The second half of Day 2 in the afternoon, that was following on from Google (a hard act to follow!) was spent at the stunning setting of Airfield, which was a farm come country garden come conference venue. We kicked off this portion of the event with a beautiful 'farm to table' style meal that tasted amazing. But even better was the company, because it's so liberating to sit down and eat a meal with other people with diabetes who are testing and treating diabetes and counting carbs.
We then took a guided tour around the apothecary garden, seeing, touching and smelling the wide range of herbs, flowers, fruit and vegetables. The garden was so full of life, not just herbal but there was a real buzz around the bee hives, there were cows mooing in the distant field and chickens in their cute little coops. The garden was also full of innovation in the way that it collected and used rain water too, which would explain why the garden was still in bloom despite the hosepipe ban on in Ireland.
When the sun felt at its fullest we then headed indoors for an afternoon of truly inspirational talks and workshops, starting off with the wonderful Tiernan Brady who was instrumental in bringing marriage equality to Ireland. Tiernan spoke about the importance of taking the time to understand others' perspectives and the key differences between political campaigns and social ones to bring about social change, which was a shared goal, or desire amongst all participants and matched the kaleidoscope theme of the weekend. This was followed by a workshop which gave participants the opportunity to speak and share about the advocacy work being done in their home countries.
Irish blogger and wonderful host Grainne told us about her tireless efforts to firstly bring Libre to Ireland whilst working with others with the condition. Then her current work on having the age availability of Libre extended past 21 years old, so that adults might also benefit. We then received a greatly informative talk from Laura Brander from Abbott who heads up the connectivity and digital health departments, whereby we were able to hear more about 3 of the apps that Abbott offers that can make your phone into a Libre scanner (Libre Link), allow you to share your flash results/ alerts with loved ones (Libre LinkUp) and then an app to enable uploads to be viewed by your healthcare professional (Libre View). We used the Libre View app during the EXTOD trial following the Swansea Half marathon so that runners could remotely load their CGM data for the weeks pre and post event and it was really easy to use.
It was then a quick trip back to the hotel to change, before heading to one of Dublin's best restaurants, the fabulous 'Bang' to chat, relax and soak up the city's vibrant atmosphere before preparing for the next and final day. Despite the many languages spoken, we all speak the language of diabetes and it was fascinating to hear about management, access and support in participants' respective countries.
Whilst all views and opinions expressed in my blog are my own, I was kindly sponsored by Abbott to attend dXDublin.
We then took a guided tour around the apothecary garden, seeing, touching and smelling the wide range of herbs, flowers, fruit and vegetables. The garden was so full of life, not just herbal but there was a real buzz around the bee hives, there were cows mooing in the distant field and chickens in their cute little coops. The garden was also full of innovation in the way that it collected and used rain water too, which would explain why the garden was still in bloom despite the hosepipe ban on in Ireland.
When the sun felt at its fullest we then headed indoors for an afternoon of truly inspirational talks and workshops, starting off with the wonderful Tiernan Brady who was instrumental in bringing marriage equality to Ireland. Tiernan spoke about the importance of taking the time to understand others' perspectives and the key differences between political campaigns and social ones to bring about social change, which was a shared goal, or desire amongst all participants and matched the kaleidoscope theme of the weekend. This was followed by a workshop which gave participants the opportunity to speak and share about the advocacy work being done in their home countries.
Irish blogger and wonderful host Grainne told us about her tireless efforts to firstly bring Libre to Ireland whilst working with others with the condition. Then her current work on having the age availability of Libre extended past 21 years old, so that adults might also benefit. We then received a greatly informative talk from Laura Brander from Abbott who heads up the connectivity and digital health departments, whereby we were able to hear more about 3 of the apps that Abbott offers that can make your phone into a Libre scanner (Libre Link), allow you to share your flash results/ alerts with loved ones (Libre LinkUp) and then an app to enable uploads to be viewed by your healthcare professional (Libre View). We used the Libre View app during the EXTOD trial following the Swansea Half marathon so that runners could remotely load their CGM data for the weeks pre and post event and it was really easy to use.
It was then a quick trip back to the hotel to change, before heading to one of Dublin's best restaurants, the fabulous 'Bang' to chat, relax and soak up the city's vibrant atmosphere before preparing for the next and final day. Despite the many languages spoken, we all speak the language of diabetes and it was fascinating to hear about management, access and support in participants' respective countries.
Whilst all views and opinions expressed in my blog are my own, I was kindly sponsored by Abbott to attend dXDublin.
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