If you've recently been diagnosed with diabetes chances are you're learning how proper diet, exercise and monitoring of blood sugar levels contribute to a healthy, active lifestyle. And while education and condition management is essential, experts say that emergency preparedness is one area that people newly diagnosed with diabetes shouldn't neglect.
“At the scene of an emergency, one of the most common and important tests we do is check blood sugar levels to detect diabetes,” says Glen Gillies, Paramedic, Toronto EMS. “On an average day EMS across the country respond to a number of diabetes-related calls. When people have a MedicAlert ID it's incredibly helpful, because we can get immediate access to a complete list of their medication and dosage from MedicAlert and have that information ready for the emergency team at the hospital,” says Gillies.
“With more than 20 Canadians being diagnosed with diabetes every hour of every day, the incidents of diabetes-related emergencies are on the rise,” says Dr. Alice Cheng, Endocrinologist at St. Michaels Hospital in Toronto, Ontario. “It's important for people with diabetes to be able to recognize the symptoms of low blood sugar, know how to treat it and more importantly, how to avoid future episodes so that fewer diabetes-related emergencies occur. Often, people who are newly diagnosed are at greater risk, since they may administer too much or too little insulin – and may not recognize the signs that their body is in distress,” she adds.
The Canadian Diabetes Association, Dr. Cheng and Paramedic Glen Gillies all recommend that everyone who lives with diabetes, wears a MedicAlert ID. In fact, the number of Canadians who live with diabetes and protect themselves with a MedicAlert ID has almost doubled since 2004.
In addition to wearing a lifesaving MedicAlert ID, Dr. Cheng and Paramedic Gillies also recommend you get prepared with a simple emergency preparedness plan: