Cairns Diabetes Centre is this week celebrating 30 years of dedicated service to the Far North Queensland community.
The Service first opened its doors in 1996 and has grown to become the first regional diabetes facility in Australia to be accredited as a Centre of Excellence earlier this year.
They have delivered more than 12,000 appointments per year over the past four years.
The Centre’s Clinical Director Dr Ashim Sinha also received a Lifetime Achievement through the Australian Diabetes Centre in July.
Diabetes Team Leader Bernadette Sellwood said the Centre prided itself on delivering culturally appropriate and multi-disciplinary care across Far North Queensland.
She said they were also using birthday celebrations this week to launch the Kellion Honour Wall which acknowledges local recipients of the Diabetes Australia Kellion Victory Medal who have lived with type 1 or type 2 diabetes for 50 years or more.
The Wall currently features 14 people, including two who have lived with diabetes for 70 years.
‘We are so proud to mark the 30th anniversary of this service and acknowledge both the exceptional staff who have worked here over those years and the hundreds of patients who we have supported on their health journey,’ she said.
‘Receiving a diabetes diagnosis is life-changing for patients and affects every part of their lives, down to the simplest decision making most of us take for granted.
‘We know there is a significant burden of disease in our region and how important it is to have a service which can respond to this high level of need.’
The Diabetes Centre was initially based on Lake St across from the hospital when it first opened in 1996 and relocated to its current location at the Cairns North Community Health Facility in 2009.
It has grown to include more than 60 staff which includes doctors, nurses, dietitians, podiatrist, psychologists, social workers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and administration staff.
Diabetes Australia Group CEO Justine Cain said: ‘Congratulations to the Cairns Diabetes Centre on 30 years of caring for the Far North Queensland community.
‘This week is also about celebrating some remarkable local people who have lived with diabetes for 50 years or more. That takes real strength, resilience and determination every day.
‘The Diabetes Australia Kellion Victory Medal recognises the full lives they have lived, and the families, friends and health professionals who have walked alongside them.
‘We are proud to support this recognition and thrilled that local recipients will now be permanently celebrated here in Cairns through the new Honour Wall.’