School of Pharmacy Students and Guests Enjoy Showing of Documentary

Student organization hosts screening of “Adventures for the Cure: The Doc”

By Seferina Kim-Walsh
March 26, 2008

“I cried like three times,” reveals third year student Lakshmi Potti when describing her reaction to the documentary, “Adventures for the Cure: the Doc,” shown at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in March. The screening was hosted by the student-run organization Operation Diabetes and sponsored by Rite Aid Pharmacy.

Adventures for the Cure is a non-profit organization whose members rode fixed gear, single speed bicycles across the country in the summer of 2006 to raise awareness of diabetes and to benefit an organization that helps disabled children in Kenya. With narration provided by three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond, the documentary is a visual chronicle of the group’s cross-country ride and details insulin pump mishaps and medical issues like monitoring blood sugar levels and their meetings with diabetic children. The screening at the School of Pharmacy was paired with a special Operation Diabetes Training for Health Fairs for student pharmacists.

The event included handouts and demonstrations from the makers of the Omni-Pod insulin management system, the DexCom continuous glucose monitoring system, Adventures for the Cure, and Operation Diabetes. After the screening, Mary Jean Grove, RN, CDE, a clinical specialist for Insulet Corporation, provided training and lectured on the general pathophysiology of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, reviewed the pharmacological treatments of the disease, and the signs and symptoms of high and low blood sugar.

Operation Diabetes is a patient care project of the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists whose goal is to increase awareness and prevent the long-term manifestations of diabetes. Rite Aid Pharmacy is dedicated to the management of diabetes and diabetes complications.