Wednesday 6 January 2016

Have a free diabetes health check in Chalkhill on Friday and find out about activites near you

The number of people living with diabetes topped 4 million last year. There are more people developing the illness and having it for a longer time with teenagers and even children being diagnosed. About 24,000 people die prematurely from the disease every year. It is estimated that there are 549,000 people with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes.





3 comments:

Nan. said...

Ahh, now I get it - Brent Council must be funding this SIBI social isolation project with the dosh it's raking in from the increased visitors parking permit charges.

How very enterprising - and a sure sign the council hasn't lost its creative touch....

Martin Francis said...

A bit more about SIBI and its funding:

SIBI is a joint initiative funded by Brent Adult Social Care, Brent Public Health, Brent CCG and managed by Brent CVS.

The aim of the project is to target and address social isolation in individuals who are over 18 and identified as being at risk of, or suffering from, social isolation, lack of social contact and low community involvement.

Social isolation could occur for a range of reasons but some groups are particularly at risk, such as:

people with long term illness
older people living alone and with no access to transport
people with low income
people with mental health issues
people with dementia
carers/older carers.

SIBI will help identify if there are particular issues contributing to isolation and signpost for assistance, as well as identifying ways of reducing isolation.

Just as social isolation affects different people in different ways how it can be resolved will also be different. Therefore, SIBI will assist people to identify and access a range of activities including:

befriending or mentor services to increase social connections
social activities such as art classes, gardening, singing or book clubs to give people a range of activities that they can go to independently
volunteering – isolated people can have a lot of skills and experience that they may be happy to share with others or organisations but simply do not know how to.

Nan. said...

Useful information as ever, Martin.

The fact that there is such a project goes to show just how serious this problem is and how far reaching its effects can be on the health of the people concerned.

I propose that Brent Council should suspend visitor parking charges for anyone identified as suffering from, or at risk of, social isolation.