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People from the Somali community are being invited to join an online event to talk about diabetes with a specialist team.
Organised in partnership with leading charity Diabetes UK, it is the first event of its kind in our area. The two-hour webinar starting at 11am will take place on Tuesday 3 November and is free for anyone who wants to join via Zoom.
A diabetes specialist nurse and a dietitian from our Diabetes and Nutrition Services will be leading the session along with Diabetes UK.
The session will provide advice on how to stay well this winter, including information on the Flu vaccine. The flu can be extremely dangerous for people with diabetes; getting it risks their blood sugar becoming dangerously high and can lead to acute – even fatal – complications, including pneumonia.
We know people from Black African, African Caribbean and South Asian backgrounds are at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes than the white population. Events like this are an opportunity for us to pass on practical advice about keeping yourself well and what care to expect if people have diabetes which can help to reduce their risk of developing serious health problems.
Nicki Mead, Clinical and Operational Lead for Diabetes and Nutrition Services
Two of our Health Link workers will be supporting the delivery of this session by providing translation in Somali and sharing their experiences of working with other people with diabetes.
People who have English as a second language may have difficulty in accessing health services due to language and cultural barriers. That is why it’s important for us to act as the language link between Sirona’s healthcare professionals and those individuals in the Somali community who may otherwise not have access to diabetes advice.
Amran Hussein, community interpreter from Sirona’s Health Links team
Type 2 diabetes is a condition which causes the level of sugar (glucose) in the blood to become too high.
It can cause symptoms like excessive thirst, needing to urinate a lot and tiredness. It can also increase your risk of getting serious problems with your eyes, heart and nervous system.
There are 12.3 million people in the UK at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. We are doing more research to understand why this is, but it’s so important to work with community healthcare providers like Sirona to focus on prevention and help us reach out to those communities where the risk is increased.
Phaedra Perry, Regional Head South West, Diabetes UK
- For Zoom joining details please contact Mohamed Elmi on 07880 142099 or Verity McLelland on 07912 380064 or email verity.mclelland@diabetes.org.uk
- For easy-to-understand, reliable resources on COVID-19 in multiple languages please follow this link
- For more information about diabetes and the charity’s work, visit www.diabetes.org.uk
