You can make a difference this holiday season! Help diabetics manage their health with new technology.

Did you know 23.6 million children and adults in the United States—7.8 percent of the population—have diabetes? Diabetic adults have a doubled risk of heart disease and stroke. Yet, diabetes is a condition that can be treated and cured!

You can make a difference this holiday season!

Mary is a 64 year old woman whose diabetes has changed with age. She used to check her blood sugar multiple times each day and adjust her insulin accordingly. This was inconvenient and ineffective for Mary as her disease progressed. Now, Mary will be able to use a short term continuous blood glucose monitoring system which will track her blood sugar and allow more effective insulin management. Mary’s blood sugar will be better maintained as she avoids further complications like peripheral vascular disease leading to heart disease and stroke.

Dr. Dan Cecil says, “Mary has improved her condition through careful monitoring. With the new iPro technology, we can view a 72 hour snapshot of her blood glucose and track levels over that timeframe. This will enable us to offer her an individualized diagnosis and discover the optimal treatment plan for her condition.”

Fundraising efforts for Brookings Health System Foundation this year are focused on improving our diabetes treatment program. For patients like Mary, this includes use of the iPro CGM, a system that allows each patient to have 72 hour blood glucose monitoring. First, the iPro is fitted to the patient through a virtually painless attachment to the body. The iPro is worn for three days, and during that period, closely monitors blood glucose levels and “remembers” them. Once evaluation is complete, patients return to their physician, the iPro is removed, and it is attached to computer software to read the device’s patient data. When analysis is complete, the provider can generate a personalized report that helps provider and patient work together to create a unique therapy program. Individual care, unique to each patient’s lifestyle and schedule, is made available though iPro CGM technology.

Brookings Health System is pleased to be the one of the first health systems in the Brookings region to offer this diabetes treatment program. We are proud to say this is the kind of care Brookings Health System is about. We are dedicated to delivering the very best care for each and every patient.

Diabetes is a well-known factor in health complications, including eye disease, kidney disease and nerve disease. Worst of all, adults with diabetes have stroke and heart disease death rates between two and four times higher than adults without diabetes.

Please consider a gift to Brookings Health System Foundation and help us give back to our community in a meaningful way. We currently have one iPro glucose monitoring system and we are looking to purchase two more monitors and supplies, at a total cost of $6,000. This will enable us to serve over 200 additional diabetes patients annually.

Bev Cotton, RN, sums it up as she looks forward to the new iPro CGM program, “Dr. Cecil and his team will be able to serve many more diabetes patients than in the past, and provide superior care, thanks to the specialized monitoring and care assessment unique to each patient. We have Brookings Health System to thank for offering this innovative program for diabetes management.”

In this holiday season, please join us by giving a gift that will benefit our community for years to come. Your generosity will touch thousands of lives in our community—your friends, neighbors and those you pass on the street.

For more information, please contact Kandace T. Hartneck, Esq., Brookings Health System Foundation Officer, at (605) 696-8855.

Best wishes to you and yours for a safe and happy holiday season!