04 March 2011
A new Indigenous health resource has been unveiled for the first time in Western Australia at the South West Aboriginal Medical Service, Bunbury.
The resource, called Feltman, is designed to be used by Aboriginal health workers to help explain what happens in the body of someone who has diabetes. Feltman is a life-sized felt mat, in the shape of a human body, showing the systems and organs relating to diabetes and how factors such as food intake, physical activity and medications can impact the condition.
Kerri Colegate, Aboriginal Health Coordinator at Diabetes WA, said: “We know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are six times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than non-Aboriginal people, so Feltman is a welcome resource to help in the prevention, and better management of, diabetes. He’s a great way to visually show how diabetes develops and how it impacts the body.”
Diabetes WA will coordinate training for the distribution of Feltman across WA, starting in Bunbury then onto Albany, Katanning and Newman.
Asha Singh and Kerri Colegate from Diabetes WA with Feltman