Dietary counseling by N&D students
Blood Pressure checking
Chiropractic counseling by Chiropractors
Counseling by FMS and Endocrinologist
In conjunction with World Diabetes Day, IMU Diabetes Awareness Day was held at The Store, Seri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 17 November 2012. The organizing chairman, Dr Loh Vooi Lee, Consultant Endocrinologist described the event as having ‘a very big turnout with many members of the public and IMU staff participating’. All left the event with an enriched knowledge of diabetes and its dangers. Participants also had a chance to have other aspects of their health looked at including Chiropractic and dental. The advent of chronic diseases, especially, diabetes demonstrates has an increased trend in Malaysia. The prevalence of diabetes is expected to hit the 22% mark by population at the end of 2012 and diabetes is the leading cause of heart problems, strokes and other related morbidity in Malaysia. This worrying trend is not only seen in Malaysia but across developed and undeveloped countries across the globe. As a result of this, the International Diabetes Federation has declared the 14th November each year to be designated as world diabetes day and IMU Healthcare, as part of corporate social responsibility has set out to educate and create awareness to the public as to the inherent dangers of diabetes. The event is also in line with IMU’s long term healthcare vision to bring medical services to the community. The event was primarily organized by IMU Healthcare staff, which included medical, chiropractic and dental professionals in conjunction with allied health sciences— Nursing, Nutrition & Dietetics, Psychology and Pharmacy. The main objectives of the event were to educate the public about their own risk factors for developing diabetes, provide free screening for diabetes and obesity using methods such as BMI measurement and capillary blood glucose, to provide other support services to the diabetic patient when diagnosed (such as dental checkup, psychological counseling, nutritional advice) and to promote services within IMU Healthcare ( diabetes, Family medicine service etc). The event started promptly at 8 am and lasted for about 4 hours till 12 pm. Members of the public first registered at the front desk and there, they were given a small ‘document’ to record their various anthropometric data, one copy was given to the participant and the other kept by IMU Healthcare to help facilitate their follow up. They then proceeded to have their height, weight, and body fat percentage recorded and capillary blood glucose measurement done by students from nursing and pharmacy schools. Subsequently the members of the public were then free to choose to go to the various booths depending on what problems were elicited on the initial screening. The whole process only took a member of the public about 30 minutes and the whole process was conducted smoothly and efficiently by the IMU professionals. There were also 2 additional ‘sub’ events held in between the main event – a cooking demonstration by one of the dietetic students and a fitness exercise demonstration by our resident physiotherapist. The number of people who attended the event is a reflection of the success of the event. Most members of the public who attended the event felt that they had a much deeper understanding of the dangers of diabetes after the event and also many expressed their intention to return to IMU healthcare facilities in the future.
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