A diabetes team comprising a Registered Nurse, a Registered Dietitian, and a Footcare Provider provides education geared toward primary prevention of diabetes, as well as providing care and promoting lifestyle choices aimed at preventing complications for people living with diabetes.
The team provides information and support for effective health management to facilitate living well with diabetes.
What Is Diabetes?
The pancreas makes insulin to take blood sugar out of the bloodstream and put it into muscle cells, so we have energy to function. When we have diabetes the body does not make or use the insulin properly.
There are three types of diabetes:
- Type 1 diabetes happens when the pancreas doesn’t make insulin;
- Type 2 diabetes happens when the body has trouble using the insulin it makes;
- Gestational diabetes happens when the body can’t use insulin during pregnancy.
Diabetes is a new health issue for Anishinaabe people. Our traditional lifestyle — with lots of physical activity, and traditional foods and medicines — kept us healthy. Sudden lifestyle changes have made Anishinaabe people three to four times more likely to experience Type 2 diabetes than non-Anishinaabe Canadians.
Self management of diabetes can slow or stop the impacts of diabetes such as kidney damage, poor circulation, heart disease, blindness or foot amputations.
Living a healthier lifestyle can give our people a way to delay diabetes, and can help those who have diabetes live healthier lives.
Risk Factors
- age and being overweight (especially in the stomach area)
- family members with diabetes such as mother, father or siblings
- if your mother had gestational diabetes
- if you had a baby over 4 kg (9 lbs)
- if you had gestational diabetes
- high cholesterol and/or high blood pressure
- darker patches of skin around your neck
- schizophrenia
- polycystic ovary syndrome
- impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glucose
What Can I Do To Lower My Risk?
- Eat healthy foods
- Be active every day
- Get annual blood test for
- Manage your stress early identification
What Should I Look For?
Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes. Some people can have diabetes for a long time without knowing it, because the symptoms develop slowly over time. Symptoms include:
- thirsty all the time
- frequent urination
- blurry vision
- unusual weight gain or loss
- cuts or sores that won’t heal
- problems with erections
- recurrent yeast or urinary
- tingling or numb hands and feet tract infections
- tired all the time, especially after eating
If you have any of these signs, see your health care provider and get tested. Finding out early gives you a head start to a healthy lifestyle.
Waasegiizhig Nanaandawe’iyewigamig is committed to promoting self management and empowerment to improve quality of life for people and families living with diabetes. We strive to ensure that people living with diabetes feel supported, involved, and in control of their diabetes. We promote and support bimaatisiwin – having a good, long life.
Services
The Diabetes Team works in collaboration with other primary care team members in a wholistic model of care to offer:
- preventive education
- diabetes education
- insulin adjustments
- nutrition counselling
- regular blood work
- case management
- traditional healing
- retinal screening
- foot care/chiropody services
- dental screening
- medical care
Services are offered in a variety of settings:
- one on one counselling
- group sessions
- couples and family sessions
- community workshops