Verizon Supports Diabetes Project with Contribution

Verizon today (Jan. 25) presented the F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) a gift to help fund the Verizon Foundation Children's Diabetes Monitoring Program for residents of rural West Texas counties.

In the pediatric population, Type 1 diabetes is increasing at a rate of 3 to 5 percent each year. Type 2 diabetes now accounts for nearly half of pediatric diabetes diagnosed in some areas of the state. Billy Philips, Ph.D., executive vice president and director of the F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health, said this program will use remote monitoring and telemedicine to care for children who require ongoing review and treatment for diabetes management.

“This program will help pediatric patients with diabetes have more frequent interaction using familiar technology to talk with their physician, which in turn will help them maintain their blood sugar levels and have better health outcomes,” Philips said. “We are pleased to partner with Verizon on this project that is helping bring technology and health care to rural areas.”

The project will follow two groups of diabetic patients. One group of Type 1 diabetic pediatric patients will be selected to receive a Bluetooth device to connect to their glucometer, a device that measures blood sugar levels, and a video enabled tablet computer to report their blood sugar levels daily. In addition, they will log their food intake and insulin dosage. This data will be uploaded and monitored by a nurse who will trend the results to determine changes in conditions and schedule video conferences with the patient and physician as needed to discuss treatment plans and make necessary modifications.

The second group of pediatric Type 1 diabetes patients will be asked to log their food intake and insulin dosage. They will receive the normal follow-ups or standard care treatment. Except for emergent issues, they will see their physician two times per year.

Debbie Voyles, director of telemedicine at TTUHSC, said adding the telemedicine technology for the patients allows evaluation that is likely to lead to improvements in monitoring this disease and forestalling problems that arise when it is controlled. This will allow real prevention to become a part of health care rendered to these patients.

“Telemedicine has been used for helping other patients such as burn patients with their care,” Voyles said. “This is another way we can use this technology to help improve health care for pediatric diabetic patients. Monitoring glucose control will decrease the chance of adverse events, emergency room visits, and lower the possibility of organ damage. Patient and physician video conferencing also will greatly reduce travel expenses and decrease school absences.”

Information gathered from both control groups will be compared to determine if closely monitoring blood sugar levels and better access to health education and physician services through telemedicine technology will make a difference in disease outcomes in pediatric diabetes patients. This program supports Verizon Foundation's mission to utilize technology to monitor patients with chronic diseases and improve health care in underserved, remote populations.

For more breaking news and experts, follow @ttuhscnews on Twitter.