Research conducted at Blacktown Hospital in 2019 unveiled the difficult truth that the health and wellbeing of the City of Blacktown was inching ever closer to one in eight people being under serious threat.
100,000 diabetes blood tests were administered, as part of a Western Sydney
Diabetes (WSD) research initiative, on people passing through the Blacktown Hospital emergency department in 2019, which produced evidence of significant high blood sugar levels in much of the community.
Dr Tien-Ming Hng at the Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology at Blacktown Hospital said at the time that 48 per cent of people tested either had diabetes, or pre-diabetes issues.
“Of the 100,000 tests conducted, 30.5 percent, or 30,533 tests, revealed a result consistent with pre-diabetes, and 17.4 per cent, or 17,435 tests, revealed a result consistent with diabetes (type 1 or type 2),” Dr Hng told The Pulse in 2019.
What is diabetes?
Diabetes Australia says the weighty and complex condition can affect the entire body, which can lead to some dire consequences. It has three different types, type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes - the fastest growing kind of diabetes in the nation, affecting thousands of pregnant women. When someone has it, their body can’t maintain healthy levels of glucose in the blood, which can cause a range of complications.
In a recent WSD year-in-review report, it said diabetes has gone from being a relatively uncommon disease in the early 1990s, to an issue that 1 in 10 Australians face, driven much by an increase in type 2 diabetes.
They said the increased disease and death burden have been seen in heart attacks, heart failure, strokes, kidney failure, foot amputations, liver disease and blindness.
Heloise Tolar from WSD talked plainly about the prevalence of the disease in Western Sydney, with the highest incidences centred in on Mt Druitt.
“In a nutshell, Western Sydney is a diabetes hotspot with disease rates higher than the NSW average,” Ms Tolar told the Greater Blacktown News. “If this 'hotspot' is not addressed, within a decade it will cause an unsustainable economic and societal burden on the state's healthcare system.”
State Labor MP for Blacktown Stephen Bali said diabetes can often go undiagnosed and can cause havoc when it is not attended to in a timely manner.
“The problem with diabetes is that it just kind of sneaks up on you,” Mr Bali told the Blacktown News. “Your eyesight slowly fails, or some of the symptoms of diabetes is bad circulation, so the challenge is there.”
Fast food on tap
Mr Bali said Blacktown Council made good inroads in diabetes prevention with a push to change the types of oils local food outlets used in cooking, and with their investment in the Blacktown International Sportspark precinct in Rooty Hill. But he said the impact of the many fast-food outlets in the Greater Blacktown area has had substantial health consequences on the region.
In a presentation he did for the Council last year, Mr Bali illustrated the stark differences between 13 of the most popular fast-food outlets in the Blacktown City Council with the Northern Beaches Council.
He said the Blacktown area, where the population now sits at around 400,000, had 104 of the fast-food outlets. The Northern Beaches area, with about 274,000 people, had just 35. For instance, there are 23 McDonalds and 13 KFC outlets in Blacktown, and 5 and 4 in the Northern Beaches respectively, and the list tells a similar story with others like Dominos and Red Rooster.
Mr Bali also questioned why the Council, who have been advocating for a healthier Blacktown, didn’t have a problem with plans that have been in the air for a KFC to be built on Council land at the Sportspark precinct - a place that is supposed to be addressing healthy living in the area.
A development application for a KFC to be constructed at the Sportspark on 100 Eastern Road, Rooty Hill was approved by the NSW-appointed Independent Planning Panel in December last year.
“A lot of people always talk about healthy living and that’s why I put the pressure onto Council to say, your policies say we are unhealthy, but why are you using your own land to put a KFC on, instead of a healthy food option,” Mr Bali told the Blacktown News.
The Council said they understood the KFC project was discontinuing, and the consent authority for it is the Independent Planning Panel, not the Council.
“Council understands that despite planning approval for a KFC facility on the lot being given by an Independent Planning Panel, the development will not go ahead, and Council is not aware of any other interest on the site at present,” a Council spokesperson told the Greater Blacktown News.
But Mr Bali said that while Council is developing the land for commercial purposes, in partnership with the Western Sydney Wanderers, ‘Council as owner has the right of veto on what goes onto that land’.
Prevention and hope
The WSD year-in-review report said that diabetes is Australia’s largest disease burden, despite 80 per cent of it being preventable. And Mr Bali said smashing the potential onset of it can be as easy as getting a diabetes blood test done at your medical centre once a year - but said there’s a lot to be done to encourage lifestyle habit changes.
“It doesn’t take much to make small changes … starting up walking clubs, talking to schools and getting better programs, assessment and monitoring during students’ schooling life,” Mr Bali said.
“We need to raise awareness on health checks, so when you go to the doctor, just get a basic blood check-up - I did mine in November last year, which was the first one I had done in four years - if you allow your health to diminish too much, it’s a lot harder to get it back.”
Meanwhile, a documentary series aired on SBS last year raised hope for sufferers as science journalist Dr Michael Mosley claimed type 2 diabetes could not only be prevented but be reversed with diet. The series – Australia’s Health Revolution with Dr Michael Mosley - revealed Dr Mosley’s own struggles after being diagnosed and how he got his blood sugars back to normal sans medication.
Still, Diabetes Australia said there is currently no cure for diabetes, but those with it can live an enjoyable life by learning about it and how to effectively manage it - there is much support out there.
One service is the Get Healthy Service, which offers all NSW residents over 16 years free telephone health coaching with top qualified health professionals for up to six months. You can register online or call 1300 806 258, 800am to 800pm Monday to Friday.
Source: Diabetes Australia
