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IDF World Diabetes Congress 2013

By January 6, 2014The Log Book

The running joke in the CIM Office is… Well, that’s it. The total lack thereof. Although operating office-less can be, at times, a bit challenging (like when people give us the heads up that they will ‘just drop by the office – be there in 10!; or when we come across that amazing piece of equipment that would just be perfect for the CIM Office) but it also means that we can work from almost anywhere.

Even Australia.

You may know that myself and Virtue were in Australia in November and December––partially for work, partially for vacation, but we wanted to take the chance to let you know what the heck we were doing.

I had been excited for November 22 to come for quite some time. It was the day I was hopping on a plane and flying to the other side of the world to play a part in the International Diabetes Federation’s Young Leaders in Diabetes programme and the World Diabetes Congress.

I first heard about the Young Leaders in Diabetes programme at the World Diabetes Congress in Montreal in 2009. A new President-Elect had been selected by the IDF – one who believed in young people––the passion that drives them, the fresh perspectives they possess and the inspiration and hope they provide for the future. I was immediately drawn to Sir Michael Hirst. I identified with his ideas and vision.

The inaugural (or re-vamped, perhaps) Young Leaders in Diabetes programme was launched in 2011 at the World Diabetes Congress in Dubai, where I attended as a Faculty Member. Over the two years that followed, the Young Leaders programme nearly doubled in size, with 138 individuals between 18-30 from 75 different countries convening in Melbourne Australia to be part of the Programme and the World Diabetes Congress. I was inspired by each and every Young Leader as they came together with an understanding of the challenges faced by other young people with diabetes in their own countries and worked together to address the challenges. The Young Leaders took the first steps in creating a project that they will carry out over the next two years to make life a little better for people living with diabetes.

It was so humbling to hear about life with diabetes throughout the world. I heard stories of the most disturbing discrimination and realized the heart-breaking realities surrounding access to insulin in so, so many places. I heard stories about terrible ignorance about diabetes (scary that many of these stories come from some of the world’s technologically advanced countries), and the lack of psychosocial support for people with diabetes that seems to resonate worldwide.

I also had the privilege to meet to unbelievably inspiring people who are pushing hard to make real changes in their communities. I felt the excitement grow over the two weeks I spent with the Young Leaders as they realized that their dreams of making change are so much more than just dreams and are going to become reality. I am so proud to a part of the Young Leaders in Diabetes programme and am so excited to welcome the crew to the 2015 World Diabetes Congress in Vancouver in 2015.

The 2013 World Diabetes Congress saw close to 12,000 individuals convene in Melbourne from December 1-6. Back in January, the CIM Team submitted five abstracts to the Congress, hoping that maybe one would be selected to share with the rest of the world. We were so thrilled when all five were accepted, and over the moon when Virtue’s presentation was accepted along with a full scholarship to attend the Congress.

Both Virtue and I had presentations accepted as Oral Presentations and, ironically enough, we traveled around the world only to present in the same room, one after another. Virtue’s presentation, Alone/Together: Blogging Diabetes explored the lived experience of people living with diabetes through their online writings. The conclusions of her research question the traditional approach of treating people with diabetes solely on an individual basis.

I had the opportunity to present on The Power of Community: Creating the Diabetes Slipstream. I spoke about the Slipstream Philosophy and Connected in Motion’s role in the development of an Experiential Diabetes Education framework.

We were so thrilled to present to a packed room (in fact, rumour has it that the overflow room was also full!) and to share our passions on an international stage. We were excited to see such excitement around non-clinical, peer-based and alternative diabetes education programming and to hear stories of how similar initiatives are sharing success the world over.

Now, of course we couldn’t have left Australia without taking a little bit of vacation time––and that we did. Now that we are back home and the Office is operating on Eastern Standard Time once again, we are left contemplating – Destination Slipstream, anyone?

Want to check out the presentations?
Virtue’s can be found here, and Jen’s presentation here.