Diabetes Canada is delighted to invite you to a special webinar presentation for individuals living with and impacted by diabetes. In partnership with the Diabetes Hope Foundation, we will be hosting a dynamic conversation among alumni of the DHF's scholarship programs on navigating the many transitions in the life of someone with T1D - from healthcare providers to work or school to new phases of diabetes management. In addition to learning more about best practices and common questions, this webinar will provide an opportunity to ask these guests about your concerns and access key resources.
For more information about the Diabetes Hope Foundation
welcome everyone uh thank you for being
here my name is brooks roach i am a
diabetes education specialist with
diabetes canada
i'd like to begin by acknowledging that
this is
september 30th which is the inaugural
day for truth and reconciliation here
across canada
and i'd like to invite us uh today
especially but not but all days
to to acknowledge that i'm joining from
this traditional and unseated territory
of magma people and wherever you are
joining or watching from i invite you to
express gratitude and recognition to the
land on which we live
and to acknowledge the past inhabitants
of the indigenous lands that we now call
canada
we are here today on a special day for a
number of reasons to with uh i want a
couple of wonderful guests to talk about
how those of us who are living with type
1 diabetes
can navigate the many transitions that
life can throw at us so we're talking
about moving from pediatric to adult
care we're talking about moving from
high school into post-secondary
education we're talking about moving
into a new job changing cities
and we're talking about this especially
with the lens of what it's been like and
what it will be like
during and after the covet 19 pandemic
so i'd also like to recognize this
webinar is a very special collaboration
between diabetes canada
which was committed to helping people
with diabetes live healthy lives while
working to find a cure and the diabetes
hope foundation so the diabetes hope
foundation is a grassroots
not-for-profit organization
founded by its current chair barbara
pasternack in 1999.
the foundation's mission is to reward
empower and provide pure education and
support for youth in transition to
enable them to live successfully within
and beyond diabetes
so on that note we are joined very very
pleased to welcome
three
recipients past recipients of the dhs
scholarship program so we have alumni
amanda koshy
alex bennett and hal ashama
so welcome and thank you to the three of
you and i'm really excited to have this
conversation
today our guests will be answering some
key questions that they and diabetes
canada and the dhf have been hearing
from the type 1 community on this exact
issue
we'll also be taking questions from you
our viewers so some questions have been
submitted already and you can please
feel free to ask more by replying in the
comments below
so
what i'd like to begin with is sort of
starting at the quote-unquote beginning
and this is for those of us who have
navigated from pediatric to adult terror
i personally remember this being a
really challenging move uh i'd gone you
know i was diagnosed just shy on my
fourth birthday and had gone through
quite a long period of pediatric care
when when the time came to transition i
remember thinking this aligned with
going into post-secondary this aligned
with a lot of other changes in the this
process of uh the change from youth to
adulthood or young adulthood to some
some more graduated version of adulthood
and it can be really tricky to to add on
this this major switch in the the form
of care and the experts we're dealing
with the care providers we connect with
um so i'm wondering if three of you can
can speak a bit to
uh some of the strategies that you've
used or some that our viewers can use to
set themselves up for success before
during and after this transition
sure yeah i can
jump in
so i guess
my name is alex and i've been a diabetic
for just over 10 years
and i'm
i i'm in an interesting position where i
was 16 when i was diagnosed so i had a
very short time in the pediatric system
it was a great time
it felt very warm and welcoming there
was there's always such a big team
helping you and then it did feel a
little jarring going into adult care
where you really just saw the one doctor
and maybe the diabetic nurse to to help
you out and so what i found was that i
needed to to advocate a little bit
better for myself in that transition and
be like oh i actually do want to speak
to the dietitian so you have to kind of
um
have a bit more of a dialogue with your
doctor of what you needed versus
pediatric thought of it all for you so
maybe it's having some of those
conversations with your pediatric team
before you transition forward what you
enjoy from each of your your meetings
and whatnot and trying to
replicate that in your adult care
because you don't need to take
everything from pediatric over but
there's definitely some
some key
people that you might want to see that
aren't in the adult system
by default um so yeah that's like what i
would say because
my my pediatric time was very short
hi everyone um i wanted to add on to
that so my name is hala i was diagnosed
with type 1 diabetes at the age of 14.
