00:00Type 1 diabetes, which is where the pancreas does not make insulin, can pose an additional
00:06headache for parents in monitoring their young children.
00:09It requires frequent checking and is a matter of life and death if their child's blood glucose
00:14levels fall too low or elevate too high, a fear many parents contend with, especially
00:20at night.
00:22Generally done manually in TNT, the diabetes association with its rollout of the continuous
00:27glucose monitoring, or CGM, assistance program would like that arduous task to be a thing
00:34of the past.
00:3527 children have been given CGM devices under the launch of the initiative.
00:40DAT President Andrew Danu explains how they work.
00:43The CGM that we have lasts 15 days, it goes onto the skin non-invasively and it sends
00:49the signal to the child's phone and every minute you get a blood sugar reading.
00:53Parents can also remotely monitor their children's condition.
00:57Once the child has the phone close to them and the child has an internet connection,
01:01the parent can be anywhere in the world and know what the child's blood sugar is.
01:05The parent can be sleeping and will get an alarm that the child's blood sugar is about
01:08to go high or about to go low and take corrective measures.
01:12In fact, Anthony Anastasio, a parent at the launch, was able to intervene when his daughter's
01:18reading hit over the 200 mark.
01:21If she wouldn't have lunch, it would have gone sky high.
01:25So she had to get a unit of R to drop the sugar to a reasonable number so when she eats
01:32it will be normal.
01:34Lily-Rose and her two siblings all have diabetes.
01:37She's thankful to now have her first CGM, which for her means...
01:43...an opportunity for a more pain free, care free, type 1 existence without fingerprints
01:50and the stress of negative health conditions.
01:54Consultant endocrinologist Dr Navendra Prasad says an increase in blood sugar levels by
02:002mg per minute or more can cause serious long term complications.
02:05The only way to actually track this is with the CGMs and we take action when this happens.
02:10What is the result of the CGMs?
02:12Nephropathy, retinopathy has gone down drastically.
02:18While the international guideline is a range from 70 to 180, Dr Prasad states that the
02:24CGM devices allow the range to be tailored to suit the patient and this has assisted
02:29people in making lifestyle changes.
02:32We targeted the CGMs initially with the children.
02:36Why is it so important?
02:38So that 15 years down the line, when they're 25 to 35, I'm not seeing them to send them
02:45to see a renal physician because the kidney is starting to fail.
02:50I'm not going to see them having problems with neuropathy defeat.
02:56I'm not seeing them having eye damage.
02:58Sponsors for this phase are fashion designer Richard Young, Dr Nicholas Maharaj of Synapse
03:05Medical Services and the Rotary Club of Port of Spain West.
03:09The Diabetes Association is appealing to corporate TNT and citizens alike for assistance to allow
03:15the lifesaving devices to be in the hands of more children.
03:19We're going to be continuing our fundraising efforts so I want to put out a call to everyone
03:23listening to sponsor our child.
03:26It costs $12,000 TT per year per child.
03:32We are very hopeful and we will continue working with the Ministry of Health to provide these
03:37very soon.
03:38So we're very hopeful that we will be getting it through the Ministry of Health.
03:42Dad will be monitoring the children with the CGM devices for the next six months.
03:48Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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