More than three million people in Canada, and about 200,000 in Alberta, live with diabetes. Of those, about 10 percent are living with type 1 diabetes. It is a disease in which the pancreas does not produce insulin.
On Saturday, at the annual Kids n' Us: Families Facing Diabetes Conference, the government made an announcement regarding a promise Premier Redford made during her election campaign.
Last spring, Redford promised more support for Albertans living with type 1 diabetes, in the form of a provincial insulin pump program. On Saturday, PC MLA David Dorward announced that the program will be rolling out in the spring of 2013. It will provide funding for insulin pumps and supplies for Albertans living with type 1 diabetes.
"They will first need to exhaust all other funding sources that they have already with the government," Dorward said adding, "And then this will top up that, so they don't have any expense."
Jim Casey, a board member with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has long been an advocate for a pump program in Alberta, as many other provinces already have programs in place.
"For many Albertans, they simply could not afford these pumps even though they were being recommended by their physicians," Casey said adding, "These pumps are very, very expensive. They're about $5,000 to $7,000, and annual supplies are $2,000 to $3,000, at least."
For those who live with type 1 diabetes, the announcement brings hope. Grade 11 student Austen McDonald was diagnosed with the disease two years ago.
"It was hard to deal with because, I wanted to be a pilot and at that moment I realized I can't really join the air force, I can't really fly anymore."
Has learned to live with it but, says it isn't easy constantly having to worry about his blood sugar level, especially because, as a rugby player, he's very physically active.
"Right now I'm taking about two to three injections per day, because I am so active. I test about four to six times per day and I do work out daily," McDonald explained.
People applying for the program will need to fit a certain criteria, which has not yet been set.
"First we'll look at the primary care providers to take their advice and wisdom on that, and over time we'll develop a more stringent set of criteria, probably, to make sure we're not going with a subjective analysis," said Dorward.
The program could prove to be life changing for McDonald, who plans to take advantage of it in the future.
"Down the line definitely, when I retire from rugby I will be looking into getting a pump," said McDonald.
The estimated annual cost of the program is $10 million. The Canadian Diabetes Association has said the insulin pump program will save the health care system roughly $10 million dollars every year, by 2032.
With files from Slav Kornik.
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2012.