so um
given that i was diagnosed with the age
of 14 i
only had about four years to spend with
my pediatrician given that she was there
from the very beginning
and um i i realized that during my
transition um i really missed that same
environment and uh and
specifically communicating with my
pediatrician given that she was there
since my diagnosis um
however i think it's important to do
your research um
regarding before you transition so i
would say at the age of 16 or 17 and do
your research about
different endocrinologists near you that
are knowledgeable about type 1 diabetes
because some can be
more so focused with type 2 and
may not have as much knowledge for say
about insulin pumps and things like that
so
that can uh maybe be an issue but um
thankfully for me um i was referred to
an endocrinologist that was
knowledgeable about type 1 diabetes i'm
really happy about that but
i acknowledge that may not be the case
for everyone
another thing i was going to recommend
is
developing the relationship that you
have with the diabetes educator in
advance before that transition because
um it's a little bit easier sometimes to
reach out let's say to fix your basal
rates and stuff like that especially
during the transition it could fluctuate
a lot um i remember seeing my
endocrinologist just two times a year
whereas with my diabetes educator it
would be about every four months so
that's something that i would recommend
doing and it made a big difference in my
transition
yeah i can add on to there so i was
diagnosed at 10 so a little bit more
time in that pediatric setting before
transitioning to adult care and kind of
echoing the sentiment in the pediatric
center it definitely was a different
environment sitting in one room and
having each of the educators kind of
walk throughout the dietitian the nurse
the endo social work kind of the whole
team coming to you in that area and i do
remember that first appointment going to
my adult care you know sitting in the
waiting room alone seeing people i
didn't know who hadn't you know watched
me grow up essentially so there's a lot
that you can do prior to those
appointments with your pediatric team to
set you up for that success to make sure
that you do feel prepared is it that you
are on an insulin pump and are able to
download the pump to get those those
settings to the clinic ahead of time is
it the log books you know finding out
how the clinic team
essentially wants wants your information
provided to you and so a lot of
pediatric centers will help you with
that transition but there's a lot that
you can consider ahead of time
and one decision that that i made and i
know we'll we'll speak a little bit
further to it at the end but with the
diabetes hope foundation they have a a
resource guide on all of the different
adult centers because a hard decision
was switching was i going to stay where
my parents lived or where i was going
off to school and so ultimately i
decided to attend a pediatric center
that was right on campus where i went to
school because to me for you know the
majority of my appointments i would have
been in the town i was attending school
at and that was a bit of a stress relief
to not have to figure out transportation
back home to attend an appointment to
get back to school so lots of these tiny
little details but just ask ask what
you're not sure about ask for that
support in the transition and exactly
like alex said or you do have to
advocate for yourself and what you need
out of those appointments
thanks so much folks and i
i want to add a little something which
is just speaking from personal
experience
living in a smaller population center so
growing up on prince edward island i had
a lot of my pediatric care in halifax
and a lot of folks who live in more
rural remote regions can likely relate
to this and i think a really significant
transition was actually moving from this
very you know every six months it would
be uh to i would have to travel over the
day before and it would be quite a big
event growing up to go over and get a
checkup and it was a bit of a marathon
that day full of meetings and checkups
and when that migrated to a more
quarterly approach where i would go to
the hospital instead of four hours away
it's 10 minutes away
and it would just be a bit more of a
maybe a lower pressure uh sort of sort
of environment i think it was a bit
jarring to to not have expected that
move so i think if you're in that sort
of situation
when you have gone through pediatric
care or or the person you care for has
gone through pediatric care in a more uh
really hyper concentrated way uh to just
sort of start to think about what you
what the attitude you bring to those
those bigger gem pack days where you
might have to travel to go to a clinic
and if that's no longer the case uh what
might you need to sort of stay in a
similar headspace or to sort of
decompress after an appointment if it's
happening more frequently or if you
don't have this sort of travel period to
to prepare yourself or to to really get
uh in the right headspace for it so i
think just to to reflect on what sort of
headspace you are in or you've been
trained to be in around around when
you're engaging with your healthcare
providers it can be a small small thing
to consider but i remember it being a
bit jarring so it's worth worth keeping
in mind especially for those who are
going through a geographic change as
well
um
the next question i want to ask you
three is
for those viewers who are moving from
let's say high schools post-secondary
education or who are navigating within
the post-secondary landscape
