Category: Technology

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, […]

The Artificial Pancreas (automated insulin delivery, AID) is here and we are not waiting! On 2020-Aug-1 BCDiabetes began doing in-house installations of the Omnipod Eros/Dash-Dexcom G6/G7-Riley link Loop system (Dash does not require Riley link).  Although this system is not Health Canada approved, it is our default recommendation.  This is because it is a mature […]

A message from Dr. Elliott: Nobody would ever choose to have diabetes, but if you had to choose the best place in the world to live with Type 1 diabetes you might well choose British Columbia.  So wrote Dr. Ben Mammon in an email to me late Friday night, the same day BC’s Minister of […]

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 […]

Artificial Pancreas Systems (APS, also termed “automated insulin delivery” AID systems) are here and we are not waiting! On 2020-Aug-1 BCDiabetes began supporting in-house installations of DIYAPS with the tubeless Omnipod Eros-Dexcom G6-Riley link-iPhone master branch “Loop” system. Although not Health Canada approved, BCDiabetes considers this version of Loop to be the best DIY APS […]

In 2018 with the arrival in Canada of continuous glucose monitors (CGM) a diabetes revolution began.  CGM meant no more finger pricking, no fear of going low overnight; vastly improved glucose control and a future without the dreaded long-term complications of diabetes. The revolution continued in early 2020 with the artificial pancreas being made possible […]

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 […]

My name is Tyler Craig, and I am a patient at BC Diabetes. I would like to add my voice to Dr. Elliott’s and his team’s advocacy efforts to have universal coverage for CGM (continuous glucose monitoring) devices. I am grateful that BC Diabetes introduced me to the CGM device as it has been a […]

Kudos to the BC NDP government for extending insulin pump coverage to every British Columbian living with diabetes requiring intensive insulin therapy (effectively all those with Type 1 diabetes and those with Type 2 diabetes taking two different kinds of insulin).  On Tuesday the Minister of Health, Adrian Dix (who has Type 1 diabetes himself […]

Today marks the 95th anniversary of the first use of the word insulin by its Canadian discovers Dr. Frederick Banting and medical student Charles Best.  Four months earlier they had saved the life of 14 year old Leonard Thompson by injecting him with a pancreatic extract (containing insulin) taken from a dog.  A year later Banting […]