CGM Campaign

Living With Diabetes, Patient Care + Research + Clinical Trials

Author: Tristan Elliott

Continuous Glucose Monitoring, known as CGM, allows for the automatic tracking of glucose (sugar) levels for people living with Type 1 Diabetes (TID).  Keeping sugar levels within a safe & healthy target range (5-10 mmol/L) is crucial to prevent the dreaded diabetes complications of loss of consciousness, heart disease & stroke, blindness, kidney failure and amputation.

At a fundamental level CGM allows people living with diabetes to be healthier and less stressed out; these devices enable sugar levels to be monitored continuously and with ease.  When people living with diabetes have the ability to make informed decisions about everything from diet, activity, sleep and insulin doses at all times, they get better sugar control as well the ability to live more flexible lives.  They can take control of their diabetes rather than diabetes controlling them &.

Working through a tiny sensor inserted painlessly under the skin, CGM measures the sugar levels in the fluid bathing all cells of the body, not in blood, hence no finger pokes.  CGM measures sugar levels every five minutes and when combined with a trend indicator, can be reliably and confidently used to make vital diabetes decisions.  In addition CGM can warn of impending dangerous low sugars.

Continuous Glucose Monitoring has completely changed the way that diabetes is treated, and we think that the British Columbian government should be covering it under the framework of PharmaCare.  Healthcare outcomes in our Province shouldn’t depend on whether or not a patient has the ability to pay, and it is therefore our position that the government should step up to help improve lives.

The BC Diabetes team, as part of our in-house advocacy mandate, has begun a big campaign to have the revolutionary technology covered for every T1D in British Columbia.  We launched a petition, had it rapidly reach over 13,000 signatures, and then had it delivered to the British Columbian Legislature.  MLA David Eby, who also happens to be the B.C. Attorney General, and Dr. Elliott’s local MLA, will be introducing it during a session and presenting it to his colleagues on our behalf.  You can find our petition here.

In addition to our petition, our staff scientist Dr. Arthur Weissinger is putting together an academic paper that we look forward to having published in a reputable journal after review.  We are using best available evidence to assemble and present our case, including the Charleer 2018 RESCUE trial, and O’Reilly 2018, and we look forward to ultimately achieving the desirable outcome: CGM access for all British Columbians living with diabetes.

BC Diabetes has a proud history of driving conversation and care; most recently, we were behind the push to have SGLT2 Inhibitors covered by PharmaCare.  We succeeded in improving the lives of people living with diabetes as a result.  Optimizing care and improving treatment outcomes is what we do, and we’ll continue pushing for every British Columbian who is living with diabetes.