Diabetes Awareness at the Southall College

DiABETES UK Ealing 

Voluntary Group

PROJECT PROPOSAL: Integrated Diabetes Awareness Programmes (Education, Help Desk, Outreach Sessions and Stand at public places) throughout Ealing Borough.

1.     Organisational Background

Diabetes UK Ealing Voluntary Group is a  registered Voluntary Organisation under Diabetes UK,the national charity and it has been working under the guidelines of Diabetes UK ;which has been involving in Care and Campaign on Diabetes and connect all possible resources, services in effective management of Diabetes and ultimately to eradicate one of the future epidemic, Diabetes.

Diabetes UK Ealing Voluntary Group was officially launched in the month of September`12 and inaugurated by Mr Virendra Sharma MP. But even before that, the Voluntary Group has been involving in Diabetes Awareness Programmes focussing the South Asian, African Caribbean Ethnic minority based in HelpLink (a charity) office in Southall Town Hall.

Our current activities include:

Monthly Health Awareness Sessions: Diabetes UK Ealing Voluntary Group has been organising Health Awareness sessions on a monthly basis at Holy Trinity Church Community Hall, Southall. Classes are being taken by medical professionals and doctors such as Dr Bayes,Dr Mehta Diabetes and ,Endocrinology Department, Ealing NHS hospital and Dr Gupta,Diabetes practitioner from Saluja Surgery, Southall and Mr RajuMohan Thampi, Diabetes Community Champion and Dual Champion under British Heart Foundation and DiabetesUK. These Health Awareness Sessions are very effective and vast majority of the participants are from South Asian and BME

Diabetes Awareness Outreach:  Knowing the need of the Diabetes Awareness among the elderly people, especially those who are not able to attend to our monthly Diabetes and Health Awareness sessions, DiabetesUK Ealing Voluntary Group has taken much interest to organise Diabetes Awareness Sessions at the Day Care Centres at the different places in Ealing Borough such as Day Centres in Southall. Meetings for elderly people at the Day Centres are very effective because most of the elderly are with their friends and in a happy mood, at that time talking about the Diabetes, complications and healthy life style give a very good understanding and response from the elderly people.

Diabetes Awareness at the Faith Centres: People come and attend in large numbers at the Faith Centres and Places of Worship and it very a better venue for Diabetes Awareness and Campaign as well. Diabetes UK Ealing Voluntary Group has initiated a programme to visit at the Faith Centres and Worship places by prior permission and advertisement and deliver free publications of Diabetes UK in different languages as according to the need of the community. We have visited Arya Samaj, West Ealing, Jalaram temple, Greenford, Church based in Southall and also discussing with the Faith and community leaders about the Diabetes.

Community: Diabetes Help Desk: Diabetes Help Desk provides free advice on Diabetes and it`s complications and its effective management and very importantly giving informations about the other connected services such as podiatry etc. Diabetes Help Desk plays an important role in removing doubts and myths about food and healthy eating. It operates from 2pm to 5pm Monday to Friday at HelpLink office based in Southall Town Hall.

Diabetes Community Stand: Diabetes Community Stand is set up for the convenience and use of people gathering at different places such as market places, parks, festivals and social gatherings. Diabetes UK Ealing Voluntary Group has organised Stall cum Stand at the Southall Park in connection with Queens` Diamond Jubilee celebrations, at Southall Quality Food and Iceland area and at King Street in connection with Nagarkeerthan festival. In addition to this, Diabetes Stand is available all monthly health awareness sessions at Holy Trinity Church, Southall, at Dr Ambedkar Jayanthi celebrations at TKC restaurant, Christmas celebrations organised by Jesus for Asia-Africa International Ministries at Tudor Rose Hall, The Green, Southall.

Diabetes Talk: Diabetes Talk is mainly focussing people who normally don`t mingle or socialise with others, but simply sit on the benches on the roadside or park and even in the Gurudwaras and elsewhere. Some of them are victims of Diabetes; some others are at risk to diabetes. But they don`t like to share their experiences with anybody. Trained Diabetes volunteer go to different places mentioned above and meet those people and try to develop dialogues with them and talk about diabetes and the free help available to them. It is very effective to that category of people who get new information and clear their doubts about Diabetes by this service.

2.     Request for Funding: We request for funding for the following project(activities)

3.     Name of the Project: Integrated Diabetes Awareness (Education, Help Desk and Outreach Sessions including Stand at public places) throughout Ealing Borough.

4.     Need of the Project (activities): The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) of 2009, conducted by Ealing Council and Ealing Primary Care Trust found out that there is a massive health issues in the Ealing Borough. One of the major problems is the prevalence of Diabetes among all age groups, especially from the South Asian and BME communities. In the report Review of Diabetes prepared by Diabetes Scrutiny Review Officer (page No.2&3), it is very clearly mentioned about the prevalence of Diabetes in Ealing Borough with more detailed statistics.

5.     Summary of the Project: Monthly Diabetes Awareness Sessions are being organised by DiabetesUK Ealing Voluntary Group at the Community Hall. Holy Trinity Church, Southall. But we have decided to organise the Awareness Sessions at all areas of Ealing Borough such as Acton, Greenford, Northolt, Hanwell, Ealing, Northfield, Perivale etc.In addition to the monthly Awareness Sessions, we have been continuing the Outreach Diabetes Awareness Sessions at the Day Centres, Nursing homes, Elderly homes and disabled persons centres etc.  Diabetes Help Desk has been operating for the last one year based in HelpLink office, and a Volunteer`s service will be available on Monday to Friday from 2pm to 5pm. Diabetes Stand will be organised at all selected public places in Ealing Borough. Refreshments will be provided at all Diabetes Awareness Sessions.

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