On November 14, 2011, Ivanka Lupenec from the Canadian Diabetes Association joined 30 eager children and staff at a local Vancouver BC childcare centre to celebrate World Diabetes Day. These wide eyed, very attentive children learned about diabetes, the 90th Anniversary of the Discovery of Insulin in Canada, and what they will do to bring diabetes awareness to their families and in their community. They are young diabetes champions who will spread the word and make a difference!

Langara College Nursing students Vanessa and Alanna created this “90th Anniversary of the Discovery of Insulin” signature board to celebrate World Diabetes Day 2011. At local Canadian Diabetes Association events in Vancouver, BC, individuals were invited to unite with the community to celebrate this great Canadian Discovery.

I am a mother to two little girls–Jazmine is 8 and Jenna is 5. Jenna was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of two. As a parent, you never imagine a life threatening illness could suddenly strike your beautiful, healthy child. When my baby was diagnosed I went through all the grieving stages. I grieved the loss of a healthy child without any complications–without any reliance on treatments or pharmaceuticals. Without insulin, my daughter would not live. That is an incredibly sobering, gut-wrenching realization to have to come to terms with.

But my Jenna is a survivor. She is incredibly strong and resilient. Jenna loves school and enjoys playing with her friends. She has taught me a thing or two about living. Her bravery and determination inspire me. I am committed to advocating for her and everyone living with diabetes to promote education and awareness and ultimately support the search for better treatments and a cure.

We have a greater appreciation for the simple things. We live life to its fullest. Diabetes has become just another part of our lives. It isn’t easy, but we have an enormous community of people touched by diabetes as our support network. Support is crucial.

The Bramalea Community Health Centre staff are my champions because….. Not only did they 100% support wearing blue for diabetes day November 2009, but to celebrate diabetes month the staff became PLoWD (person living with diabetes).
I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes over 36 years ago. My son was diagnosed 1 year ago Mother’s Day. Having heard many variations on “you should be doing this” or “why aren’t you doing that” I began to think, would you be able to do what you are asking others to do? This then lead to the development of the “Walking in my shoes” experience.
The Medical Office Assistants, Physiotherapist, Social Worker, RNs, N.Ps, Physicians, Community Health Educators, Data Manager, Health Promoter, and Management all had the opportunity to experience the day to day regime from the perspective of someone living with diabetes.
Individuals chose either multiple daily injection (dry injections 4 times a day) or insulin pump (saline was substituted for insulin). They were given training from the Diabetes Team Dietitians and RNs on treatment, management, and nutrition. Some were placed on medication regimes (tic tacs). All were trained on meter testing and requested to test 3-4 times a day minimum. All were given 3-4 envelopes to be opened at specific times. The contents would read “your blood sugar is 2.4mmol/L. Treat with the enclosed dextrose tablets (sweet tarts) and follow the instructions on “treatment of a low blood sugar”. Everyone found it to be an invaluable experience. All reported how challenging it was.
I would like to thank my wonderful DEP team that listened to my crazy ideas and through creative collaboration made this event better than I would have imagined.
A special thank you goes to Angela Roode from Medtronic, Salim Lakhani from Sanofi-Aventis, and from Bayer. Your support and contributions were immeasurable.
I would like to thank the Bramalea Community Health Centre’s Executive Director Mayo Hawco for not rolling her eyes when I presented the idea, and for allowing us to take over the staff meeting without letting the cat out of the bag.
Above all I would like to thank all the wonderful staff at BCHC for making this event so successful. They went above and beyond what most would do to experience some of the day in and day out challenges those of us face living with diabetes.
They all are true Diabetes CHAMPIONS!