Malahide Lions Club - Diabetes Awareness

Diabetes Awareness

We hope to have our next Diabetes screening session in September 2010 ... details soon.
From time to time, Malahide Lions organise a series of screening sessions for Diabetes, a potentially debilitating illness if left undetected. The Lions act as facilitators only. The testing is conducted by qualified nursing or medical personnel who carry out a simple blood test (involving a needle prick to the finger) In cases where a certain level of blood sugar is recorded, the participants will be referred to his/her own doctor. The Club continues the programme this year 2010. We have the enthusiastic support of local retired Doctor John McCurdy and a committed team of Lions. Dates have yet to be fixed and we have already got the support of McCabes Pharmacy in the village and in its pharmacy beside Londis Supermarket on Yellow Walls Road. Dr. John has previous experience in this project and will be able to provide the service. We have been successful in identifying people who needed to be referred for medical treatment and these people have been most appreciative of the service being provided
	It is estimated that more than 200 million people are now afflicted with diabetes, at risk of losing sight due to a serious complication of diabetes--diabetes retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy affects the retina--the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye that transmits visual messages, via the optic nerve, to the brain. When this delicate tissue is damaged by diabetic retinopathy, the result may be visual impairment or blindness. Diabetes awareness was adopted as a long-term commitment of the association in March 1984. The primary objective of the Lions program is to reduce the number of new cases of blindness caused by diabetic retinopathy through diabetes education, early detection and treatment, and support of research.
Why is it important to know how diabetes affects the eyes? If you have diabetes--or if someone close to you has this disease--you should know that diabetes could affect the eyes and cause visual impairment. Fortunately, there are ways to prevent or lessen damage to the eyes caused by diabetes. That is why it is so important for people with this disease to have a professional eye examination as soon as their diabetes is diagnosed, and at least once a year thereafter. Annual eye examinations are especially important for people who stand a high risk of developing eye complications from diabetes. These include persons with diabetes who have had their disease 5 years or longer, and those who have difficulty controlling glucose levels in the blood.