Petronella Peach - One Unstoppable Woman!
(continued)
In 2004, Nel was given a 20-year pin and certificate of appreciation by the Canadian Diabetes Association. She has chaired large diabetes education conferences and sold more raffle tickets than she can remember. She is active on the PeopleWithDiabetes.ca message boards. She began forming a self-help group in the Lower Mainland within a year of her diagnosis. She has run diabetes support groups in the Shuswap community, and currently mentors people in Salmon Arm who are switching to (or thinking about) insulin pump therapy.
Nel explains the advocacy issue she is most passionate about
Nel thinks about the benefits to her from running these local support groups. "I know I'm able to help people who are newer to this process than I am. I've been an insulin pumper since August 2001. And I'm able to learn from others who have been pumping longer than I have. And the bottom line is that I've met so many nice people through all this, too."
In the past couple of years, Nel has been expanding her diabetes volunteerism to national advocacy. She was in Ottawa last year as part of the Canadian Diabetes Association's National Advocacy Leadership Forum. This year, she is on the patient committee for the dissemination of the new Clinical Practice Guidelines to help patients become aware and ultimately drive the management of their diabetes care.
