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HEBER — People use apps on their smartphones to track their food, their steps and medication. Now diabetics have turned to their smartphones to help them manage the disease with specific apps.
Gabi Zelaya, 16, shouts out "216" from her phone to her friends. It's not the time, but her glucose number. She uses an app on her phone to monitor her diabetes and make any necessary adjustments. "I just gave myself insulin, so it will go down soon," she told her friends.
Diagnosed at age seven, Gabi Zelaya has leaned on her friends and especially her family to keep life as normal as possible. Her dad, Guillermo Zelaya said, "It's just having a constant fear day and night to make sure they're OK and they're safe. It's hard for them, especially because I'm very protective."
In fact, Gabi Zelaya's dad has gone to many school outings. "I'm kind of her shadow," said Guillermo Zelaya.
But a new app called Dexcom that sends Guillermo Zelaya notifications has changed that. Guillermo Zelaya said, "It tells me at 70 when she's going down and 55 that's urgent; you need to do something right away."
"It's made it a lot easier for me to go to my friend's houses without my dad texting me,'Hey, check your blood sugar,' because he can see already where I am."
Gabi Zelaya has a patch on her stomach that checks her blood sugar constantly and then sends the information to both her phone and her dad's.
Diabetes educators definitely see many advantages to using glucose monitoring apps. Ben Peay, R.N. Intermountain Healthcare Certified Diabetes Educator said, "It gives them a little bit more freedom and helps them do what they need to learn to take care of themselves."
Twice a day, Gabi Zelaya calibrates the app so it's receiving accurate levels. Gabi Zelaya's motivation to keep her diabetes in check is not just her health, but her driver's license. She has to keep her numbers in check to get a doctor's note to drive.
"Ever since I was little, I was told diabetes won't hold you back from anything, " said Gabi Zelaya, "It was important to get my driver's license to prove that diabetes doesn't hold you back."
