“Diabetes cost the Canadian health-care system and economy $11.7 billion in 2010 and costs will rise to $16 billion by 2020. This growing burden threatens both the sustainability of our health-care system and the future economic prosperity of Canada.”
– Diabetes: Canada at the Tipping Point, April 2011
The 2011 report of the Canadian Diabetes Association did much more than describe financial burdens and the personal challenges faced by people living with diabetes; it was a precursor to the association’s April 2014 Diabetes Charter for Canada.
Now, on the first anniversary of the charter, what is most remarkable to anyone new to the subject is that the documents and the association itself not only outline the realities of diabetes, they talk in frank yet positive terms about the rights and responsibilities of patients, health-care systems, government entities and society in general.
Diabetes is not a single disease; it is a multi-faceted condition that includes the non-preventable Type 1; Type 2 or “adult onset” diabetes, pre-diabetes and the usually reversible diabetes of pregnancy.
Unfortunately, when diabetes of any type is not, or cannot be well managed, it can lead to serious health problems like heart disease, kidney failure, blindness and more. Not only do its complications account for more than 80 per cent of diabetes costs, the disease is a leading cause of blindness in Canada.
Although Type 1 is triggered when a person’s immune system prevents the production of insulin in the pancreas, the exact cause is still not known. What we do know is that, as North Shore resident Danielle McVicar can attest, diabetes should never prevent a person from doing whatever they want to do in life.
“I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 10 and have never let it stop me,” she wrote.
She sure didn’t!
Having competed in cross-country ski races across North America, McVicar says she worked with medical professionals and other athletes with Type 1 diabetes to develop a plan that enabled her to compete at an NCAA Division 1 school for four years of undergraduate studies.
“I did that on a full athletic scholarship, at the University of New Hampshire Whittemore School of Business and Economics, and graduated with a (bachelor of science) in business administration,” she said.
Today, at the age of 24, McVicar puts her finance and marketing skills to good use co-ordinating implementation of the CDA youth and D-Camp programs in Western Canada.
That means organizing four family camps in different regions of Alberta and B.C., as well as a summer camp in each province for children with Type 1 diabetes.
“Through their participation in D-Camp outdoor activities that promote self-esteem and personal growth, diabetic children and youth make friendships and gain more independence and confidence,” said McVicar.
Although all four types of diabetes can lead to serious complications when not properly managed, each type has differing characteristics and treatment protocols.
One major difference is that, while there are still genetic influences at play, with a patient’s willing participation much can be done to lower the incidence of Type 2 and pre-diabetes. So why is it that Type 2 still accounts for more than 90 per cent of people with diabetes in Canada?
According to the CDA data, more than 400,000 British Columbians were living with diabetes — a number predicted to climb to almost 550,000 by 2020.
Yet while factors like ethnic background, age over 40 and poverty do play an adverse role in diet and lifestyle, and although 55 per cent of the population remains overweight or obese, the association says over half of Type 2 diabetes could be prevented or delayed with healthier eating and increased physical activity.”
That encouragement, coupled with government policies targeted at easing poverty in our Aboriginal and other vulnerable populations, means the level of Type 2 diabetes could be dramatically improved.
Whichever interventions are chosen, it is essential that we tackle the issues head on.
In 2010, when it was estimated that about one million people were not even aware they had the disease, CDA data suggested the total number of Canadians with diabetes was around 2.7 million — well over seven per cent of the population. Five years on, how close are we to the 2020 projection of 4.2 million?
With human and financial costs in mind, it’s easy to see that taxpayer dollars wisely invested in physical education, treatment programs and other incentives to lower the risk factors would go a long way toward lowering the costs of diabetes.
As noted earlier, one of the most remarkable things about the CDA is that it covers all of the bases in the most positive and encouraging way possible.
So while we learn that people with diabetes have a right to a “timely diagnosis and education and advice” and to “be treated with respect . . . free of discrimination” so, too, do our governments, professionals and society in general have a responsibility to follow the care guidelines and to develop “comprehensive policies and plans for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diabetes and its complications.”
Anyone who doubts the urgency of that needs only to browse through diabetes.ca (and the upcoming events it lists) or to listen as Danielle McVicar and her CDA colleagues inspire you with their stories.
Elizabeth James can be reached via email at [email protected].
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