Diabetes Awareness in Croydon

The key message of Diabetes UK’s Diabetes Week, currently ongoing across the UK, is encouraging people to ‘talk diabetes’. It’s an especially relevant theme considering data from a recent survey of over 3,700 people with diabetes that almost a third had kept their condition a secret for fear of discrimination or bullying while over half had kept their condition secret at work.

Keeping the condition hidden can have serious consequences on someone’s life, with over a third of people surveyed saying their physical or emotional health was affected by their decision to not talk about diabetes.

Getting the message out into communities though is one of the most importance aspects inturning these statistics around, and I visited the central library in Croydon where ‘Community Champions’ representing Diabetes UK were working in partnership with the library’s Healthy Living Hub to put on a series of days to raise awareness and provide information and support about the condition.

Diabetes UK at Croydon library

As London’s largest borough, and with a significant population of at-risk groups of Black Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, spreading the importance of diabetes prevention and support is especially important in Croydon – a region which, according to the NHS Atlas for Variation, was in the bottom ten primary care trusts for 2008/09 for the percentage of people with diabetes receiving nine recommended care processes.

While at the event, I spoke to Alex Silverstein, volunteer development officer with Diabetes UK, who took me through the free risk assessment offered to anyone who was visiting the Hub that day.

The assessment measured my weight and height calculate my body mass index (BMI), achieving a relatively healthy 23. There then followed a simple questionnaire to explore further risk factors such as any potential family history of diabetes, as well as my ethnicity, with Alex pointing out that people of South Asian origin are six times more likely to develop diabetes than White Europeans, while the Afro-Caribbean population is three times more likely.

Helping Alex were community champions – volunteers from the local area, usually with a background in health or key figures in the region, such as local religious leaders. These volunteers are provided with training and background to the condition from Diabetes UK, with champions encouraged to host their own healthy lifestyle awareness events and help with the charity’s own activities too.

As pointed out by Alex, with 2.8 million people in the UK with diabetes and only 270 staff at Diabetes UK, volunteers are an essential part of the charity’s activities, with Alex putting their success down to the selection process making sure only people with the right dedication for the role became part of the team.

Lynn Richards-Lorde

Croydon’s champions included Lynn Richards-Lorde, who comes from a family where diabetes has been prevalent, who described how she feels “like an evangelist” in her role, always carrying a leaflet in her bag and engaging with people to discuss just how serious an issue diabetes can be.

For her, this was a day of education and a chance to help someone change their lifestyle for the better and empower those at risk to be in control of their own health.

It was a sentiment backed up by Alex, who also emphasised the meaning of Diabetes Week with the hope that those who came along for the risk assessment would pass on what they learned to friends and family and share the practical steps to leading a healthier lifestyle, and encouraging greater support and understanding for people with diabetes in the community.