January 17, 2018
Letter sent to Director of Insured Health, Health and Social Services
Hello. My name is Marney Paradis and I am the chair of the Yukon T1D Support Network, a non-profit organization that provides education and supports for those living with Type 1 diabetes, their families, and their communities.
Last month I became aware that Yukon Government would be commencing a pilot program to provide Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGM) to children who live with Type 1. CGM assist those with Type 1 by continually monitoring their blood sugar levels. Having tightly controlled blood sugar is the key component in reducing or eliminating long-term detrimental and costly retinopathy, neuropathy, nephropathy, and cardiac disease.
I am asking government to expand the scope of this pilot project to include young adults up to the age of 25. Youth have significant barriers in accessing the technologies that may assist in the optimal management of their disease. This includes, but is certainly not limited to, financial resources to adequately cover the costs of CGM.
The optimal request would be to see YG reimburse young adults who purchase CGM as part of this pilot study. The secondary request would be to have the Yukon T1D Support Network serve as an intermediary, whereby we would provide the CGM to Type 1 diabetics between the ages of 19-25, and then we would be reimbursed by YG.
The cost of this service to the Yukon Government would be nominal, but the health benefits to young adults has the potential to be very great.
Thank you for your attention to this.
Marney Paradis
Yukon T1D Support Network