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You can help
make life Sweet
By
John Paul Breslin
LEARNING to live with diabetes can be a difficult thing for anyone to do, let alone a child.
 Youngsters with diabetes not only have to get to
grips with changes to their lifestyle and diet but also have to learn how to administer their own treatment.
Type 1 diabetes usually starts in childhood or young adulthood and is caused when the pancreas doesn’t make enough, or any, of the hormone insulin which is needed to regulate the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood.
To counter this, youngsters have to inject themselves with insulin
and monitor the results by testing their own blood glucose levels — which they then balance with the amount of sugar and carbohydrates in their diet and the amount of exercise they do.
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 Hannah and Lisa Blues, who both use insulin pumps, with Dr Steven Greene at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
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Having this responsibility thrust upon them can be a daunting and often upsetting experience.
However, a new programme developed by medical staff at Tayside Children’s Hospital is helping youngsters and their families adjust.
Mobile phones
Medical staff at the hospital have developed a computerised programme called SweetTalk, which uses personal details about each patient and the specific problems they may have with
their diabetes and automatically delivers daily motivational messages via their mobile
phones.
Two youngsters who have already benefited from SweetTalk are sisters Lisa and Hannah Blues,
from Dundee.
Lisa was one of the first diabetic patients to try out the programme and said it made all the difference when she was learning how to monitor her condition.
“I was sent messages once or twice a day, which reminded me
to take my insulin,” she said.
“It was good because I knew I was always in touch with someone who could help and if I had a problem I could send a text asking for advice.”
SweetTalk also made it easier for Lisa (17) and Hannah (11) to learn how to use insulin pumps — one of the most up-to-date ways of treating diabetes.
The pumps, no larger than a mobile phone, administer insulin to the bloodstream via a piece of thin tubing and
a needle, or cannula, which is inserted under the skin.
The device can even be disconnected for short periods and the tubing is sealed so nothing can get in or out during detachment.
Hannah said, “Before we started using the pumps we had to eat at certain times and take injections at certain times, but the pumps give us more freedom.”
SweetTalk has been part of a formal study at the hospital. However, the results have been so encouraging the team now wants to develop it as part of a package that can be used by patients across Scotland.
Injection
Dr Steven Greene, said, “We work with youngsters who have type 1 diabetes, which means they have lost the ability to produce insulin in their bodies.
“It’s a condition which if not treated can leave them very unwell.
“The youngsters are required to take insulin, but the problem at the moment is that this has to be given by injection.
“Since the 1990s it has been felt the treatment that gives the best results in most people is if you give them four or five injections a day of different insulins.
“The upshot of this is that youngsters have to take on a
lot of responsibility and self-management at home with or without their parents.
“Understandably, the routine of taking injections and monitoring their levels can be too much of a burden.
“What we have tried to do is reduce that burden. This programme allows us to support the patient and their family when they take on these difficulties.”
In order to develop the SweetTalk programme Tayside Children’s Hospital is looking to employ a computer programmer who can develop SweetTalk and incorporate it into SCI-DI — a national computer system for diabetes.
There are also plans to develop the system so parents can receive specific messages giving them advice on how they can help
their children monitor their condition.
Motivation
“Some parents who have children with diabetes find it difficult adjusting to the changes
so this programme can act as a diabetes trainer and friend,” said Dr Greene.
“You can give people information, but you have to give them the motivation to take
that information and use it.
“The ideal way would be to have someone to do it, but that wouldn’t be practical — this technology allows us to do it.”
The staff at Tayside Children’s Hospital have worked extremely hard to develop SweetTalk for their young patients, but with
your help they can make sure youngsters across the country don’t miss out.
The development of the programme, which we hope to raise money for, will help ease the burden on young people who are learning how to live with diabetes, as will the money you donate and the fund-raising activities you arrange.
Help make sure every young diabetic can get as much help as Lisa and Hannah.
 IF YOU have a
special reason for contributing to or raising funds for our appeal
then we’d like to hear from you.
It could be that
you’d like to thank caring staff for the treatment they’ve
provided in your hour of need. Or perhaps a relative spent time in
one of Scotland’s children’s hospitals and the experience has
left a lasting impression on your family’s life.
Whatever the reason,
please let us know.
We’d be delighted
to share your experiences with our readers. And, who knows,
it may inspire others to follow in your fund-raising footsteps.
Back
to campaign main page
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You can e-mail us at:
hospitals@sundaypost.com |
