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Gardens4Health Autumn Hui and Pānui

The Gardens4Health seasonal hui are an opportunity for our community of gardeners and organisers to come together to celebrate the successes of the season gone by, to share what they have learned, and to share advice as we prepare for the season to come. Our ngahuru / autumn hui hosted at Headway House brought up some great reflections from the season.  Thank you to all the amazing participants who brought their enthusiasm and knowledge.This year the dreaded drought forecast for Tāmaki has...

Celebrating cultural diversity in Manurewa

Diabetes Foundation Aotearoa was proud to be part of the fantastic free community event, Whakanui Te Manurewatanga,  held on Saturday 9th March at Randwick Park, alongside a host of other community organisations.   More information on fliers below.  The event was supported by Manurewa Community Network and Manurewa Local Board, with the aim of the day "recognising cultures, food, fun, festivities and a future for the community of Manurewa".  The event was well atten...

Race result - Diabetes Foundation Aotearoa 70.3 Ironman athletes

Karen and Kate were back in the Diabetes Foundation Aotearoa office on Tuesday after a busy few days away for the annual Lake Taupo Ironman. This time they were doing the 70.30 or half Ironman event and they reported back on their experiences, each covering the total distance of around 113km over three disciplines. The day began standing in the dark with over 1000 other athletes, and as the sun started to come there was the wonderful welcome from mana whenua, Tūwharetoa.  Th...

Team members Kate and Karen...off to 2024 Ironman 70.3

For those who haven't caught up with the exercise journeys of our Clinical Director Kate Smallman, and General Manager Karen Pickering, they take 'walking the walk' to great lengths. The key for these two self described "back of the pack endurance athletes", is to do things their own way.  They acknowledge that for many people, barriers to becoming more physically active, such as age, body-shape, slow speed, medical conditions, money, busy lives or whatever else...can seem almost insur...

Introducing the new Team Leader for Gardens4Health

After a recruitment process starting way back in December 2023, interviews were finally held in January for the Gardens4Health team leader position.  We were privileged to meet some truly amazing people doing really great things out in the community. Our thanks to all of them for sharing their stories and experiences with us.As a result of the process, we are delighted to introduce Ali Nicholls.  Ali is an enthusiastic permaculture gardener, tutor, and designer with a work background i...

Fresh Paint in the Otara office!

With the support of our amazing Landlady, Elaine, we are delighted to report that we now have fresh paint in the main areas of the building.    This is a staged process, being carried out over the next year to freshen up the Otara office.  The last time this happened we realise, was back in 2010 when the Whitiora diabetes team moved across the road to the MIT health building...they've had several moves since then and are now on the corner of Alexander Crescent and Bairds road in w...

World Kidney Day 14 March 2024

World Kidney Day (WKD) is a campaign across the globe aiming to raise awareness of the importance of our kidneys to health overall and to help reduce the frequency and impact of kidney disease and its associated health problems. WKD is to be celebrated on 14 March in 2024, and is usually held every year on the 2nd Thursday of March. There is recognition and support to the WKD campaign provided by many individuals and organizations around the world, often organizing different activities ai...

Public Health...not just diabetes

Working in Public Health it's well known that there is never just one issue or condition or complication or factor that impacts living a healthy life.     While diabetes is the main focus of the mahi done by Diabetes Foundation Aotearoa, we acknowledge that there are other areas requiring urgent attention in our communities.  Our Board member Gerhard Sundborn works and does research in a number of important areas in addition to diabetes.  He has just announced a symposiu...

Publication - DCSS - All-cause death attributable to socioeconomic and ethnic disparity Type 1

Another publication from DCSS data from 1994-2019, this one concluded that "results suggest that socioeconomic disparities were responsible for a substantial proportion of all-cause, premature and CVD mortality in people with T1DM in Auckland, NZ. Reducing socioeconomic barriers to management and self-management would likely improve clinical outcomes"...

January 2024...how are we going for Climate Action?

January, in health promotion in the community it's a time of reporting for contracts, getting ready for return to normal work in 2024, writing draft budgets for the end of the financial year, and for us it's been a flurry of recruiting activity for our newest team member.  It's busy, but also on the list is the ongoing review of the important things that help underpin our organisation and how we work.This month, on the schedule, is a review of the question of where do we sit as an organisat...

Want to know about Diabetes Foundation Aotearoa in just 1 page? Download our leaflet

Who are we, what do we do, what does our organisation stand for?   What are our programmes, vision, mission, advocacy, research and community and capacity development activities?   Our website, Facebook page and blog have plenty of information, but this downloadable trifold leaflet gives the basic details of our vision, what we seek to do (our Pou), contact details, and current projects as in July 2023.   ...

Christmas 2023

Our office is closed Friday December 22 and re-opens on Monday January 8 2024.Thank you to everyone who has made 2023 such an amazing year, it's been a challenge in places, but so many excellent things have happened we can't wait to see what 2024 will bring.We wish everyone a safe and happy festive season.  Meri Kirihimete ki te katoa...

Catching up with the Kidney Society

A major complication of diabetes is damage to the kidneys.  While diabetes isn't the only cause of kidney problems, a significant number of people with kidney failure or on dialysis have diabetes.    The Kidney Society has been working in the community for over 40 years and an important role for them is "connecting people to the vital information, education and support services they need to preserve their kidney health and live a better quality of life diagnosed with kidney d...

