 |
||
| The APDP Today | |
|
The APDP Today
 The ortuguese Diabetes Association is a private association founded in 1926 by Ernesto Roma and the oldest member of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). It endeavours to promote the interests of diabetics, to improve their health-care and to help solve all the other problems related to the disease. It also promotes activities aiming to achieve a better knowledge of diabetes and has always put special stress on diabetes education.
To achieve its aims the Association has concentrated on three areas: associative and social, health-care and education. The Clinic  As a health-care organization, the Association runs a specialised clinic to which diabetics are referred for counselling or treatment unavailable at other centres or a multidisciplinary evaluation when complications require that sort of care. It works in close contact with hospitals for services it does not provide (like surgery or haemodyalisis).
The Association´s out-patient clinic has a team of diabetologists, endocrinologists, pediatricians, nutritionists, psychologists, nurses and dieticians, who evaluate any new patient referred to it. Although its activities are coordinated with the national health service and thus many patients are referred back to their doctors as soon as they no longer require the specialised care the Association can provide, most insulin-dependent diabetics and others with special problems continue to be followed in the Association´s clinic. The Association also offers some specialised services to the diabetics referred to its clinic. The Psychology team looks after recently diagnosed insulin-dependent diabetics or other diabetics in need of specialised support. The Ophthalmology department provides not only regular ophthalmological follow-up, but also photocoagulation whenever necessary; surgery is performed at a nearby centre by our own ophthalmologists. The Cardiology department follows up the ever increasing numbers of diabetics with cardiovascular problems. The Urology out-patients clinic deals with the patients with complaints of genito-urinary nature. A Chiropody department has mainly preventive and diagnostic aims and in addition to doctors and nurses, a footwear technician helps create appropriate shoes whenever necessary.  The Clinical Pathology and the Endocrinology laboratories are not only used in clinical practice but also for clinical research, as is the computerised Library. The constantly expanding computer network supports all the clinical and administrative activities. A telephone help line is available over the week-end.
Besides its associative and health-care activities, the Association also has an important training programme, providing courses in diabetes health-care for doctors, nurses, health technicians in the areas of chiropody and nutrition and pedagogical courses for diabetes educators. Holiday camps and other courses for young diabetics aim at providing better diabetes education while also providing pleasant and relaxed occasions for them to meet, have fun and discuss their problems. A quarterly magazine, started in 1931, "Diabetes-living in equilibrium" acts as a link between the Association and its members, diabetics, health-care technicians or lay people. The Association aims to be a model of integrated health-care, providing a range of services otherwise dispersed through several centres and locations and maintaining close contact with the diabetic´s family doctor to avoid unnecessary hospitalizations and inconvenience for the diabetic. |
|