Learn the facts on how to live a productive and meaningful life with diabetes in a five-day Diabetes Education course set for 19-23 February at the Cayman Islands Hospital.
Organized by the Public Health Department, the sessions are available to the public free of charge.
The programme, Take Control: Manage Your Diabetes, will be conducted by a diabetes team consisting of a doctor, a nurse educator and a nutritionist. The programme emphasizes the concept that modest lifestyle changes – including healthier diets and physical activity – can help people prevent the onset of Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease.
Program Coordinator Dr. Anna Matthews says aim of the one-week programme is to create awareness about diabetes and to empower diabetics and their caregivers to manage their condition and prevent complications.
With the increasing prevalence and risk for diabetes among Cayman’s population it is important that everyone who is at risk for diabetes get tested, and understand that the disease can be controlled, said to Dr. Matthews.
Risk factors for diabetes and pre-diabetes include overweight, inactivity, age 35 or older, high blood pressure, low HDL cholesterol and high triglycerides, a family history of diabetes, a history of gestational diabetes or giving birth to a baby weighing more than nine pounds and some ethnic groups.
‘The most important thing you need to know about diabetes is that it is a disease that can be managed and controlled,’ said Dr. Matthews. ‘The day-to-day treatment decisions are in your hands. You should take the responsibility of getting tested if you are at risk. Being diagnosed with diabetes is serious but manageable. Most people with diabetes live long, healthy and productive lives.’
The series of diabetes education session will be held at the Women’s Health Centre from 4pm to 7pm. To confirm your participation please call Sarah Hetley of the Public Health Department on 244-2648. Registration ends 9 February.