Diabetes picnic

A Diabetes picnic was held in the park held in November 2022 at Green Point Urban Park. There were several speakers including Nicholas from City Bowl Gym, Heinrich and Lynette Grobelaar, two paramedics from Wellness Excellence, and Daniel Sher, a psychologist. It was a beautiful sunny day with lots of shade to picnic under the trees and listen to these amazing people talk about diabetes.

Malabar Diabetes Wellness Meeting

At the April Malabar Diabetes Wellness Meeting, Dr Harshil Ranchod, a dentist, explained all about How to maintain sound oral health in the diabetic patient.

Dr Ranchod’s grandmother, Mrs Shanti Ranchod, and parents came to support him and were honoured guests at the meeting. His grandmother who, at almost 90 years old, is the oldest lady in the Indian community. See the photo of Surendra Daya and these four special people.

Sweet beats of music

Angelo Du Plessis, a registered counsellor, had all the people at the Springdale March Diabetes Wellness Meeting enjoying and learning about the benefits of exercise and music.

Worker’s Day treat

On Workers Day, we, the volunteers on the Port Elizabeth Management Board, treated themselves and their partners to a most delicious brunch at Heaven’s Kitchen. After brunch, we gathered round a large table to have our first live management board meeting since the start of COVID. It was a great time of socialising and really getting to know each other and our families.

Humansdorp Hospital DSA membership handout

Representatives of DSA Port Elizabeth travelled to Humansdorp Hospital in the Eastern Cape to handout DSA membership packs, sponsored by aQuellé and DSA.

Collection of aQuellé goody bags

Two members collected their aQuellé goody bags at the April Port Elizabeth Diabetes Wellness Meeting.

April Diabetes Wellness Support Group Meeting

A special note of appreciation to all people who showed up at the Diabetes Wellness Support Group Meeting on 22 April. We were all empowered by Bernadine Blom, a dietitian. Her interactive and informative session highlighted how to manage diabetes through a healthy diet. We learnt how food choices and quantities can affect our health condition. An additional nugget was to learn of the benefits of taking the vitamin B12 and vitamin D supplements for those who use Glucophage or metformin.

If you’re interested in diabetes or living with diabetes, make an effort to attend the once a month support group meeting, there is always something new to learn. Knowledge is power.

May Diabetes Wellness Support Group Meeting

The DSA Pretoria Wellness Support Group would like to thank all members who braved the icy cold weather on 20 May to listen, engage and tap on vast, practical knowledge on diabetes by diabetes nurse educator, Sr Louise Pywell.

We all benefitted from the extensive expertise and knowledge about the care of people living with diabetes and learnt about diabetes and how to live a healthy life with this health challenge.

The information covered a broad spectrum of issues on appropriate diet, monitoring of blood glucose, administration of insulin, hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia. We were also informed of newest techniques and interventions available.

For further information, you may contact Sr Louise: +27 82 451 0706

Please diarise the next Wellness Meeting on 24 June 2023. Each one bring one!

A call for volunteers

Diabetes SA is primarily a volunteer organisation and relies heavily on people living with diabetes and their families who pool their talents, share their knowledge and experiences and give of their time to help each other.

You too could be a great organiser and get everyone off on a big walk or you may, equally valuable, be a friendly face that is willing to initiate a support group, or you may equally have a valuable skill.

❤️ DSA Pretoria branch is looking for volunteers to assist with the spreading of awareness of diabetes in communities. Start-up wellness support groups, guidance and booklets will be provided.

❤️ Someone with a little time on their hands to assist with admin. You will need a laptop and internet.

❤️ We would love to be assisted with social media awareness.

❤️ People who are keen to start support groups in their areas. Guidelines and start-up materials are available

❤️ We are looking for young and old vibrant people who have a passion for sharing information and creating awareness.

❤️ People who could be coached for two years to take up various roles in the near future.

The majority of us are volunteers and not paid workers. Most of us are retirees who do not have offices and work from home.

Anyone is welcome to join the group; one can become a friend of the group and indicate what services one is willing or capable of assisting with.

For further information and to see where you may be able to assist people living with diabetes, please kindly contact Liz by email at: pretoria@diabetessa.org.za