By BRIDGET COOK
CASEY RACE is looking for volunteers with type two diabetes to take part in a new initiative aimed at improving life for those who suffer from it.
The centre is preparing to launch the HealthYou initiative, which aims to promote education, independence and management of type two diabetes and to improve quality of life and functional ability.
It will be a 16-week program combining exercise sessions at Casey RACE, three times per week, with four educational sessions during that time.
Casey RACE exercise physiologist Cassie Conway is leading the program and helped get it off the ground.
“The ability to perform basic activities that most of us take for granted can easily become almost impossible due to loss of muscle power as we age,” she said.
“Walking to the shops, walking across the street before the green man turns red, climbing up stairs and even getting up out of a chair are all functional activities that can be affected.
“When this loss of function is combined with the significant rise in the incidence of type two diabetes in the Casey region, loss of independence is often the result.”
With the support of the City of Casey, Ms Conway together with Australian Catholic University researcher Vanessa Rice, came up with the HealthYou initiative and they are now looking for participants.
“We’re looking for 100 volunteers – men and women – between the ages of 55 and 75 who have been diagnosed with type two diabetes and are currently not participating in any form of physical activity to participate in a program,” she said.
To volunteer for the program or find out more email cassie.conway@ymca.org.au or call Casey RACE on 5990 8600.