Congratulations Diana

We have a new Lifestyle Team Leader!  Many of you know already Diana Anderson from her roles in Diabetes Foundation Aotearoa for the last 14 years, but it may not be so well known that she is a Registered Nutritionist  with the Nutrition Society of New Zealand and has a masters in nutrition science. Diana's thesis was on 'Food industry and Consumer attitudes towards and consumer knowledge of  food labels', a very relevant topic working with nutrition in the community.  When D...

Report on participating in the New Zealand and Australia Joint Nutrition Societies Conference - 2023

Written by Cassie Slade, Lifestyle Facilitator, schools. Every four years the Nutrition Society of New Zealand and the Nutrition Society of Australia host a joint conference. This year it was held at Massey University in Auckland and the theme was ‘Nutrition & Wellbeing in Oceania’.   The programme had speakers from across the Pacific with sessions ranging from Nutrition in our Land & Water, to Nutrition in Education Settings and Nutrition & Wellbeing. There were a...

Publication - DCSS - Health Inequality in Eight Adverse OUtcomes

Clinical Epidemiology - new paper just published titled "Health Inequality in Eight Adverse Outcomes Over a 25-Year Period in a Multi-Ethnic Population in New Zealand Population with Impaired Glucose Tolerance and/or Impaired Fasting Glucose: An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis" examining socioeconomic inequality relating to impaired glucose tolerance and/or impaired fasting glucose from DCSS cohort linked to other national databases.   https://www.dovepress.com/articles.php?article_id=88772...

Over a century in years of service...

Our small organisation has been around since the 1990's.   Seven of our nine team members have been with the organisation for over 10 years, one nearly 30 years, three more than 20 years.  If the entire nine team members have their employed years with the Foundation added up, we end up with 140 years, or an average of over 15 years per person.   It was a great privilege to acknowledge at our 2023 Christmas function, the contribution of the team members who as of December...

In the Australian News

"The Diabetes disaster", "Human catastrophe in motion", "Out of control, how this diabolical disease is dwarfing the pandemic", "Ravages of silent epidemic".  "The epidemic pushing Australian hospitals to the brink of collapse".   These are the headlines about Type 2 diabetes from a series of hard hitting articles published 2-3 December 2023 in The Australian.  ...

Te Rito Ora - Whaanau Hauora Day

Excellent day spent by team members Trish and Cassie, promoting health with other community organisations in Papatoetoe at this Te Rito Ora and PAPSDA organised event.  Thanks to the organisers!For those who aren't familiar with the organisation, Te Rito Ora is a community-based service that provides breastfeeding and feeding for baby support for South Auckland Mothers.  The free service can go from pregnancy till baby turns 2.   More information, and the resources they...

Announcement of Clinical Director Appointment

We are excited to announce the appointment of Mātanga Tapuhi (Nurse Practitioner), Kate Smallman to the role of Clinical Director.   Kate will be providing guidance to the Board and team, along with clinical and technical oversight.  She will also be heavily involved in research, strategy and professional leadership.  We are very proud of Kate, who has worked with the Foundation since 2000. Kate has carved out a career pathway starting as a Registered Nurse, working thr...

Community organisations and sensible policy advice

In a world where operating a small organisation in an increasingly challenging environment is fraught with difficulty, Diabetes Foundation Aotearoa was delighted to be part of a very large collaboration that went into the production of this useful resource. The document was put together by Stephen Moe of Parryfield Lawyers, more detail and further resources here.   This document is part 5 of a suite, and is a comprehensive checklist of important areas of policy consideration for n...

Kime says hi from the Diabetes Service in Whangarei

Lifestyle Team Leader Diana and her fur babies (one who seems awfully interested in Kime's lunchbox) got a chance to pay a catch up call to Diabetes Dietitian, Kime Esau who is now based in Whangarei in the Diabetes service.  Kime was a familiar face in schools across Tamaki Makaurau having run the Diabetes Foundation Aotearoa Healthy Schools programme until early 2023.   Great to see where our amazing team members end up!...

Of Sprouts and Microgreens

Richard carried out a demonstration for World Diabetes Day yesterday showing how easy it is to grow microgreens or produce sprouts.   In a world where vegetables are expensive there's always the concern about in spite of having good intentions, an expensive lettuce or cabbage or bag of salad can go off in the fridge before getting a chance to use it.   Also, not everyone likes these things, children or adults!But most people can enjoy a handful of mild (or tasty) sprouts or m...

World Diabetes Day activity in West Auckland

An enjoyable and productive day had by all participating in World Diabetes Day activity in the Wesley Community Centre Mt Roskill. Diana Anderson was present with advice and resources and an interactive display, and Richard Main demonstrated how to grow sprouts as a healthy vegetable source at home. Richards instructions for Microgreens and sprouts here.  Thanks to Faieza Ali Khan, Diabetes Nurse Specialist from Te Whatu Ora Te Toka Tumai Auckland (Auckland District Health Board) for r...

Media Release from NZSSD for World Diabetes Day 2023

This media release from New Zealand Society for the Study of Diabetes is "in recognition of World Diabetes Day (WDD) 2023, Aotearoa New Zealand, led by the New Zealand Society for the Study of Diabetes (NZSSD), joins the global community in raising awareness about diabetes, a condition that affects an estimated 300,000 Kiwis".   The theme continues of "Access to Diabetes Care" .  The full document is in PDF form below, and there's more information on WDD here....