Winning With TYpe 1 Diabetes By Learning How To Use Continuous Glucose Monitoring CGM
Welcome to Sugar Surfing!
Champions
This page is dedicated to those people who have volunteered significant time to help organize a Sugar Surfing Workshop or special event. Please read about our Surf Champions to understand that you too might want to put on a workshop and also to know that these experienced people are available to help.
Janet Herman - Knoxville, TN
I advocate, educate, and volunteer for diabetes because of my T1 nephew, niece, and friends. I feel privileged to serve on Medical Staff at Texas Lions Camp where my nephew attended. During orientation Dr. Ponder shared Sugar Surfing principles to us. We implemented sleep bolus techniques, applied basal rate strategies, and I taught teens in my unit how to respond quicker to changing trend lines, optimizing their ranges.
Heightened awareness of tighter BG controls kept them safe to have fun, the simple goal of camp! By weeks end, several girls were excited to share “managing the moment” decisions to parents, taking more accountability for their diabetes self-care.
As campers surfed through decisions, whether multiple dose injectors or pumpers, I was
inspired by this experience. They taught me about courage, patience, and perseverance. After camp several Knoxville T1 friends were happy that I would help with the grass roots efforts of hosting a workshop, co-organized with a T1 Mom, Stephanie Flanagan. She was new to the area and I was teaching part time.
Organizing a workshop involved five months. I found a free venue at a church with an
adjacent choir room equipped with good acoustics and a sound system. They requested donated canned foods to support a local food bank. We raised sponsorship funds from diabetic companies with letters, calls, or by meeting reps. Local support was garnered through Endos, T1 groups, phone calls, flyers, newspapers, emails, or social media. Attendees from four states included several healthcare professionals and families of all ages who felt knowledge is power. They learned practical real life skills. The workshops help so many, five words to focus on when snags happen.
Besides serving on Medical Staff at camp, I spoke at a regional Type One Nation, attend
conferences, volunteered at many JDRF or ADA events, support Tour De Cure teams, fund-raised for walks, am in T1 social media groups, participated in CDE support groups, connected a pancreatic transplant recipient with another survivor, and am a Lions Club member. Until there is a cure I will continue to advocate for families to live their healthiest life. I applaud all who educate, empower, or inspire Type One communities, here or abroad!
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Send a message using the form below if you would like to be put in touch with Janet for help on organizing your own workshop.

