Diabetes Awareness Month
11 million Canadians are living with diabetes or prediabetes
Source: Diabetes Canada
Virtual care delivering real benefits during pandemic
People with diabetes and their health-care providers connect remotely to support good care
When Ontario’s COVID-19 lockdown disrupted normal routines in March, Toronto resident Taryn O’Donohue knew meeting in-person with her endocrinologist would be impossible for quite some time.
The only safe option was virtual care – a video consultation with her physician, Dr. Ilana Halperin, which included sharing her glucose data electronically. But Ms. O’Donohue didn’t need to adjust to make it all work smoothly; she and Dr. Halperin had been doing virtual visits for almost three years.
Ms. O’Donohue has been living with type 1 diabetes since age 14, and like many people managing a chronic disease, she felt anxious about the pandemic’s impact on her health. She had heard that people with diabetes could be more seriously affected by COVID-19, and she wondered how to protect herself.
“I was very nervous, and my husband didn’t know if he should go to work because of the potential risks to me, ” she says. “Dr. Halperin and I had already built this strong virtual relationship, so I reached out to her right away and immediately received a response.
“She said my husband should hold off going to work because we didn’t yet know enough about the risks. It eased my mind to get her advice.”
The two had established a pattern of having two in-person visits and two virtual visits each year. Cutting in half her time-consuming trips to Sunnybrook Hospital provided Ms. O’Donohue a reprieve from her hectic schedule.
“When you have a busy life, which includes caring for two young children and trying to manage your diabetes 24/7, the switch to 50 per cent virtual visits gave me one less burden to deal with,” says Ms. O’Donohue.
“Already having that door open to virtual care took a lot of weight off my shoulders during the pandemic,” she says.
Virtual care: A practical solution in a time of crisis
“Virtual care” is the delivery of health care when the provider and the patient are not physically together, but are linked by telephone or video link. It is also known as “digital care,” telehealth or telemedicine.
“The pandemic has helped us make a quantum leap in virtual care for people with diabetes,” says Laura Syron, Diabetes Canada’s president and CEO.
Diabetes Canada’s nation-wide diabetes strategy, Diabetes 360°, recommends expanding virtual care as part of the suite of service-delivery modes for people with diabetes – understanding that in-person care would also continue to be needed.
Adoption of virtual care as a regular part of diabetes care had been somewhat slow to take hold, says Ms. Syron. Then came the pandemic.
“During the pandemic, the speed with which practitioners were able to pivot to virtual care was a real democratizer,” she says. “People with diabetes were quickly able to get access to good care from their homes, so important to their efforts to maintain healthy glucose management.”
Diabetes Canada hopes this “kickstart” to virtual care will help expand permanent use of this tool to help reduce health and health-care inequities among different regions and populations.
“Many of the people who live in more rural and remote settings in Canada have more of the risk factors for diabetes,” says Ms. Syron. “At the same time, where they live often acts as a barrier to access care. It’s common for people with diabetes to live far from major centres where endocrinology practices typically are. Using virtual care as part of the suite of services can help ensure that they have access to that specialized care.”
With 2021 marking the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, Diabetes Canada knows how important it is to End Diabetes by ending the health-care challenges that many people face.
Action on the political front
Brampton South Member of Parliament Sonia Sidhu agrees that virtual care should be an integral part of diabetes care moving forward. The city of Brampton in Ms. Sidhu’s riding has one of the highest rates of diabetes in Canada, and she is a strong advocate for comprehensive change to improve prevention and treatment of diabetes.
A former diabetes educator, Ms. Sidhu sits on the House of Commons health committee and chairs the All-Party Diabetes Caucus. Just before the pandemic took hold, Ms. Sidhu introduced a private Member’s bill to establish a national framework for diabetes.
“In the birthplace of insulin, how can we not take stronger action toward improving the lives of nearly one-third of Canadians?” she asked at the time.
Today, Ms. Sidhu underlines the importance of paying attention to the needs of Canadians living with chronic diseases like diabetes. “As we continue to live with COVID-19, Canadians’ normal health needs don’t go away. People need access to their medications and supplies, and to their health-care providers,” she says.
“Virtual care is particularly important for people with diabetes because of the risks of serious complications arising from poorly controlled glucose levels,” she adds. “Every 24 hours, 20 Canadians die due to diabetes-related complications. In addition to the human toll, there’s an economic toll, as we spend around $30-billion a year to treat the impacts of diabetes.”
In order for virtual care to expand for people with diabetes, it is critical to bolster internet access and other components of digital infrastructure for those who need it, Ms. Sidhu points out.
“We recognize that virtual care has been vital during this pandemic, and that’s why the federal government announced an investment of
$240.5-million in May, to develop, expand and launch virtual health care and mental health tools to support Canadians,” she says.
“These investments will help us meet the needs of people with diabetes for the longer term.”
