Craig Sumpton came and gave a talk on Diabetes and more specifically on the Type 1 variant. Craig spoke in depth about how the Auckland Diabetes branch of the national association educated the children and families on how to manage the condition. The disciplines that are required to manage diabetes and the consequences of not getting it right to the child or young person.

 

My own take away from Craigs talk was a better understanding of how living with Type 1 diabetes as a young adult must be so life controlling. As a youngster parents can make the child feel special and have a certain amount of parental control, however through the teenage years the urge to break away from all the routine must be huge, but the results of doing so can be deadly.  It is great credit to Craig and the Diabetes organisation to offer a place of refuge and understanding to help teenagers and families through this period of growing up.

 

Thank you Craig for the talk

Last Saturday we supported the nationwide The Big Blood Pressure Check day run by Stroke Foundation New Zealand. While the practitioners measured people’s blood pressure we cajoled customers into the queue and recorded details.

 

We had a constant supply of participants from 9.00 in the morning until 3.30pm with several people being referred to GPs with abnormal results that may well have gone undetected without the event.

 

Thank you Ravinder for organising and Dana, Kay, Mary Ann, Swee and Rachel for helping out.