Diabetes Australia

Home | Login or Become a Member

Sitemap

Latest News
Latest Research

04 March 2010

A message from the CEO of Diabetes Australia-NSW on Australian Government Health Reforms

The Australian Government yesterday announced major reforms to Australia’s health and hospital system.

26 February 2010

Diabetes increases dementia risk in older people

British researchers have found that older people with mild cognitive impairment are three times more likely to develop dementia if they have diabetes.

09 March 2010

Combined diet and exercise the key to improving insulin resistance

Combining diet and exercise rather than diet and exercise alone leads to significantly greater improvements in body fat distribution and insulin resistance, according to the findings of a new study.

04 March 2010

Salt intake linked with stroke, heart disease risk

A new Italian study suggests that by lowering our salt intake we could substantially reduce the amount of deaths from heart disease and stroke worldwide.

For General Practitioners & Allied Health Professionals

Vitality - Corporate health program

Australian workplaces are recognising the benefits of healthy and active employees and more companies are moving to improve the health and wellbeing of staff.

In the past 12 months, Diabetes Australia-NSW has seen a number of companies take up the Vitality Workplace Health program and report positive results.

One Sydney-based telecommunications company had 20 employees take part in the Vitality Workplace Health wellbeing initiative.

Over the course of the 10-week program, staff members attended healthy living workshops, seminars, physical activity sessions and a pedometer challenge.

Vitality Program Officer, Natalie Fairchild reports that the program had astounding results with staff members increasing their average daily step count from just over 7,000 to 10,000 steps.

“Since completing their program, the employees have continued their healthier lifestyles and still participate in twice weekly exercise sessions run within the company,” she said.

Workplace health programs help raise awareness and prevention of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes but research shows the benefits extend to the employer. In difficult economic times, looking after valuable staff is crucial.

A recent study found that healthy employees are nearly three times more productive than employees with poor health and take nine times less sick leave.

The Diabetes Australia-NSW Vitality Workplace Health program is managed by a team of health professionals, from Exercise Physiologists to Dietitians and can be tailored to meet the specific needs of any organisation.

What is Vitality?
Vitality is a corporate health program that provides strategies to develop healthy lifestyles and improve health related workplace issues. The Vitality program can be tailored to the specific needs of your employees.

What are the benefits?
Vitality is designed to decrease the prevalence of risk factors that are the underlying cause of many lifestyle-related diseases and will help to:
• Improve employee health
• Improve employee quality of life
• Improve employee satisfaction
• Decrease employee absenteeism
It also demonstrates that the employer is being pro-active in taking positive steps to help employees achieve improved health and wellbeing.

What are the components of Vitality?
The Vitality program contains a wide range of interactive seminars that encourage active audience participation and provides practical advice on how to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle. The seminars are delivered by accredited health professionals such as Dietitians, Diabetes Educators and Exercise Physiologists.

Your organisation can select from the following topics and resources:

Topics:
• Diabetes Awareness
• Healthy Living
• Adapting Recipes for Health
• Healthy Shopping Tours
• Getting Active

Resources:
• Healthy Activity Kits
• Pedometers
• Virtual Supermarket Tour
• Healthy Shopping Guides

For more information on what Vitality can offer you and your employees, call Diabetes Australia-NSW on 1300 136 588.