Advocate
TRANSFORMING LIVES: 100 YEARS OF INSULIN Last year, on 24 November, the Edgar Diabetes and Obesity Research Centre, Healthier Lives National Science Challenge, Lions International, and Diabetes NZ collaborated on hosting a symposium at Parliament.
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arliament’s Grand Hall welcomed nurses, doctors, researchers, advocates, and more. They all gathered to listen to diabetes experts from around New Zealand and Australia, facilitated by Professor Jeremy Krebs and Dr Rosemary Hall. The theme of the symposium was to celebrate 100 years of insulin. The scene was set by Professor Sir Jim Mann, who took the audience back 100 years, to imagine what it was like to be diagnosed with diabetes in a very different time. He said that this was a time of glass syringes and steel needles that needed sharpening when they became blunt. Blood glucose tests had to be sent off to a laboratory. But despite New Zealand being more isolated back then, the first Kiwi to be treated with insulin received it the very same year as the first person in the world, a Canadian. Ashburton farmer Mr Neil Stockdill shared his experiences, saying that in April of this year he will have been living with diabetes for 70 years. Diagnosed at 12, he spoke about having to test his urine in a test tube, over a Bunsen burner, in the corner of his bedroom. ‘If it turned blue, then it was good. If it turned orange, it was not bad. And if it turned red, then it was time to consider how much insulin to take.’ These methods of testing were clumsy and unreliable. Neil spoke of the relief and safety of now having a CGM and pump.
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DIABETES WELLNESS | Autumn 2023
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1. At the symposium: Catherine Taylor, Heather Verry, Pam Fiveash, Wendy Goodwin, Alice McDonald, and Jim Mann. 2. Sianne Chapman receives her Silver Medal Award for successfully managing diabetes with insulin for more than 25 years. 3. David Town receives the Sir Charles Burns Memorial Award for successfully managing diabetes with insulin for at least 50 years. 4. Winner of the Diabetes NZ Award Ruby McGill joining Catherine Taylor at the podium. 5. Catherine Taylor takes the mic to ask a question at the symposium.
