It’s time Canada funded advanced diabetes treatment for everyone

By Dylan MacKay

It has been 101 years since the discovery of insulin made survival as a person with Type 1 diabetes possible. It is also the best time in history to be a person with Type 1 diabetes – but only if you can afford it. Few in Canada can or are covered for costs through public or private plans. I’m one of the lucky ones.

The technology available to help manage Type 1 diabetes is life changing. I use it every day.

Even before I wake up, my blood sugar is being measured while I sleep, and the results are sent to my phone where software can warn me if my blood sugar is out of range. But even better than alarms, the software, which is called a closed loop pump algorithm, can make changes to the amount of insulin I am getting automatically from my insulin pump, to prevent my blood sugars from going out of range.

The best part is I can sleep through the whole process and get up rested and well.

The ability to have this type of technology is made possible by the development of continuous glucose monitors (CGM). CGM is a wearable device that tracks your blood sugar every few minutes, day and night. This technology has changed my life and the lives of countless other people with Type 1 diabetes and their caregivers.

Before CGM, measuring blood sugar involved sticking your fingertips with a sharp piece of metal to get blood and putting the blood on a strip in a machine called a glucometer. It sucks, fingertips are sensitive, and you