We believe in empowering people by knowledge sharing

KERRY people turned out in force last night, 41 in total, in fact we had a waiting list to attend our new-style round-table talks (type 2), sponsored by NOVARTIS. One Killorglin lady commented,

‘It was great to have a chance to meet others and I got some good tips from the kind of comments that other attendees made as well as the advice from the experts”.

A Tralee man said ‘I never realised how important the eye screening is, it gave me a fright to listen to what could happen, but I am going to go for regular eye screening and I now know how important it is” .

DROGHEDA & GALWAY The turnout was not as high as we would have liked, (in the 20’s at each).  The Drogheda Type 1 community were interested in learning more about insulin pumps, foot health, eye screens and glucose levels while driving. In Galway, two attendees came away with strengthened resolve saying

‘I will measure blood sugar levels in the morning’ and another saying ‘ I will work towards lower readings’.

Overall, these Novartis sponsored events were a tremendous success for those who attended and I am sure the word will spread. Watch this space for more of the same. Thanks to all of our speakers and Novartis and our own team of dietitians and nurses.

CODE workshops

According to our Dietitian, Sinead, the winning CODE attendees this week are from DUNDALK. Dundalk blazed the trail with full attendance right up to week 3 and the feedback reflected how much attendees put into the course and got from the course;

‘I’ve learned so much about my Diabetes and now am not so worried’     ‘It was great I now know what to expect from my GP’     Thanks so much for presenting all we need to know in such a non-judgemental way’          I’ve really enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone.

In DUBLIN, it is was inspiring to see a week 2 group transition to greater confidence about glucose numbers, diet, medications and form friendships. These workshops run for 4 sessions in total.

We have a number of CODE programmes coming up across the country. Look at our events page for details. They fill up fast.

In LIMERICK, Pauline Dunne, our Dietitian is doing tremendously rewarding work with people working in the Intellectual Disability Sector to deepen their knowledge on Diabetes and the feedback from Limerick  was good “the pace of the group was great”, “it gives me more awareness for prevention / control of diabetes”, “gained knowledge on diabetes and nutrition’.

GOING FORWARD

We need good attendance numbers to allow us to seek funding for many of our events as they are costly to run. Therefore if you attended and are reading this, spread the word amongst the people you know with diabetes as we know from your feedback that these meetings DO WORK. If you have not attended our meetings yet, try one!

We visit WORK PLACES and take a sneak peek at your canteen/café….

We do not publicise the companies we have visited. We thoroughly enjoy doing these sessons. Screening in the workplace is a great preventative tool as we may pick up the undiagnosed Type 2 or those  borderline (prediabetes) cases and direct them accordingly. If you are in the workplace, contact [email protected] and we will tailor make a package for you.

Regulatory News

The EU have issued a written declaration on Diabetes, intended to influence and guide our national government on the provision of a National Diabetes Care plan, Healthy Food campaigns and better co-ordination of all efforts. They highlighted Healthy Eating and Physical Exercise to help prevent Type 2 and contribute to better control of type 1 diabetes. Kieran O’Leary, our CEO, is currently lobbying hard for additional resources in hospital teams to ensure our community get the best care in all corners of Ireland. Letters will be landing shortly on your local government representative’s desk and you can support us by backing us. More news will follow soon about this.

EU – Rule 136 of Parliament’s Rules of Procedures