Have you heard?

AMEX is giving up to $5M to fund the ‘best’ idea.

I happen to think that Diabetech’s mission to keep kids with type 1 diabetes safe at school and while away from their parent’s side is the best idea in the world and I’ve entered it as the Sweet Kids Safety Network (a non-profit technology and services network for kids).

In 2001 following my daughter’s diagnosis with type 1 diabetes, I knew we needed a simple and automatic connection to my sweet kid while she’s at school or out and about just being a kid. The result of that need and a lot of hard work and sacrifice is the GlucoMON® wireless glucose meter and real-time remote glucose alerts (not to mention the automatic trending logbook for improving blood sugar control).

Like the description says:

Step 1 - use the GlucoMON

Step 2 - Mom, Dad, school nurse, coach, grandma, etc… get a real-time glucose alert on their cell phone.

So advanced it’s simple.

We need you to go to www.membersproject.com and rate this project with 5 stars NOW since open rating closes in less than 36 hours (June 17)! It’s quick and pain-free (kind of like those new glucose meters… The more ratings and the higher the ratings the better chance this project has of making it past the first cut.

Here’s how it works:

- If you are an American Express Cardmember you can rate projects (each signup causes AMEX to donate $1 to the fund)

- If you are not an AMEX cardmember you can become an AMEX cardholder and then enroll in the Members Project and rate Sweet Kids with 5 stars

- If you know anyone (if you’re reading this I know you do), you can give them the same shot at securing rapid funding for a very deserving project to keep kids with diabetes safe.

Here’s the project description as it’s entered in the very limited space at www.membersproject.com

Project Description
Kids w diabetes at school are at high risk for severe changes in blood sugar levels that often lead to seizures, coma and sometimes death. This in spite of all the efforts to develop better tools for injecting insulin and measuring blood sugar levels. There is a small research system already in operation since 2002 keeping these kids safe. How about coming together on a project to equip every kid with diabetes with a wireless biometric monitoring connection that can help the school nurse and the child’s parents keep track of him/her and intervene before bad things happen? In addition to the health risk, schools are spending an inordinate amount of time trying to be their substitute parent primary caregiver. This solution involves off the shelf wireless technology, off the shelf medical diagnostic glucose meters, and a service component to make it all work seamlessly. Imagine a real-time system for every kid in school used by parents to help nurses and teachers! Industry match $s too

When looking at other project entries, you should be able to tell the difference between a well thought out and viable project vs. a loosely defined concept. Sweet Kids is proposed as the expansion of no less than 5 years of research funded by Diabetech with support from LifeScan, Animas, BellSouth and others in the field of real-time remote glucose monitoring of children with diabetes. Our GlucoMON® wireless glucose meter is the #1 field tested solution for keeping kids safe at school and we have the research to back it up working with several children’s hospitals, endocrinologists and hundreds of families across the USA. When the GlucoMON becomes commercially available - NOT EVERYONE FAMILY WILL BE ABLE TO AFFORD IT. That’s why securing this kind of funding is so important.

Enough said.

Please go to www.membersproject.com, enroll and give project # 01756 five (5) stars without delay and leave a comment of support while you’re at it. After you’ve given Sweet Kids your rating, come back to this blog entry and leave a comment to encourage other readers to follow your lead.

Sincerely - Kevin

Last 5 posts by Kevin

• Release Your Inner Biker & Help Fund the Cure - November 6th, 2008
• Hey MODY's - You've Not Been Forgotten - September 17th, 2008
• Since When Was Diabetes Politically Correct - August 24th, 2008
• Diabetes HouseCall Profiled In Current Issue of Diabetes Self Management Magazine - August 17th, 2008
• 50 Ways To Leave Your Logbook - August 13th, 2008

This entry was posted on Friday, June 15th, 2007 at 11:55 pm and is filed under Fundraisers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.