PHOTO: A number of Aboriginal Coonamble residents with diabetes will soon be selected to be part of a national study involving a trial for new technology which eliminates the need to prick your finger to measure blood glucose levels.
The Coonamble community will soon be included in a nationwide study involving a trial for a new technology being used to treat Australians with type 2 diabetes who rely on injectible medication.
The study is being run out of Melbourne University and involves Ray Kelly, who has been working with the Coonamble Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS) to deliver the highly successful Too Deadly for Diabetes program in our community.
“The study is for Aboriginal people with diabetes who require injections,” Mr Kelly said. “A Flash continuous glucose monitor sits on their skin and they can wave a smartphone over it to see how different foods affect their blood glucose.”
“People can see the effect of food and exercise on their blood sugars in real time so it makes a big impact when they can eat something and then see how their bodies react,” he said.
Chief investigator for the study is Associate Professor Elif Ekinci, an endocrinologist and clinical researcher who is also Director of Diabetes at Austin Health, a centre affiliated with the University of Melbourne.
They aim to recruit around 380 people across Australia.
“I’d expect at least twenty to thirty people from Coonamble could be involved,” Mr Kelly said.
Flash glucose monitoring (Flash GM) uses wearable sensor technology to help measure your glucose levels without pricking your finger.
Because Flash GM continually measures glucose levels throughout the day and night, it can give much more information than traditional finger prick blood glucose monitoring.
Participants with diabetes can check changes resulting from food, exercise, medication and illness and use the information to help manage their condition.
Ray Kelly has been working in Coonamble since October 2020 and says the research is part of what he’s doing to help find the right way forward for diabetes among Aboriginal people and those living in remote communities.
“The staff at the AMS here are committed to getting positive outcomes,” Mr Kelly said.
“The Coonamble AMS was keen to be involved and it was a no-brainer for me. It’s an exciting study.”
His partnership with the local AMS has already seen some local residents ditch their diabetes medication and, as a whole, participants in his Too Deadly for Diabetes healthy lifestyle program are closing in on a total combined weight loss of an enormous 1.7 tonnes.
“That’s two Christmases and through COVID lockdowns,” Mr Kelly said. “Even without that, it’s an exceptional result.”
“It is designed for success – so even if someone is half interested they can get results.”
There are around 40 people in the current 10-week program, which is the sixth to be run in the past sixteen months.
Altogether, a total of 186 Coonamble people have been registered participants so far and Mr Kelly is contracted with the AMS until the middle of 2022.
“We’ve found the ripple effect within communities works really quickly,” Mr Kelly said. “When we started the program and people were getting results pretty quickly they started sharing what they’d learned with their families.”