To commemorate World Diabetes Day Te Marae Ora (TMO) is conducting free diabetes screenings for anyone aged 18 years and above.

Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.

Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar.  

“Through this public health approach and with the data that we will collect we can then re-orientate our services to ensure that things are addressed at the preventative stages rather than at the treatment stage like at the hospitals,” said Te Marae Ora’s Health Promoter, Teau Puna.

“It’s been statistically proven that when health issues are addressed from a preventative angle, we can reduce hospital admissions by 80 per cent,” said Teau.

“With the screenings we will have an indication of the risk factors and how we can address those risk factors that can lead to diabetes, so these surveys do help us as we need the evidence to see where we are at,” she explained.

More than 50 people attended the diabetes screenings held at the Tupapa puna on Tuesday.

Puna is encouraging anyone from the age of 18 to  attend the screenings and “be good ambassadors for your community”.

“Some people believe diabetes is an illness that only affects the elderly, but the onset of the damage can happen earlier on in people’s lives.

“Later on in life is usually when the signs of the damage actually start to appear and really affect people’s lives.”

“Through these checkups people will be more aware of what they need to do to stop the progression towards Non Communicable Diseases (NCD’s) . .  “we don’t want more people coming through the hospital,” she added.

Today Wednesday November 17, the Takuvaine Puna and the Matavera Puna are open from 8.30am to 12 noon for the screenings, tomorrow Thursday, visit the Ruaau Puna in Puaikura and Friday the Matavera Puna located next door to the Takitumu Primary School will open again for the health checkups.