[IP] First kids pump clinic open in Canada

[Nigel Armstrong <email @ redacted>]

MONTREAL (CP)  The Montreal Children9s Hospital has opened what it says is
Canada9s first stand-alone pediatric insulin pump centre.
The privately funded centre promotes the use of insulin pumps for Type 1
diabetes patients  about 10 per cent of those with diabetes  and provides
support and research data to health-care professionals.
Suzanne Langlais, whose two-year-old son Ian Vilanova uses the pump, said
the device has been liberating for him.
3If he9s not hungry, we can leave him be,2 she said. 3If he wants to sleep
in, I don9t have to wake him (for an insulin shot).2
About 2,000 to 2,500 Quebec kids have Type 1 diabetes, a condition that
stops their bodies from producing the insulin needed to turn carbohydrates
into energy.
The disease can lead to fatigue, weight loss and infections.
Treatment has traditionally meant daily insulin injections and stable
mealtimes. 
The insulin pump reduces the frequency of injections, from as often as four
times a day to once every three or four days.
The battery-operated pump, about the size of a pager, delivers fast-acting
insulin to the patient through a catheter inserted under the skin.
Cory Oringer and his brother, who both have Type 1 diabetes, were the first
two patients at the Children9s to switch to a pump five years ago.
3I won9t ever go back to injections,2 said Cory, 11. 3The pump is easy to
use   just a click of a button.2
Insulin pumps are not a cure or a guarantee of blood-sugar control, clinic
nurse Anne Bossy noted.
.
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