March 2011

New FREE workplace seminars to promote the Life! program

This year we are offering all workplaces a free prevent type 2 diabetes seminar.

These sessions will cover:

• What is diabetes?
• Symptoms and complications of diabetes
• Risk factors for type 2 diabetes
• How to prevent type 2 diabetes
• Life! Taking Action on Diabetes program

How long are the sessions?

Employees who attend the workplace prevention sessions will complete the Australian Type 2 Diabetes Risk Assessment Tool (AUSDRISK) which will tell them their risk of type 2 diabetes in the next 5 years. 

Employees who are unable to attend the prevention session still receive a free Prevention Pack and other information about the Life! program.

The sessions can be run at a time that suits the employer – even at lunch time.

Would you like further information or do you know of a workplace that may like to book a session?

Please contact Caddie on 03 8648 1810 or cconroy@diabetesvic.org.au or see our website.

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WorkHealth update – new campaign calls for Victorian employer health ‘care’

With sick leave estimated to cost Victorian employers more than $2,800 per employee each year, a new TV commercial screened from 13 February 2011 calls on bosses to step up to the challenge by signing up for free WorkHealth checks from WorkSafe Victoria.

Pam Anders, WorkHealth Director, says that since the program began, the free, confidential, 15-minute WorkHealth checks had been delivered at more than 19,000 workplaces across the state.

“Smart employers know that employee health and wellbeing has an enormous impact on their bottom line, which is one of the reasons we have seen an increasing focus on health and wellbeing in many workplaces.

“But we’re also finding that the most common reasons that bosses sign up for WorkHealth checks is because they want to show they care about their staff and support them to look after their health.

“We know that the vast majority of employers really do care about their workers, and the WorkHealth checks are a great way to demonstrate this.”

Ms Anders said that for many of the 290,000 workers so far who have received WorkHealth checks, their results may have been an initial shock but had helped to spur them into action to change their lifestyles.

This included at least 66% of workers found to have a medium or high risk of developing type 2 diabetes or heart disease, and needing to make some changes in order to avoid serious illness. Further results show that 70% of workers reported inadequate physical exercise and 25% of workers had high cholesterol.

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First Visits – reminder on accurate data entry in the facilitator database

To date, over 5,600 First Visits have been conducted by facilitators and health professionals across the state. This is a fantastic achievement!

All involved should be congratulated for their outstanding work raising the awareness of diabetes risk in the community and assistance for community members to take the first step towards diabetes prevention.

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Just a reminder to please ensure that when entering First Visit data onto the facilitator database, the scheduled First Visit date is correctly entered, as well as the most current information available.

DA–Vic can manage any of your First Visit participants for reasons such as:

• referral to telephone health coaching
• referral to another group 
• participant is not interested in a Life! course at the moment

To enable this, please ensure that the DA–Vic to manage option is selected in the Post First Visit status of the participant’s record, and that you communicate this with Central Referral by emailing the participant ID to life@diabetesvic.org.au  

Should you have any queries about this, please do not hesitate to contact Andrew on 03 9667 1703 or ALambert@diabetesvic.org.au

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Life! program substudy update

In the January edition of Life!Style we provided some background to the Life! program substudy.

Briefly, this involves collecting three day food diaries and other questionnaires allowing us to ascertain how successfully the nutrition-based goals of the Life! program are being adopted by participants and has been running since August 2010.

To date we have received:

• 111 fully completed materials from part one only (following session 1)
• 102 fully completed materials from part one and part 2 (following sessions 1 and 5 respectively)

Following part two, participants who have completed both parts (one and two) are entered into a draw to have a 1 in 25 chance of winning a $50 Coles Myer voucher and may also request personalised dietary feedback.

Congratulations to the winners of the $50 Coles Myer vouchers so far:

Draw 1 (drawn 4.57pm 18/01/2011) – 10007838 of Maureen Ryland’s Myrtleford group
Draw 2 (drawn 5.04pm 18/01/2011) – 10005898 of Trent Malcolm’s Frankston group
Draw 3 (drawn 9.30am 25/01/2011) – 10007940 of Kim Welch’s Greensborough group
Draw 4 (drawn 2.53pm 07/02/2011) – 10009058 of Kim Welch’s Preston group

Analysis of received food diaries is in full swing and with over half the participants who have requested feedback following the return of complete materials from both parts one and two having been mailed this directly.

Thank you to all of you who are actively involved with the Life! program substudy. We look forward to your ongoing assistance with encouraging participants to complete all three parts as they progress through to session 6 of their Life! course.

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120 First Visits completed through local community – Healthy Inspirations' story

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

Toward the end of 2010 Bridie Shiels, Life! course facilitator at Sportscare Physiotherapy in Dingley and the team at Greater Easter Primary Health shared with us their experiences of promoting the Life! program in their local communities (link to these articles).

This month, Kirsten Mackintosh of Healthy Inspirations in Sale shares with us the success she’s had with implementing the Life! program in her local community.

“My passion is inspiring others to change their lives through better health [so] when I was approached to be a Life! course facilitator, I jumped at the opportunity to enhance health promotion in the Wellington shire.”

Taking advantage of the resources that the Life! program has to offer, Kirsten attends local events to promote the Life! program and recruit for her courses. "Basically I set up a table with the required materials, scales, height measure etc, pack a healthy lunch and thermos and we are right to go.”

“It is important to smile and chat to people as they come by your stand,” Kirsten states, usually calling something such as ‘Help us help our community beat diabetes! It is free; we are not taking donations today. Find out if you are at risk. We are local people running the courses!’”

“So far I have successfully run nine events, including Sale Agricultural Show, Stratford Earth Fest, Maffra shopping centre and Sale Baptist Church Fair”.

Attendance at these events has helped Kirsten to:

• complete more than 120 risk assessments on community members with scores greater than 12;
• conduct more than 120 First Visits;
• generate 76 Life! course and 5 Life! THC referrals.

As a result of her dedication to implementing the Life! program locally, Kirsten now regularly receives referrals from local GPs and since training in September 2010, has commenced a total of six Life! courses filled to capacity with satisfied participants.

Kirsten’s tip for successful implementation of the Life! program in your community:

• get out into the community and be seen
• follow up with letters to GPs and allied health to thank them for referrals and to detail results of their patients as spelling out this success will encourage them to refer in future – remember, “GPs are very busy and there are many LMPs competing for their attention!”

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Need to do some spring cleaning?

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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