This article is from page 25 of the 2008-06-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 25 JPG
CLARECASTLE rerun John McLaughlin and 17 others will travel by dog sled across 200 miles of snowbound Norwegian country- side in August to raise money for the Clare branch of the Diabetes Federa- tion of Ireland (DFI).
John’s trek is just one part of the Clare branch’s summer fundraising drive, which will be launched in Tes- co’s shopping centre next Saturday, Ut eae
The other major event is the annual 10k sponsored walk, which takes place on August 31 in Lees Road sports and amenity park.
“This year promises to be even
better than last year, although to give credit to the participants of last year’s walk that will be difficult,” said Grainne Flynn, secretary of the branch.
Both the sponsored walk and the dog sledding expedition will help raise much-needed funds that will enable the DFI to improve the lives of people living with diabetes in this country.
John, who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2006, said: “I realised that while most treatments for diabe- tes are covered by the HSE, there is very little funding for research, edu- cation in self-management and for early detection and prevention pro- grammes for diabetes in Ireland.”
The money raised will go towards helping the DFI run CODE – Com- munity Orientated Diabetes Educa- tion and more local programmes.
It will also help the Clare branch to provide free support groups for peo- ple with diabetes and their families.
Services currently provided by the branch include diabetes screenings and education and awareness meet- Tb eae
CODE was developed by the Dia- betes Federation of Ireland as a re- sult of the organisation identifying that many people living in Ireland had poor access to community dia- betes services.
Anna Clarke, Health Promotion and Research Manager of the Diabe-
tes Federation of Ireland, said: ““The philosophy of the CODE programme is based on empowerment, empathy and self-efficacy; it supports people with diabetes through group learn- ing and participation.
“CODE encourages participants to become confident in their diabetes self-care management and aims to improve quality of life through in- formed decision making.”
Sponsorship cards for the 10k walk are available from Peggy Scholdei by calling 087 6415747 or by email- ing clarebranchdfi@ gmail.com.
Those wishing to pledge sponsor- ship to John McLaughlin for the Dog Sledding Trek can do so by calling 086 6142203.