July 11, 2023
Chopped toe warning on diabetes threat
A Māori screenwriter says losing a toe to diabetes woke him up to a raging health crisis among his peers.
Aroha Awarau says because type 2 diabetes is associated with lifestyle and diet, people feel whakamā and don’t want to talk about it.
But the reality is Maori and Pasifika youth are 18 times more likely to be diagnosed than another group.
He ignored his own diagnosis until the amputation three years ago – and saw the trajectory he was on.
“”It’s going to be more toes, maybe a foot, maybe a leg, blindness, all those things that just can’t be avoided if you don’t take care of your health and that was my wake up call to do something about it and be open about my journeys and open about my struggles because it’s hard and it continues to be hard,” Awarau says.
As well as making lifestyle changes to manage his diabetes, Aroha Awerau has appeared in public information campaigns and is currently directing a documentary for Sunpix production, Maisuka, aimed at aimed at Pasifika youth.
Meanwhile, a pilot of a continuous monitoring device for Māori living with diabetes in Taranaki significantly reduced their blood glucose levels and gave them tino rangatiratanga over their hauora.
In the six-month pilot, 40 patients had a Freestyle Libre device fitted in their arm.
It allowed them to collect their own data, either on a reader or on an app, and share it with their clinical nurse specialist.
Project manager Carly Innes from Te Whatu Ora Taranaki says as well as bringing their blood glucose levels back under control, the people re-engaged with health services and learned to make adjustments to their diet, medication and exercise.