KIT
MY DIABETES KIT
VINCE COPE
Originally Vince Cope
trained at a teacher,
specialising in sports,
and then joined Police
Service in December
1996. Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes
in 2009, Cope subsequently completed
Snowdonia Marathon in October 2014.
Working in front-line policing, Cope
was the first police officer in his force to
be able to go to work wearing an insulin
pump. The pump, an Accu-Chek Combo,
had to be assessed for its suitability and
safety both for himself and for others in
his role with the police. Having passed the
evaluation, he has worn his insulin pump
on the job ever since.
He says, "It has been much easier
to handle my diabetes at work using my
pump rather than having to take multiple
daily injections. It's a lot less hassle when
you're in uniform. The remote on the
Accu-Chek Combo means I can jut take
it out of my pocket and deliver the dose.
No one needs to know. There are no
needles and having to stop to find a site to
inject into. It's given me more confidence
to work out of the office and on the front
line - I don't even have to remember to
have an insulin pen with me and I can
control the basal easily if things don't go
to plan and I am out for more time than I
expected."
It's a lot less fuss for the people who
work with him too. "It's been easier for
my colleagues to understand," he says,
"and they are genuinely interested in the
technology."
It was when he was on a trial for the
new Accu-Chek Insight pump that Vince
undertook the Snowdonia Marathon -
a 26.2-mile race that includes running
across three mountains in the scenic
National Park in north Wales. He looks
back on this adventure and says, "This
is an endurance sport for which I had to
undergo rigorous training, including high
impact training (HIT) and long-distance
running. I particularly enjoyed the easy
navigation of the Accu-Chek Insight insulin
pump, along with the availability of dataon-screen
I felt I had much greater control
of my diabetes without the fear of sudden
hypos. I think that the pump was a crucial
asset in a solo run of this kind."
In addition while training for the
marathon Vince had access to some
Dexcom CGM sensors which he wore in
order to better understand how his body
was reacting to his increased activity. "I
thought they were great - it's even more
information which can be really useful to
see patterns. They had a separate receiver
to the pump, so it was a bit of extra kit
to carry around, but the hospital used to
download the data and we all looked at
the results to figure out what changes we
could make."
As well as continuing with his day job,
and training at the gym regularly, Cope
now helps run an online forum for fellow
police officers who have diabetes, as well
as training other police in skills, such as
self-defense.
www.accu-chek.co.uk/insightr
www.dexcom