Donate now and help us End Diabetes: People with diabetes and their health-care providers connect remotely to support good care
When Ontario’s COVID-19 lockdown disrupted normal routines in March, Toronto resident Taryn O’Donohue knew meeting in-person with her endocrinologist would be impossible for quite some time.
The only safe option was virtual care – a video consultation with her physician, Dr. Ilana Halperin, which included sharing her glucose data electronically. But Ms. O’Donohue didn’t need to adjust to make it all work smoothly; she and Dr. Halperin had been doing virtual visits for almost three years.
Ms. O’Donohue has been living with type 1 diabetes since age 14, and like many people managing a chronic disease, she felt anxious about the pandemic’s impact on her health. She had heard that people with diabetes could be more seriously affected by COVID-19, and she wondered how to protect herself.
“I was very nervous, and my husband didn’t know if he should go to work because of the potential risks to me, ” she says. “Dr. Halperin and I had already built this strong virtual relationship, so I reached out to her right away and immediately received a response.
“She said my husband should hold off going to work because we didn’t yet know enough about the risks. It eased my mind to get her advice.”
The two had established a pattern of having two in-person visits and two virtual visits each year. Cutting in half her time-consuming trips to Sunnybrook Hospital provided Ms. O’Donohue a reprieve from her hectic schedule.
“When you have a busy life, which includes caring for two young children and trying to manage your diabetes 24/7, the switch to 50 per cent virtual visits gave me one less burden to deal with,” says Ms. O’Donohue.
“Already having that door open to virtual care took a lot of weight off my shoulders during the pandemic,” she says.
“During the pandemic, the speed with which practitioners were able to pivot to virtual care was a real democratizer. People with diabetes were quickly able to get access to good care from their homes, so important to their efforts to maintain healthy glucose management.
”
Virtual care: A practical solution in a time of crisis
“Virtual care” is the delivery of health care when the provider and the patient are not physically together, but are linked by telephone or video link. It is also known as “digital care,” telehealth or telemedicine.
“The pandemic has helped us make a quantum leap in virtual care for people with diabetes,” says Laura Syron, Diabetes Canada’s president and CEO.
Diabetes Canada’s nation-wide diabetes strategy, Diabetes 360°, recommends expanding virtual care as part of the suite of service-delivery modes for people with diabetes – understanding that in-person care would also continue to be needed.
Adoption of virtual care as a regular part of diabetes care had been somewhat slow to take hold, says Ms. Syron. Then came the pandemic.
“During the pandemic, the speed with which practitioners were able to pivot to virtual care was a real democratizer,” she says. “People with diabetes were quickly able to get access to good care from their homes, so important to their efforts to maintain healthy glucose management.”
Diabetes Canada hopes this “kickstart” to virtual care will help expand permanent use of this tool to help reduce health and health-care inequities among different regions and populations.
“Many of the people who live in more rural and remote settings in Canada have more of the risk factors for diabetes,” says Ms. Syron. “At the same time, where they live often acts as a barrier to access care. It’s common for people with diabetes to live far from major centres where endocrinology practices typically are. Using virtual care as part of the suite of services can help ensure that they have access to that specialized care.”
With 2021 marking the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, Diabetes Canada knows how important it is to End Diabetes by ending the health-care challenges that many people face.
Action on the political front
Brampton South Member of Parliament Sonia Sidhu agrees that virtual care should be an integral part of diabetes care moving forward. The city of Brampton in Ms. Sidhu’s riding has one of the highest rates of diabetes in Canada, and she is a strong advocate for comprehensive change to improve prevention and treatment of diabetes.
A former diabetes educator, Ms. Sidhu sits on the House of Commons health committee and chairs the All-Party Diabetes Caucus. Just before the pandemic took hold, Ms. Sidhu introduced a private Member’s bill to establish a national framework for diabetes.
“In the birthplace of insulin, how can we not take stronger action toward improving the lives of nearly one-third of Canadians?” she asked at the time.
Today, Ms. Sidhu underlines the importance of paying attention to the needs of Canadians living with chronic diseases like diabetes. “As we continue to live with COVID-19, Canadians’ normal health needs don’t go away. People need access to their medications and supplies, and to their health-care providers,” she says.
“Virtual care is particularly important for people with diabetes because of the risks of serious complications arising from poorly controlled glucose levels,” she adds. “Every 24 hours, 20 Canadians die due to diabetes-related complications. In addition to the human toll, there’s an economic toll, as we spend around $30-billion a year to treat the impacts of diabetes.”
In order for virtual care to expand for people with diabetes, it is critical to bolster internet access and other components of digital infrastructure for those who need it, Ms. Sidhu points out.
“We recognize that virtual care has been vital during this pandemic, and that’s why the federal government announced an investment of
$240.5-million in May, to develop, expand and launch virtual health care and mental health tools to support Canadians,” she says.
“These investments will help us meet the needs of people with diabetes for the longer term.”
Donate now and help us End Diabetes: diabetes.ca
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