As per my previous blogpost on the LibreLink, I was lucky to be invited to the third dX2Sydney event. It was a busy couple of days and I went away feeling utterly exhausted but rested. Disclaimer applies that Abbott Diabetes Care paid for my accommodation and meals for the dX2Sydney2018 event and provided us with a Freestyle Libre sensor to trial their app. I was not asked nor am I being paid to write about the event or the LibreLink.
dX2Sydney had a star studded line up of speakers and a busy program that included:
- Sydney based endo, Professor Stephen Twigg, who spoke to us around how he’s using the Freestyle Libre in his clinics and research.
- Diabetes Australia CEO, Professor Greg Johnson, who spoke about the work of Diabetes Australia and the behind the scenes work going on to get CGM and Freestyle Libre subsidies in Australia.
- Senior Director of Digital Platforms at Abbott Diabetes Care, Joel Goldsmith, who spoke to us via Skype in his son’s bedroom in the US on the history, development and future plans of the LibreLink app.
- CEO of the National Association Diabetes Centres, Natalie Wischer, who discussed how technology is changing the way healthcare professionals need to engage with people with diabetes and what’s happening in the HCP world around tech uptake.
- Fellow diabetes blogger and tech-head, David Burren aka Bionic Wookie, who gave us a run down of all things diabetes tech.
- Fellow diabetes advocate, Kim Henshaw, who passionately shared the work she’s doing over at Diabetes Victoria with her team around consumer engagement.
- CEO of The Copy Collective, Dominique Antarakis, who facilitated a workshop on helping us to reflect on our writing styles and why we started blogging.
As you can see it was a busy schedule to fit into a day and a half. Often, what I find the most valuable from these events are not the lectures or presentations we receive but the discussions that develop from them. I find it refreshing to hear different perspectives from old friends and new ones. It reminds me that the diabetes experience is truly unique for each person. Everyone has their own reasons to get into diabetes blogging or advocacy and everyone has their own goals to achieve.
Events like these keep me grounded and connected with my ‘big picture’ in life. It reminds me that individually we are making little differences and together, we can drive change within the diabetes community. I cannot thank companies like Abbott Diabetes Care who provide us with such opportunities and I hope that more industry companies will want to include people with diabetes in their conversations.
HangryPancreas 