Westgate Diabetes Support Group convenor Faye Cook meets with other diabetics to help manage the disease. 68395 Picture: SARAH MATRAY
By CHARLENE GATT
IN 2006, Faye Cook found herself in the doctor’s office for what seemed like the umpteenth time.
“I was working at the time, I was always tired and run down and I’d just gotten over an illness, but the doctor said I should have been better than what I was,” she remembers.
After running some tests, the mystery was solved and Ms Cook was diagnosed with borderline Type 2 diabetes.
It’s a story that’s replicated in droves across the West.
A study by Western Health this year revealed nearly 15,000 – or one third – of all patients to present at Western Hospital over the 2009-10 financial year had diabetes.
The study backs up research from the Australian Community Centre for Diabetes, which last year uncovered a diabetes epidemic in the West.
One in seven residents in the West have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, compared with a state average of one in 30.
Following her diagnosis, Ms Cook set up the Westgate Diabetes Support Group, which offers support and information to diabetics across the West.
The group has a guest speaker every meeting that addresses diet, blood readings and other health concerns around diabetes.
Ms Cook said some people come to ask questions that they deem too trivial to go to their doctors with – such as whether their blood readings are normal.
“It’s educating people on how to keep better control of managing their diabetes,” Ms Cook said.
“Some people, even though they’re aware that they’ve got to do those things, it’s just reiterating that they have to do it. For example, if they don’t look after their feet, they might have to have toes amputated.”
The Westgate Diabetes Support Group meets the first Tuesday of the month at Altona Bowling Club, Civic Parade, Altona, from 10am until midday. Call Elaine Handley on 9025 0695 for more information.
