Category: News & Media

BCDiabetes was well represented at the American Diabetes Association meeting in Chicago June 19-23 2025. The team comprised Medical Director Tom Elliott, Diabetes Technology Fellows Ali Alqahtani and Reem Alshareef and Nurse Gerri Klein. The science, as always, was the main draw, but renewing friendships with colleagues and networking also played a big part. Chicago […]

At long last, we’ve put together the BC Diabetes Loop (Artificial Pancreas) Study and we’re pleased to share the results and analysis. Over the last 2 years, BC Diabetes has been leading the pack when it comes to using technology in the treatment of diabetes.  Our Medical Director, Dr. Tom Elliott, is an early adopter, […]

Petition calling on the BC Ministry of Health, Division of Pharmacare to: Remove the Pharmacare Deductible for Diabetes Drugs & Devices CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION AT CHANGE.ORG To: BC Ministry of Health, Division of Pharmacare Re: drugs & devices subject to Pharmacare deductible The undersigned request that the following life-sustaining drugs & devices […]

A Message From Dr. Elliott: I’m writing to share the momentous news that earlier today BC Pharmacare announced coverage of continuous glucose monitors, otherwise known as CGM. BC will thus join the Yukon territory, Quebec and Saskatchewan.  I trust that the other provinces & territories will quickly follow suit so that all Canadians can benefit […]

Dr. Elliott and the entire staff at BC Diabetes are delighted to report that COVID-19 vaccines are being made available to all British Columbians who are taking insulin. On Tuesday, March 23rd, 2021, the Government of British Columbia put out a statement saying that people who were “clinically extremely vulnerable” were now eligible to receive […]

Big news today for the 200,000 British Columbians living with Type 2 diabetes who are overweight or who have a history of heart attack or stroke.  Today BC Pharmacare announced coverage of semaglutide (“Ozempic”), a once-a-week shot, for individuals living with Type 2 diabetes on oral medication alone (metformin & glyburide) or on insulin plus […]

The three hottest words in Type 1 diabetes these days are “loop”, “looper” & “looping”.  These refer to the groundbreaking revolutionary open source software implementation of the Artificial Pancreas, the technological cure of Type 1 diabetes.  Loopers are Type 1s who use the Loop app running on an iPhone to control their insulin pump based […]

BCDiabetes is committed to providing the highest quality diabetes care to all British Columbians. With the situation involving novel coronavirus (COVID-19) changing quickly, we reassure you that we are continuing to operate and provide services, while monitoring recommendations from the US CDC and Health Canada. However, we are also mindful of concerns that you might […]

On February 1, 2019, the prestigious medical journal the Lancet published a meta-analysis examining potential benefits the statin and class of medication. The article confirmed and extended the powerful evidence for benefit for the use of statins in people with a previous history of heart disease, stroke and for those with diabetes.  It showed that […]

Yesterday Health Canada issued a warning around HCTZ (hydrochlorothiazide), a commonly used diuretic blood pressure lowering medication: The warning was issued because of new evidence suggesting a 4-fold increased risk of non-melanoma skin cancer in individuals who have taken HCTZ for 3+ years. Non-melanoma skin cancer is made up of  basal-cell skin cancer (BCC) & […]