first what was your experience like
navigating this period and
how can type 1 diabetes come into play
and and what tools can people use to
ensure that it's as smooth or as smooth
as possible transition
yeah so i can talk on that so
i had kind of a double transition going
uh into university where
i was changing from shots into using a
pump the summer before and so that was
obviously adapting to different
patterns and whatnot of
of eating and everything and so i
actually
don't know how i would have done it if i
didn't switch to a pump because it just
gave me a lot more flexibility i found
because i was felt very regimental like
when i had to eat when i was on shots
and maybe that's not what everyone on
shots finds but um the pump really i
found gave me a lot more freedom when it
came to my schedule on campus and
everything
and the other big
hurdle i guess i found in transitioning
was actually food because in first year
you're
at least going to a cafeteria in most
universities and there's just so much
food and so many carbs i find like it
just and there's so much temptation and
like there's an ice cream bar at
my university so like there's there's
lots to balance there and you're
with new friends that um you're like
just trying to like grab some food quick
maybe and then it's like oh wait i have
way too many carbs on my plate and how
to handle that and how to uh better
guesstimate and so i guess on the food
side of things i'd say at least in first
year like a lot of places have really
good
for me i found that good salad bars and
whatnot that you could kind of intermix
with your meals to to give you some some
other options with less carbs because i
found at least my cafeteria leaned
heavily into pizza and like other kind
of like fun easy car meals but it's
sometimes nice to have a bit of a break
from that
um so
that that was obviously one one tough
sector and then i guess the other
[Music]
thing i wanted to mention was when
you're going out with friends i would
always say
make sure at least one friend knows
you're diabetic because i know the the
first transition when you started
university you might
not know too many people there i was
lucky enough to have a friend from high
school with me but there's often nights
when we weren't together so i always had
my group of friends new and like
you'll you'll find friends that care and
are considerate
and it always made the night i feel like
go smoother where you didn't have to
worry maybe as much they're they're kind
of looking out for you and and maybe
asking you too many times like have you
tested or something like that like they
don't
they don't fully know that
what what needs to be done but they're
they're willing to to learn if they're
good friends that's what i would say
so i'll pass it off to you holla
yeah um something that really
was different for me was the commute
time to attend the university that i was
studying at so instead of a five minute
drive or a five minute walk
it would be a 40 minute drive and i was
worried about my blood sugars and all of
that so i really recommend um to those
um that are able to get a hold of having
a continuous glucose monitor that made a
huge difference in my diabetes
management
um gave me peace of mind because again
you have to need a specific range to
drive so you don't put yourself and
others at risk um so that was key
and also just um
going on campus to different things like
the library right and all of that like
you're walking around and that can
affect your blood sugar maybe stress
levels and physical activity and things
like that so the continuous close
monitoring cgm is absolutely amazing for
that
um and of course bring snacks juice
and now what you prefer to consume if
let's say you um have low blood sugar is
that the the decks for tablets is it
juice so make sure you're aware of that
and you keep a bunch of those in your
school bag
um and the other thing that i wanted to
also discuss was um the student
accessibility services i'm not sure if
um uh the others here that are speaking
have um maybe reached out when they were
completing their undergrad but for me
i'm in my fourth year right now and i've
um
been having accommodations since first
year with different things for instance
in my labs
there was a letter that was sent to for
instance my tea my ta and also my
professors and things like that which
was really important because
that's also the same thing like the lab
is for the duration of three hours and
having
not having that access to food or
something like that again because it
would be a risk to yourself if you're
dealing with chemicals if it's like a
chemistry lab etc
um so that made a huge difference and
also allowed me to
write in a separate testing room so i
could have my juice my meter and all of
that and it just made me feel more
comfortable because i was worried about
that at the beginning and my
pediatrician mentioned that to me so i
was glad that i
reached out to the student accessibility
services and submitted the correct
documents and i had that for my first
year up until this point
it was very useful
yeah so in my experience i didn't
directly access any of the services but
i would highly recommend that you do uh
they're there to help you and so one of
the biggest things that i found is you
know this transition is difficult for
everyone from you know high school to
post-secondary education wherever that
is for you are you in town out of town
is it an entirely new province so it can
be a really difficult experience and
then sometimes i find you know diabetes
can be just that extra layer on top
which we can't forget about it's it's
