Diabetes Management Using Your SmartPhone #ConnectedHealth

There are few people that I know (if any), who do not have someone in their lives who has been affected by diabetes.  The Canadian Diabetes Association reports that in 2015, There were an estimated 3.4 million Canadians with diabetes (9.3% of Canadians) and it is estimated that by 2025, that number will increase to approximately 5 million (12.1%).  Additionally, there were an estimated 5.7 million Canadians with pre-diabetes in 2015 and it is predicted that number will rise to 6.4 million in 2025.

For individuals diagnosed with either Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes, their best chance at living life to its fullest is through proper diabetes management. This includes monitoring blood glucose levels, can include medication/insulin shots as prescribed and can also involve serious changes in lifestyle.

There are programs that are designed to help diagnosed individuals better understand Diabetes and how to adjust their lifestyle so that they can enjoy life without letting their diabetes ‘get in the way’.  I spoke with a nurse who has take it upon herself to develop such a program because she sees how many people are suffering from diabetes and that they don’t have enough of an understanding of their disease. The program spans a 10 weeks and mainly teaches lifestyle changes.  Patients are tested upon starting the program and again at the end of the program  (10 weeks). The team of doctors who evaluated the results were blown away at the effectiveness of the program. This goes to show that lifestyle management is an essential component to diabetes management.

This is where the Accu-Chek Connect wireless blood glucose monitoring system comes in. In our very connected world why not use our technological capabilities for health management?  I personally have experience using an app on my smartphone to monitor my food intake and exercise with great success while following a safe & approved weight loss program.

Lifestyle management for diabetics goes beyond monitoring food intake and exercise, there are daily measurements of blood glucose levels to keep track of. The traditional process has been to keep track of blood glucose levels in a manual log.

Introduced this summer by Roche Diabetes Care Canada, the Accu-chek Aviva Connect features wireless blood glucose monitoring.  It uses Bluetooth® Smart technology to connect with your smartphone and automatically transfer test results, supporting personalized diabetes management.  All you have to do is pair your smartphone with the Accu‐Chek Aviva Connect meter. The blood glucose results obtained with the easy‐to‐test Accu‐Chek Aviva strips are automatically sent to the Accu‐Chek Connect mobile app. You can then view the results on your phone and manage your diabetes without a paper logbook.

Needless to say, analyzing these results is as easy as the touch of a button ( or even a few) but the results are accurate and virtually as instantaneous as you desire them to be. All your data is stored in the Accu‐Chek Connect Online Portal so that you can view your results/data whenever you like and share it with your healthcare team so that informed decisions can be made regarding your treatment. The portal also turns data into user‐friendly reports to guide your food and exercise choices, as well as your insulin use.

Doctor and patient in consultation at laptop

This is not only helpful for sharing results with health practitioners , but with caregivers as well. Many parents are caring for children or teens with diabetes and many adult children are looking after aging parents with diabetes. Using Accu-chek Aviva Connect to keep caregivers in the loop eases their daily load.  They can :

• verify that measurements have actually been taken;
• what the results are
• be comforted in the knowledge that that they can check in on results as needed
• be alerted if they notice a pattern they are concerned with.
• using the easily generated and easy-to-understand reports, help to make informed decisions about treatment.

Whether you are personally affected with diabetes or are playing the role of caregiver to a child, parent or other loved one with diabetes, the Accu-chek Aviva Connect system would likely make your life easier. If you are not personally affected but know someone who is…let them know about it. Given that the tech has just recently been introduced, they may not know about it yet and will likely be very happy to know that it is available

If you’d like to learn more- you can visit www.accu-chek.ca/ca/

Wishing you a healthy and connected day

Tanya