a group of athletes living with diabetes. The team includes professional race teams, a triathlon team and a development team. Team Type 1 strives to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. VSP® Vision Care is proud to be their exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider.
Guest Blogger – Laura Ely competes as a member of Team Type 1′s Triathalon team. She works as a Clinical Research Coordinator and Marketing Coordinator for the University of North Carolina Diabetes Care Center Clinical Trial Program and is also a Communication Coordinator for DiabetesSisters, an online diabetes community for women. Laura was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of four.
Diabetes is a different disease for men and women. Diabetes provides its share of ups and downs with constant carbohydrate counting, insulin adjustments, and 24/7 life-long management. For women, the diabetes rollercoaster (as some call it) is further complicated by the continual change in hormones – whether it is puberty, menstruation, pregnancy or menopause. Throughout my life I’ve relied on the support of my female friends with diabetes to deal with the daily ups and downs of the disease. I am one of the lucky ones. Not many other women out there have a tight-knit support system that I have.
One amazing woman, Brandy Barnes realized the lack of this support system in the diabetes world and decided to do something about it. She created an online community, DiabetesSisters, that would allow women to connect via the web and share their experiences as a woman with Type 1, Type 2, gestational or pre-diabetes. I was fortunate enough to meet Brandy at a diabetes event and I fell in love with the organization. At the time, I knew how important my girlfriends with diabetes were to me but knew that not everyone shared my fortune. Every woman living with diabetes deserves to have this type of support system to help her live to her fullest potential. Since it began 2 years ago, DiabetesSisters has grown to become a 501c3 not-for-profit organization whose mission is to improve the health and quality of life of women living with or at risk of developing diabetes, and to advocate on their behalf. Read more »
Guest Blogger – Edward Tepper works as an accountant, is an avid photographer and a rider for Team Type 2. He was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2008 and through cycling and exercise, stays happy and healthy while properly managing his condition. He shares his personal experience on how switching to progressive lenses helped him.
Ed Tepper with Team Type 2
I’ve been wearing glasses since ever I can remember, and I’m now 61. About 30 years ago a friend talked me into wearing contact lenses and I did up to about 9 months ago. The story about me changing back to glasses started a few years ago when I could no longer read close up or clearly see a computer screen without “cheater” reading glasses. I had several pairs that I kept in different rooms at home and in my office. Then one night at a nice restaurant I had to ask my wife to read the menu to me because I left my cheaters at home. Needless to say, the ribbing continued through dessert. Read more »
Thank you to everyone who participated in the VSP Vision Care / Transitions Scavenger Hunt. We hope we kept you engaged throughout the race. Here are our grand prize winners as well as some noteworthy mentions with a picture from one of their entries.
Winner of the Team Type 1 signed jersey: Roy K.
From day 5: Find a Team Type 1 rider wearing Nikes
Winner of the Garmin-Transitions signed jersey: Casey K.
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