always there and that just is part of
the responsibility that we have to
manage living with diabetes is that you
know sometimes it becomes maybe not our
top priority but we do have to always be
thinking about it to manage it for our
own safety and to make sure that you
know we are feeling healthy and able to
engage in our classes and things like
that so i found in the transition
you know there's a lot of struggle when
you go from high school which was a very
regimented schedule you know lunch is
always going to be at 12 15 this day
every day of the week and then when you
go off to to post secondary education
maybe your first class of the day isn't
even till 2 o'clock in the afternoon so
have you even woken up before what
lunchtime used to be so it's that
transition in the schedule and kind of
that self-responsibility that you need
to have in order to manage and so just
also the the tip of going easy on
yourself it is a difficult transition
and when you have to add diabetes into
the mix on top of that these these
accessibility services are really there
to support you for that you know if
everyone's heading off to an exam
i was also having to remember okay did i
pack my low snacks do i have you know an
extra site in case something happens to
my site on the day of my exam for
nursing i had to write a licensing exam
and i was having to make sure that i
contacted them ahead of time to let them
know i would be coming in with these
different supplies that i needed in
order to have success in that
environment and that one kind of stood
out for me i was so stressed about this
exam because my my four years of school
essentially relied on on passing my
licensing exam and in line
this was a pre pre-cgms i was finger
poking almost every 10 minutes and just
watching as my sugar climbed and climbed
and climbed from the anxiety and so
again it's that just taking a moment to
have that extra patience with yourself
because you are dealing with that that
added layer i had to write this big exam
with the sugar in the 20s because i was
so anxious about everything so really
stepping back and then again bringing it
back to that advocacy you know ask for
help is it your clinic team your friends
your parents to help with that
transition because you're you're allowed
to struggle with it but it's you know
allowed to struggle but just take that
ownership and figure out okay i'm
struggling right now so what can i do to
reach out for support and there's there
is a lot of support out there
um and i'd like to also add that
the diabetes hope does have a really
great transition guide for this whole
high school to university like they've
got ones on uh where to find good endos
in your area on all the accessibility
and so it's just a really good robust
guide that is very useful for this uh
kind of transition for sure
yeah thank you alex and amanda and ella
and uh with the transition guide we're
going to uh include that in in the
comments in the video description this
is uploaded to youtube so you'll be able
to access it
but it's on diabetes hope foundation
website it's quite easy to find and i
would recommend it personally
i really i appreciate that idea of be
allowing yourself to struggle
that you brought up amanda i like that
that framing because so often it is such
a self-directed and self-managed disease
that the tendency that i've always felt
is i'm sure i can figure out a way to do
this myself but sometimes just bypassing
that stuff and saying like if there's
services out there for me
even if i don't make use of them i can
let them know i can build or the you
know i can prepare something as a
uh you know a security in the event that
something something does happen so it's
yeah it's it's a really great piece of
advice to you know don't be afraid to
struggle i guess
um
i wanted to to open up one one last
question this is we we do have a
question in the chat that that asks
about moving from one country to another
um and that ties in perfectly to the
next question we had lined up which is
what about other sort of life moves so
this could be changing where you live a
new city province country could be
starting a new job could be becoming
apparent
these are huge life-defining moments and
you know people with type 1 are no
exception to going through them you know
we have we have big life shocks beyond
the disease as well
so i wanted to ask you folks has your
diabetes been affected by these major
changes or or vice versa has have you
had to craft a major life decision
around type 1 in any way
and do you have any tips for sort of how
to manage this how to weigh your
decisions
yeah definitely uh i guess
for a pretty
topical decision i guess i had recently
i'm a software engineer so a lot of my
work ends up being at home and so i just
finished some schooling and got a job
back in april um and it was all work
from home and i was like great like
that'll be super easy for diabetes
there's like like
like the routine is set like everything
will just go so like so swimmingly and
it like
sort of started that way but you're also
um in in a pattern where you're so close
to food and temptation i found that uh
going
to the fridge is just far too easy and
then like i did find that
there
the work from home routine got a little
bit harder and i think that's
anyone working from home uh it can
become a struggle but especially as a
diabetic i found that that was really
tough with food for a little bit and
like i've kind of sorted it out by
uh
more more rigid eating times i guess i
would say um because you can kind of
graze all day otherwise uh and also kind
