Youngster fighting for glucose monitor
Child begins petition to have device covered under OHIP schedule
For seven-year-old Maya Webster, a continuous glucose monitor has made Type 1 diabetes more manageable, has resulted in fewer hospital visits and provided a better overall quality of life.
The monitor, which is not covered in the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP), was paid for using $4,000 from her mother, Christi Webster’s, work benefits.
Not everyone is so lucky, and Maya knows it.
The Niagara-on-the-Lake youngster is now teaming up with Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates, gathering signatures and petitioning the province to cover 100 per cent of the cost of these monitors.
In the first three days, the duo has collected 90 signatures from residents. Everybody Maya had approached was inspired to put pen to paper.
“We had to try to find empty spaces to actually get all of them,” Maya laughed.
“It just feels nice to help other kids and parents with Type 1 diabetes.”
Maya said the monitor they are petitioning for continuously measures glucose levels and raises an alarm if it starts to get too high or too low.
“Which is really helpful cause it saves hospital visits, which saves taxpayers money,” she said, fist bumping her mother, who beamed with pride.
Maya was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was just two years old.
Her mother recalled an incident from before Maya was fitted with her monitor, when her insulin pump came out in the morning without their knowing.
Maya was fine when she got up for school, Christi said, but by the time she had to leave for school, she was not functioning.
“She got very sick very quickly.”
Christi said Maya went into diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA, meaning her blood sugar got so high the built-up acid began to break down her muscles and organs.
Whether it was because of a low, a high, or a common illness made more severe by the disease, Christi said Maya spent a lot of time in the hospital before she got her monitor.
Maya received her monitor in October of 2018. Since then, Christi said she hasn’t been in the hospital, and they no longer have to prick her finger 10 times per day.
“We very much strive for kidfirst, diabetes-second, and this just makes that attainable.”
Gates said Maya easily won him and his staff over with her story when she dropped into his office last week. He agreed to join her cause, going door to door to collect signatures.
He plans to extend their scope by reaching out to a local grocery store to set up a table on a busy afternoon.
Ultimately, Gates is taking Maya to Queen’s Park on Nov. 27 to lobby for a full OHIP coverage.
There will be people who oppose such a significant increase to OHIP, he said, but the hospital cost-savings will easily pick that up, especially considering Ontario hospitals are already experiencing hallway medicine.
“This is an easy fix … it sounds like a lot of money to start with, but at the end of the day the savings in our health-care system will far outweigh the cost.”
Maya’s quality of life improved considerably after she received her continuous glucose monitor, he said, and he wants to make sure children and adults alike can access the same benefits.
“Just because you have Type 1 diabetes shouldn’t mean that you don’t have a good quality of life like all the other kids on your street.”
Maya’s petition is part of a campaign initiated by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
For more visit jdrf.ca.