7 News Belize

The Vision Of BCVI
posted (October 14, 2010)
'World Sight Day' is celebrated annually in October. Today it was celebrated under the slogan, 'the right to sight' and as the name implies it's a day dedicated to pledging perfect and universal vision. That's a lofty goal, but it begins one eye test at a time….and Here in Belize we did our part; The BCVI partnered with The Belize Diabetes Association to sensitize over a hundred Belizeans about the correlation of Diabetes and poor eye-sight. Jacqueline Graham of the BCVI tells us more:

Jacqueline Graham, BCVI Representative
"We are commemorating World Sight Day today so we decided to highlight one of the major illnesses we find affecting Belizeans right now with their health which is diabetes and how it affects the eyes."

Anthony Castillo, President Belize Diabetes Association
"Diabetes have so many complications and eye problems are one on the complications of diabetes. It all began with the officer from Dangriga who found out that quite a number of persons who visit her clinic were living with diabetes and she felt that there was a need to create some awareness of diabetes and the eyes problems which are created from diabetes."

Jacqueline Graham, BCVI Representative
"We have some blood pressure testing done, so glucose testing done, eye testing being done specifically for today, just to highlight this day World Sight Day."

Anthony Castillo, President Belize Diabetes Association
"I've been living with diabetes for the past 16 years and what I need to say about diabetes, its a condition that cause heavy discipline. What you do or don't do with yourself aggravates your diabetes condition. As you rightly said there you learn about yourself and your condition almost daily. We are also an affiliate of the International Diabetes Federation, we get literature, we get information from international partners and they all do things which come out almost monthly on the condition diabetes. You need to eat with a balance diet and if most of us would have a balance diet we would avoid diabetes and its complications as well. Along with a balance diet your exercise, if you are a diabetic; take your medication, which are prescribe to you by a doctor on the time that it is prescribe for you to take them and these are ways that you will be able to control your diabetes. if you continue to have high level of blood sugar you will have eye problem and many other complications; you will have liver problems, kidney problems, you will have orpha neuropathy where you lose feeling in the feet and all the complication that go with it."

Marcelina Gill, Participant
"I heard about this workshop or some fair or a display something concerning diabetes and I am a diabetic for over 20 years, so I decided to come in and see what it was really about, hearing about the eye sight because my eye sight bothers me, That was the first thing that bother me when I found out I had diabetes so I came in and I would like to say that it is very interesting."

Andrea Polanco
"So you learned anything new today about diabetes?"

Marcelina Gill, Participant
"Yes I learn a lot more than what I had already known because the testimony that miss Eva Middleton gave shows that diabetes is really something that we have to be careful and we have to work with it. The doctor can only help us give us the guidelines but we have to control it."

The short programme which started around ten this morning and ran through to 3 this afternoon also saw presentations made by doctors, nutritionists and BCVI and BDA personnel.

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