Dirty Roots Revolution, a nonprofit organization in the St. Louis, Missouri, area, finds that there are many homeless people who struggle to find the diabetic supplies they need to manage their diabetes. Ryan Mifflin, Director of Dirty Roots Revolution and host of Dirty Roots Radio at Greenville College, explained in an April 2010 interview that it's difficult for the homeless people with whom he works to access diabetic supplies.
Affordable Diabetic Supplies Lacking
Mifflin says it's hard for homeless diabetics to be able to afford test strips and insulin, and while used needles are plentiful on the streets, they're not safe to use. Some homeless diabetics do not get diabetes treatment at all.
Dirty Roots Revolution has been able to help some diabetics obtain medication and testing supplies. They don't have the means to support homeless diabetics long term, however. They do accept donations "from anyone, and in any amount" to be used to support diabetics who are homeless.
Type 2 diabetics may be able to live for several years without proper diabetes treatment, or even without any treatment at all, but with no treatment at all, a Type 1 diabetic would likely die within days. This is due to the nature of Type 1 diabetes, a condition where the body does not produce any insulin.
Drug Addiction Hurdle to Diabetes Treatment
Doctors at the Kansas City Free Clinic in Kansas City, Missouri, have some patients who are both homeless and diabetic, and treating them can be difficult, for many reasons.
Drug addiction is just one cause of the difficulty homeless diabetics face in accessing diabetic supplies. Others include poverty and difficulty obtaining medical insurance. Obtaining medicaid coverage requires having a mailing address, which is rarely feasible for a homeless person. Many aren't able to get through that trap.
Poor and homeless people who are diabetic run up against obstacles in their struggle to manage their diabetes, and finding testing supplies is just one of the challenges. Affordable diabetic supplies aren't always available to them, and this problem isn't always due to "bad choices" such as drug addiction.
Jennifer Harshman - With more than 20 years of experience and education in her fields, she's also read more than one book for every day she has lived.
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