June 23: Bayer HealthCare corporate headquarters
Today, we drove in from Connecticut to visit the Bayer HealthCare corporate headquarters. I had been invited there to a lunch for the entire staff (nearly 1,000 people) in honor of my selection as the winner of the 2005 Bayer Dream Fund. The honor was all mine, let me tell you!
It was so great to be there! First of all, being at the corporate headquarters was one of half a dozen or so major milestones on our journey. Second, it was an opportunity for me to meet and thank the people within Bayer HealthCare who make the Bayer Dream Fund happen each year. In particular, each and every person there had some part in making my dream become a reality. For that reason, I was happy to take a day off from the cycling and make a special trip to Tarrytown for this event.
I’m afraid today is going to be another abbreviated entry. It’s late already and I need to get myself ready for a ride tomorrow. It’s looking like that ride will be in the rain too. I also need to continue to work on some remarks and a slide show for my meeting with the Barton Diabetes Camp people on Monday, June 26.
In lieu of anymore description of today’s activities, here are some of the photos that Pat took at the event:
June 23rd, 2006 at 8:37 pm
Peter:
Congratulations on your special honor at the Bayer Headquarters! We are so proud of you and your accomplishment. We are printing off each day’s e-mail and saving them in a folder. I personally have
appreciated your comments on the diabetes medication adjustments you have made. I don’t know if your folks mentioned to you–I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about 3 years ago and so far have kept it under control with medication, diet, and walking. Did have a little scare within past month but I gave up some stressful things and the blood sugar readings have dropped to the normal zone. Thanks again for what you are doing!!!!!
Ellis and Janet Jones, St. Peter
June 26th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
Peter, do the people at Bayer share with you some of the new things that they are working on to improve the quality of life for people with diabetes? Do you think there will be a time in the near future when they can implant real-time blood measurement sensors with closed-loop feedback to an insulin pump? Once they get that working reliably they are taking a huge step towards having the “artifical pancreas” within reach. Do you believe that this could become a standard of care within the next 5-10 years?
Sorry for all the questions, but part of your goal for this Dream Tour is to increase awareness, right? :^)
June 27th, 2006 at 5:58 am
Hi Mark!
I’m sure they are. One thing I’ve noticed in working with the Bayer people — whether it’s the sales force, marketing, public relations, or some engineers that I met while I was in Tarrytown — is they all seemed to be genuinely interested in helping people who have diabetes. I’m finding it extremely satisfying to be associated with them.
The real-time blood measurement devices are already out there. Minimed has one, for example. That’s the way of the future, in my opinion, and I think we’ll see it as the standard of care fairly soon. Sooner than 5-10 years down the road, I would think.
I’m a little less sure about the closed-loop feedback to an insulin pump though. The cost of having something go wrong is high enough that I wonder if they’ll ever be able to take the human interaction out the loop. I certainly hope I’m wrong, but even if I’m not, I’ll take what I can get and it will be a vast improvement over what I started out with in 1973 — a single dose of Lente insulin in the morning, urine tests 4x per day and quarterly blood tests for blood glucose levels.