04 February 2010
If you or a family member lives with diabetes, you will know that managing the condition can be an ongoing challenge. Living in regional or remote Western Australia, it can be particularly difficult to find the information and advice you need to support you along the way.
This is why Diabetes WA, while located in metropolitan Perth, runs the Diabetes WA Information and Advice Line (DIAL). By phoning DIAL you can speak to an experienced Diabetes Educator about any diabetes related issues or concerns you have, for the cost of a local call.
Diabetes WA works to support all Western Australians living with, or at risk of, diabetes through quality education services. As diabetes occurs more often in regional and remote Western Australia1, the organisation is working towards offering more services in these areas. Currently DIAL is accessible across the state and is a great source of credible information. No matter how small your concern may seem, it can provide great reassurance to speak with someone who can provide you with answers.
Bev Bowen knows first-hand how a lack of support and education can lead to devastating diabetes related complications. Bev was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 1985, while living in regional Northern Territory town, Nhulunbuy. She felt that she was on her own in managing the condition and was frustrated with the limited information she could find for herself.
“While living in a remote community and not knowing all I needed to know about the condition, the disease was messing up my body,” Bev says, “ I developed diabetes retinopathy as a direct result of diabetes, which has left me with only 6% sight in each eye. I also suffered from a severe bone infection after breaking my ankle and I’m now restricted to crutches because it will never completely heal.”
When Bev later moved to Perth, she attended some education sessions at Diabetes WA and learnt about healthy eating, supermarket label reading, exercise and blood glucose management. She also found out about DIAL, which she now calls regularly for ongoing guidance.
“If I knew about Diabetes WA when I was first diagnosed, I could have avoided many of the complications I now have,” Bev says, “Even though I was living in a remote community, I could have used their phone service to call up a diabetes educator with any questions I had – and I had a lot!”
Today, Bev feels that she has a thorough understanding of diabetes, which continues to grow everyday. She hopes that others will take advantage of the support that is available to them and avoid diabetes related complications.
“People need to know that Diabetes WA are available to help them,” Bev says, “I want people to learn from my experience so that they don’t end up losing their sight or suffer from other complications.”
To find out more about Diabetes WA or diabetes, call DIAL on 1300 136 588.
1. Australian Institute of health and Welfare. Diabetes: Australian facts 2008. Canberra: AIHW, 2008.
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