LEAN ON ME

We continue our travels around the motu where we meet each region’s Diabetes Youth Coordinator. In this issue, we meet Lena Fendley-Peach in Tauranga.

Lena Fendley-Peach recounts those first few weeks of her son’s diagnosis with type 1 diabetes. ‘We were in that head spinning/not knowing what you’re doing/worried about the future place.’ The one positive thing about this stressful period for Lena and her son Ezra was the timing. ‘We got to go to the family camp three weeks after diagnosis, which was amazing. So to be able to go to camp and talk to people that had been dealing with type 1 for a long time was great. Knowing he was going to be ok and live a normal life was what we got out of that time, watching these other kids just doing normal, everyday stuff.’

Back home, Lena and her then eight-year-old son enjoyed the help they started receiving from their newly discovered community. The awesome support they found blossomed into friendships, Lena says, with two mums in particular who were in similar positions to herself.

GIVING BACK

Once her head had ceased spinning, Lena threw herself into as much volunteering within her local diabetes community and helping at camps and events as her job as a home-based carer would allow. But the time came when she didn’t have as many kids coming to her, and that’s when she decided to go to Toi Ohomai Polytech in Tauranga and embark on a Bachelor’s degree in Community Health. ‘My goal was to work in a paid role, supporting families who had a child with type 1 diabetes,’ she says. ‘I wanted to give the same type of support I received when my son was diagnosed.’

Her first work experience placement was with the local diabetes group, which at that time was called Diabetes Help Tauranga. ‘A few weeks into my placement, the manager resigned and I took on her job, while still finishing off my degree. We needed to make a few changes to the services we provided because she was a diabetes nurse. So a couple of months later the committee merged Diabetes Help Tauranga with Diabetes NZ, and I have been working in this role since 2019.’

Similar to a few other Youth and Diabetes Community Coordinators around the country, Lena has a split role, and her workdays reflect that. She spreads herself between working with type 1 and youth across the Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, and Taupō but is also part of a community service team that works with type 2 and adults across the wider Tauranga area.

DAY TO DAY

On an average week, Lena helps ‘walk-ins’ find whatever information or support they are seeking, whether they be type 1, type 2, kids, teens, adults, or family members. She also runs support groups for people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes and attends diabetes educational groups run by the Western Bay of Plenty PHO to promote Diabetes NZ services. Another job in Lena’s busy schedule is attending community and kaumātua groups to educate the participants about living well with diabetes. Finally, she also gets referrals from Tauranga Hospital of families who have just had a child diagnosed with type 1.

A lot of Lena’s time is spent organising events for local families, which includes the annual Diabetes NZ Youth family camps. With grant funding becoming more difficult to secure, Lena says organising and finding sponsors takes up a lot of time. Lena praises the fundraising team, saying they do an excellent job in securing grants that cover about half the cost of the camp. Lena’s dedication in this area has paid off, and she notes that in the last few years she has developed a good relationship with the local Lions clubs, which makes the job easier. ‘I am thankful to the businesses who are connected to some of the type 1 families and that donate for these events,’ she says. ‘This makes it easier to reach our goal.’

An event that is requiring a lot of Lena’s time lately is the upcoming CGM and pump rollout throughout the country. ‘I’ll be coordinating with reps from the different suppliers to organise training sessions. We’ll do that for all the areas we have a staff member, so we’re very, very busy.’

Asked what she would love to see happen in her area in the future, she’s quick to reply: ‘More camps! I would love to see a teen camp in our area. Diabetes NZ Waikato (which is run by volunteers) has a kids’ camp that some Tauranga families get to go to. Here in the Bay of Plenty, we run a family camp, but we don’t have a dedicated teens camp and I’d love to see that.’