TELUS Diabetes "Balance" Campaign brings insulin pumps to kids in need

New insulin pump campaign builds on TELUS' commitment toward finding a cure for type 1 diabetes

VANCOUVER, Nov. 16 /CNW/ - TELUS today announced the launch of a new campaign to help raise $200,000 to purchase insulin pumps for children across Canada. The TELUS Diabetes 'Balance' Campaign officially kicked off Sunday to mark World Diabetes Day 2010.

Insulin pumps cost approximately $7,000 each and are not always covered by provincial or private health plans, which make them unattainable for many families. TELUS wants to help.

Children living with type 1 diabetes need to constantly balance their insulin and sugar levels to avoid the risk of developing devastating complications, which may include kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, amputations, heart disease and stroke. Through a new interactive TELUS website, the TELUS Diabetes 'Balance' Campaign will give Canadians the opportunity to test how well they can "balance" and help us give insulin pumps to kids who need them. For each participant who plays the online balancing game, $1 goes toward the purchase of a new insulin pump. If you forward the link, an additional dollar goes toward the cause.

Visit www.telus.com/balance to participate.

"At TELUS, we are passionate about helping to find a cure for type 1 diabetes. We believe a cure can, and will, be found within our lifetime," said Joe Natale, TELUS Chief Commercial Officer and honourary TELUS Walk to Cure Diabetes Chair. "An insulin pump provides freedom from multiple daily injections and provides the ability to quickly and easily adjust insulin levels based on your body's immediate needs. With the TELUS Diabetes 'Balance' Campaign, we can get more of these life-altering devices into the hands of children who need them."

TELUS has partnered with six children's hospitals:  BC Children's Hospital in Vancouver, Calgary's Alberta Children's Hospital, Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton, The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Sainte-Justine University Hospital Centre located in Montreal and the IWK Health Centre in Nova Scotia. In provinces such as Ontario, which already provides patients with insulin pumps, TELUS will fund alternative devices/technologies, such as continuous glucose monitors, to help patients and caregivers manage childhood diabetes. Through corporate support and team member fundraising, TELUS has already given more than $4.8 million to support critical research to find a cure for type 1 diabetes. The TELUS Diabetes 'Balance' Campaign will help bring awareness to the forefront and help these kids manage their diabetes as best as possible.

A child living with type 1 diabetes requires approximately 1,460 needles a year (based on four insulin injections per day) and 2,190 finger pokes a year to test blood sugar levels. Insulin pump technology mimics the insulin delivery of a healthy pancreas. An insulin pump is composed of a reservoir that holds insulin, tubing and infusion set, a battery-operated pump, and computer technology that allows the user to control the exact amount of insulin being delivered. The pump is used for continuous insulin delivery, 24 hours a day, as well as for balancing food intake during meals and snacks. The amount of insulin administered is determined by a number of factors including exercise, food intake, and a person's individual body requirements. The insulin pump replaces the need for daily injections and helps to balance insulin and blood glucose levels.

TELUS Health Solutions is also developing innovative applications to improve the quality of life for people living with type 1 diabetes. TELUS Health Solutions recently launched Canada's first consumer eHealth service, TELUS health space, which empowers people with secure and confidential tools to collect, store, track and share their personal health information. This service gives those with type 1 diabetes access to a broad range of online health tools, such as a personal health record and monitoring devices, for wellness and disease prevention and management. We are also building innovative and fun applications for TELUS health space that will help kids to better understand and manage their condition thereby reducing the risk of serious complications and perhaps more importantly, improving their quality of life so they can focus on enjoying the many wonders of childhood.

About TELUS Health Solutions
TELUS Health Solutions is a leader in telehealth, electronic health records, remote patient monitoring, mobile home and community care, consumer health, benefits management and pharmacy management. Our solutions give health authorities, providers, primary care physicians, patients and consumers the power to enhance decision making and improve outcomes for Canadians. TELUS Health Solutions is transforming how information is used across the continuum of care from hospital to home with solutions that foster collaboration, drive prevention and empower care teams and patients. TELUS Health Solutions is Canada's leading Healthcare IT Company as cited by the Branham Group for the last three years and has also been honoured as the ITAC Health Company of the Year (2008) and Health Transformation Company of the Year (2009). For more information about TELUS Health Solutions, please visit www.telushealth.com and www.telushealthspace.com.

About TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $9.7 billion of annual revenue and 12.1 million customer connections including 6.9 million wireless subscribers, 3.8 million wireline network access lines and 1.2 million Internet subscribers and 266,000 TELUS TV customers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle, TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, entertainment and video.

In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed $185 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered 3.5 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Nine TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead TELUS' local philanthropic initiatives. TELUS was honoured to be named the most outstanding philanthropic corporation globally for 2010 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, becoming the first Canadian company to receive this prestigious international recognition.

For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com.

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Chris Gerritsen
TELUS Media Relations
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