A plan to convert a public park into an interactive gaming center to address a county’s soaring diabetes problem led to the development of a blood glucose tracking system, one of five proposals under consideration for the Sanofi US Data Design Diabetes Innovation Challenge.

Jim Stritzinger began his company EnduringFX in January to tackle Richland County, South Carolina’s poor health record. Diabetes cost the county $4 billion in emergency room visits, much of it from the 29203 zip code, according to stats from the29203 Community Empowerment Coalition to Prevent Diabetes and Diabetes Complications. His company is in the process of implementing digital interactive tools that can make Columbia, South Carolina’s Riverfront Park and Drew Wellness Center social gaming forums with the goal of making people feel engaged in playing a game as much as they are improving their health.

The idea that led to the company’s participation in the innovation challenge came from Stritzinger’s friend and business collaborator. Urban design architect Michael Frederick, who has type 1 diabetes, noticed in his cycling workouts that whenever he hit a hill going up a bridge that his heart rate would fall instead of increase and would be followed by the onset of a low blood glucose level. After a while, he picked up on the correlation. That set in motion the development of a feedback system using heart rate to improve blood glucose control.

You can read the rest here... as well as watch a video about the interactive system.

And here is information on the Innovation Challenge.

So what do you think about this concept of interactive park design to help engage you and your friends with exercising and managing one's diabetes better?