These diabetes patients want government to cover the cost of glucose monitors. Here's why

Sitting in the stands at the Trinity Placentia Arena, Laura Keating watches her daughter take a slapshot on net, then glances at her phone as her daughter skates behind the goalie.

Keating is monitoring her diabetic daughter's glucose levels using an app connected to a continuous glucose monitor that's been inserted into her daughter's arm.

Instead of pricking Clarke's finger a handful of times a day, a device called a Dexcom G6 sends a glucose reading to their electronic devices every five minutes. An alarm goes off if her glucose levels get too high or low.

It has given the Keating family control like they didn't have before, especially when Clarke is playing sports.

"Before I had the Dexcom I would usually have to come off the ice one time every single practice so I could poke my finger to see what my sugars were," said Clarke. "I can't really imagine myself living without the Dexcom. It has helped me a lot."

With Clarke on the ice so frequently, said Keating, her levels can get dangerously low. Having juice nearby when her levels drop keeps Clarke safely in the game. 

The Dexcom is a device Keating is not willing to part with even though it's been challenging to afford.

The provincial government does not pay for continuous glucose monitors, and Keating doesn't have any private insurance.

On top of the other costs associated with her daughter's diabetes, Keating said, it's a struggle to pay the $300 a month for the device.

"It's hard, it's really hard," said Keating. "We do collect some recycling and that helps a little bit."

For Krista Stephens the device was also life-changing — but the benefits were short-lived. 

Her doctor put her on a new insulin pump and wanted her to use a continuous glucose monitor. However, it was a temporary device and Stephen doesn't have private insurance so she's no longer able to use it.

Stephens is blind in one eye due to complications from diabetes and was at risk of losing vision in the other before she had access to a drug that saved the rest of her vision.

"I can't erase any of the damage that has been done but I can prevent new complications from developing and I can slow down the progressions of the complications that I already have and the best way to do that is to see what my numbers are all the time," she said.