A free programme to deliver critical medical supplies to diabetics during the Covid-19 lockdown “gives people a sense of hope”, the chairwoman of the Bermuda Diabetes Association said yesterday.Debbie Jones admitted: “It makes you want to cry, how grateful people are that people care about them and want to do things for other people.“It gives people a sense of hope in a difficult situation.”The scheme was launched last Wednesday by members of the Ignite Bermuda business accelerator programme and will continue this week. Ms Jones said: “We are so grateful to them. It is making such a difference.”Deliveries, including supplies of insulin in ice packs, and in some cases blood pressure, asthma, cholesterol or cancer treatment medicines, are being made to the most vulnerable diabetes patients. Ms Jones said: “They are older people living alone who may not have a lot of family members around or are disadvantaged financially.”She added: “All the patients they have delivered medicine to say how nice it is, how nice they are, and how much they appreciate having their medicine delivered.”Fifteen deliveries were made last Friday alone.Ms Jones said that many of the diabetes association’s patients relied on public transport to get around, which made the delivery service even more valuable.T.J. Clark, the co-owner of electric car rental business Rugged Rentals and a member of Ignite Bermuda, is doubling up as a delivery driver for the programme.Mr Clark said: “They are so appreciative, especially patients at either end of the island.”Ms Jones said the diabetes association was operating an “al fresco pharmacy” at its Hamilton headquarters, with window service for people who wanted to pick up their medicine. She added that the pharmacy provided low-cost medicines and, if someone was uninsured or underinsured, the supplies were free of charge.Ignite said it wanted to use technology employed by delivery service Sargasso Sea as well as Ignite resources to deliver medicines and supplies “to those most in need such as care homes and the elderly”.The project, which Ignite said was in its early stages, was given initial funding from the Bank of Bermuda Foundation.