Taking CGM education, awareness and hope across Australia 

HISTORICAL SUMMARY  |  APRIL-MAY 2017 

Families and community members attending a DANII Foundation CGM information session during the 2017 National Roadshow. © DANII Foundation. 

DANII Foundation historical record
This page is DANII Foundation’s own account of its 2017 National CGM Information Roadshow. It replaces previously republished media coverage and uses photographs from the DANII Foundation collection.

April 2017 – a new chapter for CGM access 

April 2017 marked an extraordinary chapter in the DANII Foundation story. After years of campaigning for greater access to Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) technology, the Australian Government’s CGM initiative commenced on 1 April 2017, providing subsidised access through the National Diabetes Services Scheme for eligible children and young people under 21 living with Type 1 diabetes. 

For DANII, however, achieving access to the technology was only part of the journey. Families needed to know that CGM was available. They needed to understand what the technology could do, whether they were eligible and how they could access it. So DANII took the message on the road. 

17 locations. One national mission. 

During April and May 2017, the DANII Foundation embarked on a national CGM education and awareness roadshow, travelling to 17 locations across Australia. 

Beginning in Hobart on 10 April, the roadshow continued through Geelong, Melbourne, Ballarat, Sydney, Wollongong, Canberra, Newcastle, Coffs Harbour, Western Sydney, Townsville, Cairns, Adelaide, Perth, Maroochydore and Brisbane before concluding on the Gold Coast on 20 May. 

At every stop, the purpose was simple: help people living with Type 1 diabetes and their families understand the technology that could help make their lives safer. 

DANII Foundation National CGM Information Roadshow – 10 April 2017. © DANII Foundation. 

DANII brought together families, carers, people living with Type 1 diabetes, healthcare professionals and members of the diabetes community. The sessions created an opportunity to learn about CGM technology, see how it worked and better understand the newly introduced subsidised access arrangements. 

Why this mattered so deeply to DANII 

The roadshow was never simply an information campaign. DANII Foundation was established following the loss of our beautiful daughter, Daniella Meads-Barlow, who died in her sleep in 2011 aged just 17 following severe nocturnal hypoglycaemia. 

After losing Danii, we learned about technology capable of continuously monitoring glucose levels and providing alerts when glucose levels were moving outside safe ranges. That knowledge changed the direction of our lives. 

We could not change what had happened to Danii, but we could fight to help other families know about and gain access to technology that could help them manage Type 1 diabetes. That became one of DANII’s defining missions. 

A DANII Foundation CGM education session during the National Roadshow. © DANII Foundation. 

From advocacy to action 

The commencement of the CGM initiative on 1 April 2017 was enormously significant to Brian, me and everyone who had stood beside DANII. The Australian Government initially expected the $54 million program to provide access to approximately 4,000 eligible young Australians. 

But we knew an announcement alone was not enough. We wanted families around Australia to hear about CGM, ask questions, meet others using the technology and understand how the new program could help them. 

The DANII National CGM Roadshow was our way of turning years of advocacy into practical community education. 

Taking DANII’s message around Australia 

From Tasmania to Queensland, from capital cities to regional communities, we met remarkable families and heard their stories. Some already knew about CGM. For others, it was their first opportunity to properly understand what continuous glucose monitoring could mean for managing Type 1 diabetes. 

For parents in particular, the ability of CGM systems to provide information about glucose levels and alerts when levels move outside set ranges represented something incredibly important: greater awareness, greater confidence and another tool to help manage Type 1 diabetes day and night. 

For Brian and me, every family we met reinforced why DANII existed. Every kilometre travelled, every presentation and every conversation carried Danii’s legacy with us. 

 The DANII Foundation community coming together around CGM education and awareness. © DANII Foundation. 

DANII’s Gift – continuing the journey 

We called the 2017 breakthrough “DANII’s Gift” because it represented something positive created from an unimaginable loss. The National Roadshow became an important part of that gift. 

It connected people with information. It raised awareness. It helped families understand the newly funded technology. And it ensured that DANII continued doing what we had promised from the beginning – fighting for greater awareness, education and access to diabetes technology. 

The 2017 initiative was not the end of that journey. It was an important beginning. DANII continued advocating for broader access to CGM technology in the years that followed, carrying forward the belief that access to diabetes technology should not simply depend upon a family’s ability to afford it.