Approximately 1.25 million Americans have type 1 diabetes and the average person doesn’t understand the toll it can take on daily living. Although it is known as an invisible disease because those with it appear normal, just ask anyone with Type 1 Diabetes and they will assure you that there is nothing normal about the daily activities and the numerous necessary actions they must take just to make it through the day.
People with type 1 diabetes have to regulate their insulin daily and this done through a series of injections or an insulin pump.
Individuals especially children with type 1 diabetes have to make a number of potentially life-challenging decisions about their care throughout the day. The decisions hinge around things that most people take for granted like eating, exercising, going for a walk, or even caring for a sick child can all impact blood sugar levels.
People with type 1 diabetes have to become nutrition and mathematical experts, learning how to count the carbohydrates in their food and the formula for the right amount of insulin needed.
This way a life is taxing for anyone suffering from type 1 diabetes especially for children but most importantly foster children. Currently there are over 400,000 children in the foster care system and it is estimated that 5% suffer from type one diabetes. We at DirectlyTo what to make those children’s lives a little easier.
We want to provide a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) to children in the foster care system. The CGMs have alarm systems that tell you when you are getting close to a preset high or low limit. These hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia prevention alarms enable insulin users to keep much tighter control, as they don’t have to fear going too low or too high as much.
Continuous glucose monitoring can help identify fluctuations and trends that would otherwise go unnoticed with intermittent finger stick measurements. Having this monitor is the difference between having a snapshot versus a 24 hour graph indicating the slightest rise or drop in levels. The use of CGMs has been proven to lower HbA1C results, which are the 90 day average blood sugar levels, and this is helping patients to live longer and healthier lives.
Many insurance companies feel this technology is a luxury item and deny coverage. In an effort to ease these real fears and give the kids in the foster system a fighting chance to be brought back into their loving home, DirectlyTo is partnering with Gabby Swart (A Type 1 Diabetes FIGHTER) and her family to provide these monitors free of charge directly to the children that need it most. Help us in our cause to serve these families by donating to this campaign. Together we can make a child's life a little easier by reducing the anxiety and worry for their families and foster/potential adoptive families.