of setting out a time to exercise
because working from home it can be
dangerous to just get up and just start
working and then you you finish
work and then maybe you have some like
social chats or calls and like then
exercise kind of can follow um
the window and and i find exercise is
one of the things that helps my diabetes
the most so um i found
i i started to build in like at least an
hour of exercise in the day whether
that's a run in the morning or like a
nice bike ride in the afternoon um and
that has really helped kind of the
it's funny that the transition to to
working from home
um but yeah so i guess that's
my major transition recently but i'll
pass it to hall and maybe i'll jump back
in with with more
um i think for me what i'm experiencing
right now i'm 21
what i'm experiencing now is similar to
what i was experiencing back when i was
diagnosed i was worried about how would
i be able to manage all these different
things i'm a part of
these clubs and i love playing tennis
and living an active lifestyle i like
going out i don't want to do injections
all the time you know things like that
um so i'm glad that i made the decision
right when i was diagnosed and i was
eligible to apply for um
the pump i went for omnipod because it
was tubeless
um so that has assisted me up until this
point um
and i'm really happy with that it's
continuing to help me because again i
live a very active life and
um
it's it's it's just
best for my specific lifestyle
um i also wanted to emphasize
similar to what alex was touching upon
with
what you're consuming um even though we
can't eat anything that we
like would like to and you know need to
give the specific amount of insulin for
it um i found that specifically for me
i have to eat at specific times
um and like let's say consume more
protein to keep my blood sugar levels a
bit more stable because if my blood
sugars were not in the right range my
mood would be affected i wouldn't be
able to perform what i needed to do if
it's work school work
um things that i'm involved in so always
make sure that you're putting your
diabetes as a priority and you're not
letting that
kind of slip
um because again if you're not well
you're not going to be able to go
through with anything that you're doing
so make sure that you prioritize your
health
um something else that i also wanted to
share is also changing your mindset i
remember when i was first diagnosed
i was
very um it took me a while to even
process everything and i think that it's
nice to
for anyone that's living with diabetes i
think it's nice to change um
your mindset and think okay me giving
insulin or me needing to count
carbohydrates is another step for me to
stay healthy don't look at don't look at
it as an additional task i think that's
a nice mindset to have um because you'll
notice though like as you spend more
time with others you'll notice okay they
don't have to give and slender they
don't have to do that but that's okay
because again we're all we're all
different it's important to change your
mindset and don't compare yourself to
others
um another thing that i wanted to share
is
if you
are interested in let's say um
hearing from someone else who for
instance
uh like let's say during your transition
um
you would like to hear from someone who
has gone through that and are also
living with type one i highly recommend
applying for the hope connects
mentorship program
i'm currently a mentor
but i wish that i
knew about the program and i was
transitioning because
knowing someone who
has been through the process living with
type one um it's nice to hear
what went well what didn't went well
what what do they wish that they have
known before etc so that's something
that i recommend um
doing and you could also be able to ask
things like what insulin pump are they
using are they using the cgm
um what do you do when you're exercising
or something like that so i think that's
also great because all those things can
be applied
as your life changes if let's say
you are starting a new job or you're
moving countries or things like that it
can make your experience a lot easier
yeah kind of a lot of the the same
themes kind of across the board here but
tying it back to to kind of that
question decisions that you make or his
diabetes had to impact those decisions
for you and so the the kind of mindset
that i like to to remind people one of
one of my hats is actually a certified
diabetes educator and so living with it
and having the experience to it i i like
to teach and tell people who are newly
diagnosed you know i don't believe that
diabetes is ever going to stop you from
doing anything that you want to do is it
isn't moving you know to a new country
taking this really cool experience but
what i like to emphasize is again we
just can't forget that we have diabetes
and so you can do all these amazing
things but it's figuring out those steps
how can i succeed in this environment
while living with my diabetes and so an
example of that i worked
for a little bit in the hospital in
pediatrics and the nicu and we would get
called in to kind of more um you know
emergency scenarios and for me one of
the big things was you know utilizing
the technology that i had to make sure
that my sugars were stable in that time
but knowing that you know what there
might be a time when my sugar isn't at a
point where i'm the best person to
respond to this and so for me it was
making sure that my colleagues were
aware and they kind of knew that if i
said i can't take this one that that
they would jump in for me and so it
didn't stop me from going into nursing
