November 2010

New Life! Participant Workbook now available

The new Life! Participant Workbook was officially launched on 1 October 2010, along with the new Session Instructions For Facilitators manual. 

To understand the updated material, existing facilitators were invited to attend one of the Participant Workbook Training sessions held at the start of October.

Changing over to the new Participant Workbook

Change over from the participant manual to the new participant workbook will be phased over the next few months. Detailed below are guidelines to assist with a smooth transition:

• Any old participant manuals that you have in your possession need to be used before using the new participant workbooks.
• If you have 5 or more old manuals in stock, you must use these for your next group. If you require more old manuals for the group, please contact us as we still have stock. 
• If you have 4 or less old manuals, please return them to DA–Vic and start your next group with new workbooks. 
• All participants in your group must use the same manual/workbook as the course structure varies between the two. 
• Facilitators who were unable to attend a Participant Workbook Training session should request the recording of the training before using the new participant workbooks in any upcoming groups.
• If you do not use or return old participant manuals you will be charged for them. 
• All facilitators who were trained at the 27–28 September training will automatically be issued with new workbooks.

If you have any questions regarding this, please contact Kate on KDelley@diabetesvic.org.au

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Have you scheduled courses for 2011?

As the year rapidly draws to a close, many of you may have began scheduling courses due to commence in 2011.

If you haven’t already, please ensure that you add these courses to the database so that we can continue offering courses to participants who have been referred.

If you have any courses that you would like to advise us of that you have been unable to add to the database, please contact Central Referral on life@diabetesvic.org.au or 03 8648 1880.

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Please ensure your participant data is keyed in ASAP following sessions

A vital component of the DA–Vic Central Referral process is to follow up with participants who have been referred and booked into a Life! course but not actually attended the first session.

Twenty days following the commencement of session 1, all participants who have not had any session data entered are contacted by phone to ascertain why they have not attended their Life! course group. They are then offered other options to assist them to prevent type 2 diabetes, such as attending a different Life! course group or Life! Telephone Health Coaching.

Unfortunately for many of the participants we have followed up, it is more likely to be a case of their data having not yet been entered into the database rather than them not having attended the course session.

We remind and ask facilitators to be vigilant with their data entry and at a minimum, record the participant’s physical activity result and tick the 'participated box' no later than a week following scheduled course commencement.

Your cooperation with this will greatly reduce the amount of confusion participants feel when we call them asking why they have not attended, whilst also ensuring the Life! program presents a stronger, more professional image with our participants.

Furthermore, the sooner your participant data is entered into the database, the sooner you can generate and lodge your invoices for reimbursement.

If you are unable to enter your data within 20 days following session 1, please contact Andrew Lambert, Data Management Coordinator, at ALambert@diabetesvic.org.au to advise when you expect this data to be entered.

We will ensure that these participants are temporarily exempted from this process.

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Maximising recruitment at local events – GEPH

Face-to-face recruitment continually proves to be a successful strategy with local events presenting ideal opportunities to maximise your recruitment.

Last month Bridie Shiels, Life! facilitator at Sportscare Physiotherapy in Dingley, shared with us her experience of promoting Life! at Noble Park RSL as part of the Veteran Affairs celebration of Healthy Eating week.

This month, the team at Greater Eastern Primary Health (GEPH, pictured) shares with us the success they’ve had at promoting the Life! program to members of their local community.

Although wanting to target everyone, as a starting point GEPH first set up a stand in the foyer of their local leisure centre, Knox LeisureWorks YMCA, to capitalise on an existing working relationship.

This generated a positive response from local community members which has resulted in promotional stands having since been set up at:

• Knox LeisureWorks
• Croydon Leisure and Aquatic Centre
• Ferntree Gully Fernwood Gymnasium
• Caribbean Market
• Local Community Health Service

GEPH’s promotion of Free Diabetes Risk Assessments in community settings has generated the following: 

• 100 AUSDRISKS completed
• 20 First Visits 
• 30 participants referred into courses

Despite not everyone wanting to enter into a course immediately, informing one individual on type 2 diabetes prompts discussion of risks next time they visit their GP whilst acting as a vessel of communication to others, with many people having recommended the program to family member or friends.

“It has been alarming to us just how many people tell us that they wish we had intervened earlier as they already have diabetes!”

GEPH’s tips for successful community promotion of Life!:

What to bring?

• Life! promotional material including posters, brochures etc
• AUSDRISK tools and Life! referral forms 
• Letters to give people to take to their GP (explaining the program, asking for blood test results) 
• List of upcoming course dates 
• Orange Life! t-shirts to stand out 
• Tape measures and set of scales if possible

What to do?

• Conduct first visits on the spot and get as many details from the person as you can, especially the name of their regular GP.
• If they don’t want a first visit, ask people to put their name and contact number on the AUSDRISK once they have completed it, give them a Life! brochure and inform them that you will contact them in a couple of days to enrol in a course. A first visit can always be conducted via the follow-up phone call. 
• Hold a course at the venue. If people are familiar with the venue, they are more likely to come back for a course. 
• Have lots of course options available and utilise the other local providers in the area to give people the option that suits them best.

Promoting your Life! courses:

If you identify any opportunities to promote Life! locally and would like to include this in our events listing, please let us know on lifeteam@diabetesvic.org.au

Remember, funding for such promotion can be obtained provided it is linked to raising awareness of the Life! program and ultimately lead to referrals for those 50 years and older into Life! courses. Evidence of this should be supplied for funding approval.

To receive funding assistance we need to attain:

• clear costs
• objectives 
• measurable outcomes

Resources, adverts and posters that can be tailored to your locality, as well as a resource order, are available from our website. For further ideas that work to recruit for your course, please contact us on 03 8648 1880 or email life@diabetesvic.org.au

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Do you have LMPs in your group?

Do you have existing 40–49 year old course participants that you have not yet invoiced for or submitted the required data?

Need help with submitting your Minimum Data Set (MDS) and invoicing for 40–49 year olds? Please click here for a one page check list to assist with the process.

Need the MDS forms and more information on the payment schedule for 40–49 year olds? Please visit the GPV website for further information.

The Life! course is accredited under the Commonwealth ‘Standards for lifestyle modification programs for people at risk of type 2 diabetes’. Therefore, a Life! group can be a combination of participants aged 40–49 years (funded by the Commonwealth), and those eligible to take part in the Life! program (funded by the Victorian government). Life! courses are not provided to any individual aged under 18.

If you would like to enrol some 40–49 year old Commonwealth LMP participants into your Life! groups we suggest that you contact your local division to see how you can work together to increase referrals. Please be mindful that all Commonwealth LMP participants can only be referred by a GP.

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Life! at the Royal Melbourne Show

The Life! Program was again present at one of Victoria’s most traditional and well attended gatherings, the Royal Melbourne Show (RMS), held from 18–28 September.

Over the duration of the RMS, more than 1000 people completed the AUSDRISK tool at the Life! stand, 400 of whom discovered that they were at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Half of these were aged over 50 years of age and, to date: 

• 75 have already been referred to the Life! program
• 120 are being actively followed up by the Central Referral service and encouraged to visit their GP or enrol in a First Visit

One lucky participant from Mooroolbark was the recipient of a brand new Life! mountain bike to further facilitate their ambitions of lifestyle modification.

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We can help you Spring clean!

When you are cleaning out your cupboards, remember that our Clothing Collection Crew will come to you to collect all of your pre-loved clothes and household items. All proceeds from the sale of items fund programs for people with diabetes.

Call 03 9923 8400 for collection of clothing & household items and visit our website for more information.

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