Are you a member of your local diabetes society? How about Diabetes NZ? Say what you like about what you personally get back from donating to these societies (sometimes it can be hard to see the tangible benefits, I know) but there are lots of things which go on behind the scenes which you don’t necessarily know about (lobbying government for example, advising on our rights in primary health care etc) as well as some of the more overt stuff like conferences and the boring-but-necessary stuff like pamphlets for the newly diagnosed.

I encourage you to do something which will cost you NO MONEY to support Diabetes New Zealand. Did you know that Diabetes Supplies Ltd (DSL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Diabetes New Zealand, so profits get ploughed back into helping people with diabetes?

So – all you have to do to get some money going to Diabetes New Zealand rather than the pharmacies, is this:

Next time you need more test strips, simply ask your Doctor to write a separate prescription for a 3-months supply. Then pop your test strip-only prescription in an envelope and post it to:

Diabetes Supplies Ltd
Freepost DSL
PO Box 54
Oamaru

The service is free to those who have a community Services Card. If not, include $1.50 (cheque or postage stamps) and DSL will dispatch your full three months supply of test strips to your door.

I see it as the same as buying the cat food at the supermarket which has cans marked “5c from every can of this food goes to the SPCA”. Go on, doooo it!

For other diabetes products you can check out their website: http://www.diabetessupplies.co.nz/

Or if you want an old-fashioned order form, you can email them.

(And before you ask/speculate, yes DSL asked me to put a post up on this. But I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t believe in it. I personally use DSL for all my test strips – I can’t argue with them arriving on my doorstep, and not being eked out over three months – as well as for ordering glucose tablets in bulk, saves money and hassle).