from doing the shift work from working
in a more kind of high intensity
environment but again at the end of the
day i couldn't forget that i'm the one
living with diabetes and i have my
safety to consider and the safety of
others in that scenario and so you
really just have to do again kind of
bring it back to that that research you
know what do i need to succeed in this
and then figuring out um
where can you get uh kind of the
the ability to advocate for yourself is
really important in those but
recognizing that it doesn't need to to
stop you from anything and i know one of
those questions you know if you're
moving to a new country that's totally
doable don't let your diabetes stop you
by any means but it's just doing that
research ahead of time so different
countries require um prescriptions for
things where in canada you know
technically you can just get insulin
over the counter and you can't do that
everywhere so it's those sorts of little
details that when we're talking about
these big life transitions we just can't
kind of forget that we have diabetes let
it go to the the wayside we have to make
sure that we come in prepared so that
when you're then in that experience and
trying to enjoy it and get the most out
of it that you're able to
yeah thank you folks and i think to to
the point of transitioning to a new
country um it's a huge exciting
opportunity and and just try to think
about how wonderful that is and you know
you can make pretty much anything work
around that if it's something that
you're really excited about um having
spent a little bit of time in other
countries i think the the sort of key
advice and amanda you touched on it
really well is like think about what are
the key items that you need or the key
decisions you frequently have to make
and see if you can just
workshop transplanting them to that new
country so if it's how do i get insulin
supplies and connect with folks who can
support me
just look into those basic items if you
have a couple of other key decisions
that you find yourself keep keeping uh
continually having to make here it's
going to be the same there it's just
going to be in a slightly different
context so just try to try to imagine as
simply as you can
what are those key decisions that set
you up to live healthily and imagine you
know the logistics of having to do them
in whatever country you're headed to and
to uh our viewer who asked that question
i hope that your
travel goes really well and it's it's
really exciting so just try to hold on
to the excitement and the the challenges
that diabetes presents are real but you
can you can manage around them so i hope
it all goes well
um we we have uh another question coming
in and i'll encourage any viewers if you
have anything you'd like here please do
submit it in the in the comments section
we have another question i'll direct
this one to hala because it's around the
hope connect program and it's uh a
viewer is wondering if this program is
open to folks living with pre-diabetes
and type 2 diabetes
yeah that's a great question um
i specifically
i'm not sure but i think that it's still
great to reach out so the link i believe
it should be right in the description of
this um
uh this call but
there's a website um i would recommend
going to the website and just filling in
your information and i feel like it
should be um
fine but i wouldn't be able to speak
entirely
um but just try it it doesn't hurt but i
i think that it is such an amazing
program and
um
if not like let's say for some reason it
doesn't work out i can leave my contact
information i would be more than happy
to
um
you know be your mentor for instance
like i really don't mind but i think it
is such a valuable
program um and definitely check out the
the link to go to the website for that
yeah thank you howard um
i don't see any further questions coming
in that being said we're going to uh
kind of have some closing words from our
panelists but if you if you'd like to
submit a question please feel free over
the next couple of minutes uh you're
more than welcome um so with that i'd
just like to ask uh to our our wonderful
panelists thank you for for all your
wonderful insight is there anything that
we haven't touched on that you'd like to
share now
uh
yeah i guess
and maybe this is just recapping some
some of the things uh i guess one big
thing amanda did bring up and i wanted
to to like emphasize is that just be
forgiving of yourself and all these like
transitions like it is
uh life is tough and diabetes makes it a
little bit tougher so um
give yourself a break like it's okay
like we're our own uh like hardest
critics and so give yourself a break
some days like it's not always gonna go
perfect you're you're not going to get
that like perfect line across there's
going to be the hills and troughs but
like that's that's just how life is it
goes up it goes down but you get through
it um
and i i'd also like to say is just be
open uh about your diabetes i i know one
or two friends that aren't as open about
talking about their diabetes and so it's
it like letting your friends and
families know i it never hurts and i
feel like people are always so curious
and compassionate and wanting to to
learn to like bring your friends um into
the circle of diabetes and
it'll go well so yeah
um something that i wanted to add is for
um the viewers that are currently
attending um university within ontario i
apologize it's not all over canada but
um specifically within ontario if you
just started your first year or maybe
it's your fourth or let's say uh your
fifth year um i highly recommend
attending a upcoming event so
