I few days ago I touched on the subject of NY-area drug store chain, Duane Reade. The company established a free diabetes program a while back, offering advice, education and support groups. Duane Reade says it's expanding the program because of customer demand.

Is this part of a larger trend? Looks like it. According to yesterday's New York Times, more and more people are turning to drug stores for medical services. We're talking non-urgent things like sprains and minor infections...and diabetes care. Some are frustrated by lack of access to their regular physician. Others are having budget issues going the traditional route. It's super-convenient because you can be seen without an appointment, then get your prescription filled right there.

Drug store chains - Duane Reade, Wal-Mart, CVS and Walgreens included - are stepping up to the plate to fill the void. "Urgent Care Lite," is the tag it's been given. According to the Times, the number of these clinics has exploded in the past two years. And many feel that's a big problem because these clinics are not tightly regulated.

Kingman, Arizona, resident Joseph Zarate made it into his local newspaper recently. Zarate was in the US Marines for four and a half years back in the day. He now depends on the US Veterans Administration for his health care services. Right now he believes he's being shortchanged.

Zarate has type 2 diabetes. The VA gives him Metformin and testing strips to do blood sugar tests. However, he says he thinks it's a double standard that he only gets fifty testing strips per ninety day period. He says he needs 180 per month so that he can test himself three times daily. He says his VA doc told him he should be testing himself that often. That's why he's upset. In the meantime, he's been buying extra testing strips from a local pharmacy at his own expense. Meanwhile, a VA spokeswoman says it's VA policy: type 1 patients get 200 testing strips per ninety day period, while type 2s get only fifty per ninety day period.

Check out the mean comments from readers responding to this article. Some readers criticize the VA, others Zarate, and one guy even takes the time to criticize the journalist who did the story. Why all this anger, people? I'm mystified. In the end, it looks like a simple case of institutional ineptitude. Does Zarate, a type 2 diabetes, really need to test his blood sugar three times daily? Probably not. And if not, why did his doctor tell him to do that? Or maybe he misunderstood his doctor's instructions. In any case, the VA has a responsibility to communicate better with patients about what their medical needs are. This guy was obviously trying to take care of his health, but was having a hard time getting answers. I felt sorry for him.

Back in a February '07 post, I described an initiative by New York drug store chain Duane Reade. The chain had announced it was opening a free diabetes center. The idea was to drum up business by meeting customer demand for diabetes-related advice and services. At the time, I thought it was an interesting story - perhaps the sign of a new trend on the rise. And definitely a sign of the commercial clout wielded by diabetics.

A few months down the road and it looks like the concept has really taken off. A Duane Reade press release has announced that the center will be expanding its services to keep pace with demand. Yep. The Duane Reade Diabetes Resource Center will now be offering space in its support groups to anyone from the NY metro area, not just to those who had already enrolled in their education classes. Although registration is required, those educational and support group sessions are all totally free. Partial funding for the center comes from Novo Nordisk.

If you live in the NY area and are interested, call 1-866-913-8486 or email brodink@duanereade.com.

The company making oral insulin a reality is distributing a teaser product to give you a hands-on example of the efficacy, ease and convenience their drug delivery system offers. Feast your buccal cavity on Glucose RapidSpray! The reality of oral-insulin is coming soon to the US - but its sugar stabilizing sister is here today!

Glucose RapidSpray can be taken at the first sign of the need for glucose, during exercise, between meals, or even before bedtime. It is simple to use and easy to carry. It comes in two different flavors, orange and raspberry, and there are no artificial colors. The main ingredient in Glucose RapidSpray is D-Glucose (dextrose), which is a simple monosaccharide sugar. Keep Glucose RapidSpray in your home, office, pocket, purse, or car (as long as it does not stay in sub-zero temperatures for too long). Interested in getting your hands on it?

The product is now available in over 2,500 stores in the United States at Aurora Pharmacy, Inc., Bi-Mart Corporation, The Diabetes Place, Fruth Pharmacy, Inc., Hy-Vee, Inc., Kerr Drug, Inc., The Medicine Shoppe® Pharmacy, Meijer, Inc., and ShopKo Stores. It is also available for purchase online at Glucose Rapid Spray and Diabetic Express.

This might be the first product from Generex you'll use, but it certainly won't be the last. Generex's flagship product is oral insulin, brand name Oral-lyn™. It is available for sale in Ecuador for the treatment of patients with Type-1 and Type-2 diabetes, and is in various stages of clinical trials around the world. For more information, visit the Generex site or call 1-800-391-6755.

For the past 10 years, the city of Asheville, NC has given free diabetes medicines and supplies to municipal workers if they agree to monthly counseling from specially trained pharmacists. The results are significant: almost twice as many patients have their blood sugar levels under control and the city's health care plan has saved more than $2,000 in medical costs per patient each year.

Every dollar spent on medicines or counseling saves the city $4 by preventing emergency room visits, dialysis, amputations or other common complications of diabetes. The program has reduced the number of sick days taken among employees, reduced their chances of catastrophic hospitalization, and saved-money for the federal health care system by encouraging better diabetes management.

Efforts to help people change their lifestyles are complicated by a health care system in which insurers typically do not reimburse doctors for the kinds of counseling and monitoring that might keep patients on track. This experiment has enlisted pharmacists as coaches, clinicians and cheerleaders for the participating patients. It seems the coaches, the players, and the club owners agree -- the teamwork is well worth the payoff!