Scattershooting a little bit as we try to cover all the good stuff, all the REALLY good stuff, and all the other stuff you should be up to speed on. Where to begin?
Children with Diabetes, the UK Edition
With Weston's coordination, a group of six incredible volunteers presented Nightscout, xDrip, and all things CGM in the Cloud as part of the Children with Diabetes Friends for Life UK conference. A packed room and a real focus on the xDrip side as Share isn't available made for some incredible presentations and Wes even managed to get most of it on film! For the full details, check out this write-up from Kev Winchcombe's Circles of Blue blog. If you want to watch, you can find part one here, and part two here. (Those videos DO require you're part of the CGM in the Cloud Facebook group.)
Thank you, thank you, thank you to ALL the volunteers that gave up their weekends at the various CWD conferences this year. From Florida to Anaheim to Toronto to Windsor, it was incredible seeing and hearing the stories of how Nightscout and all its permutations are changing lives for the better, today.
We Are Not Waiting, and Neither are They
This month, I had the pleasure of attending the #makehealth conference put on by Dr. Joyce Lee and her team at the University of Michigan. On Sunday, I got to witness first hand the incredible impact the maker movement is having on healthcare, above and beyond the Nightscout component. Projects focusing on mobility and communication really struck me, and every single one was presented by a maker that just wanted to make things better, not just make a profit. Look for the Diabeticons app in a mobile app store near you soon!
On Monday, I was joined by Weston and Ken Stack of Perceptus.org to present our part of the greater Nightscout story and then discuss the good the bad and the ugly with a broader panel of professionals including Jose Gomez-Marquez from the MIT Little Devices Lab and Nate Heintzman of Dexcom. There is so much energy in this space, it's one of the few places in healthcare that doesn't make me frustrated, but inspires me to push and see what other folks are up to.
Our involvement was part of the #makehealth movement in general, but was also proceeded by the announcement that Dr. Lee's team and The Nightscout Foundation had been selected for a Patient Centered Outcome Research Institute contract for the next two years. We'll be looking to explore how makers, social media, and the #WeAreNotWaiting movement have impacted individual results to date, as well as what more we can do to learn from the community that arisen around Nightscout. For more color around our #makehealth trip, check out the Twitter stream here.
No, I Don't Get to Meet Nick Jonas
In other exciting news, the Nightscout Foundation was selected as one of a short list of grantees by Beyond Type 1. If you don't know, BT1, you should:
"Our goal is to highlight the brilliance of those fighting this disease every day while always working toward ensuring a cure is on its way."
BT1 is aiming to raise $1 million dollars during Diabetes Awareness Month, and they'll then distribute those funds out to the grantees selected. How much that means to the Foundation, I'm not sure, but we submitted a project plan, and I look forward to implementing it with BT1's help
It's Time to Sign up for the Foundation Newsletter
Last month we tested out the communication available via the Nightcout Foundation newsletter to let people know of an important MongoLab update. In 2016, you'll see us use it as a monthly update, in many ways echoing this blog, but also bringing some things directly to our subscribers that might not be available elsewhere. Trust me, you want to be on that mailing list.... Sign up today by filling in the form here.
Thanks for reading to the bottom. Thanks for your constant support of the broader Nightscout community and of the Foundation.
We are always looking for what's next. Do you have a project that needs some support? Do you need computing or financial resources to change the T1 world today? Let me know. We are looking for ways to impact the broader community, and we'd love to help.
JW