um the diabetes hope foundation the o2
diabetes awareness club and the mcmaster
diabetes association are partnering
together to host
um the event is called don't sugarcoat
at the first ontario universities
diabetes conference so this will feature
different clubs within ontario at the
university level
and um those clubs that are specific to
uh diabetes maybe they raise diabetes
awareness things like that
um and essentially
all the clubs are going to come together
share their missions and values um being
able to participate in a fun trivia game
um that relates to insulin given that we
are at the one century mark of the
discovery of insulin
um and it will be on world diabetes days
november 14 from 5 to 6 30 so i highly
recommend
those that would like to come please
register
and even if you don't attend a
university in ontario if you would like
to attend please register i i think that
it would be um
really really nice a nice learning
experience to see the different clubs
that are raising diabetes awareness
yeah i feel like again kind of echoing
echoing a lot of themes in this in this
conversation but i would say community
is is really important and we've kind of
spoken to that across the board and
whether or not that's finding support
from people who are living with diabetes
from your friends your family it really
is just making sure that you you get
that community that you need so that you
can can feel comfortable in those
environments whether it's a new one an
old one and i would say that in the the
success of how i viewed kind of my life
with diabetes so far i would say that um
the biggest positive moments have all
come from being engaged in different
diabetes communities and these
communities are putting the resources
out there for you example like today
right so if you're looking for that
extra support jump online take a look
around ask someone who you know if
they're they're living with diabetes
your clinics they probably have a lot of
contact to to send you different ways
depending on what sort of of extra
support that you're looking for so that
would be my my summary kind of key key
takeaway there would be to to find that
community to get that support from
yeah thanks a lot folks and it really
does like makes a world of difference to
have that compassion for yourself and
tap into community whether that's going
to events like uh what allah mentioned
on world diabetes day or just looking
into the supports that are out there
formally or informally
because it can just help so much to
combat that those feelings of isolation
that do often crop up
um
before we wrap up folks i'd like to just
take a moment to tell you a bit about
how diabetes canada and the diabetes
hope foundation are helping to support
people with type 1 diabetes so diabetes
canada you know whether throughout the
pandemic or beyond uh has some some
really great resources this included uh
for dealing with these major transition
periods or just dealing with the
challenges of everyday life with type 1.
so i i recommend visiting our website
visiting our social media to stay up to
date on what we're working on and
resources we're putting out uh to get
specific direction you can call our
helpline at 1 800 dancing or shoot an
email to info diabetes.ca and we'll do
our best to give you some specific next
steps
uh if you are navigating a transition
right now you can also use our diabetes
educator service which will connect you
to a certified diabetes educator and you
can also look at our interprovincial
comparison documents so this is
especially helpful if you're navigating
a move to a new province you can see how
different provinces stack up in terms of
what's covered what's available to you
how they stand on diabetes policy and
programs etc and also just want to you
know make sure i recommend a lot of the
wonderful resources diabetes hope
foundation has developed so the
transition guides as mentioned are
really fantastic
and they're available on their web page
and updated this year so there's a
resource guide there is a recipe book
called transition in the kitchen which
as a fan of wordplay i really appreciate
it
and there is a children's book as well
full of child oriented resources so the
the book is nothing can stop me by bobby
pasternack aaron mercer and tyler monroe
so that's available on their website for
order so if you have questions for the
diabetes hope foundation you can also
check them out at
www.diabeteshopefoundation.com
or email at info diabetes at
diabeteshopefoundation.com
so
that is all for today i want to say a
wholehearted sincere thank you to our
guests so amanda hala alex i was really
wonderful to hear your perspectives on
this and just want to say essence your
thanks for being open to sharing your
story and and
i think for our viewers you know this is
these are three wonderful examples of
what can happen when you do tap into
that sense of community and when you you
do pursue some really grand challenges
despite living with with type 1 diabetes
so thank you all very much for making
the time and joining us today and
sharing uh all that you've learned today
so with that i want to say uh thank you
for
to our viewers for tuning in and please
never hesitate to reach out because
we'll we'll be happy to help where we
can and i hope that i really appreciate
this conversation i hope that you did as
well and uh look forward to
seeing what you how you apply this
information in navigating whatever
transition comes next so thank you very
much and take care everyone
Category Tags: Children & Adults, General Tips, Just the Basics, Management, Research;