It’s not the same
While the online meetups are better than having nothing, they remove the barrier of distance and I know that I am considering incorporating at least one virtual meet-up per year as part of our local group.
Virtual events don’t have the same informality or the same ability to have a casual conversation as face to face but as I said it gives enough to sustain us for now.
Increase in the Number of Face-to-Face Groups
I do want to say that when we get through Covid and it’s no longer a threat, I feel there will be a renewed vigour to meet up in person and I hope this spreads into the diabetes world more and to see more support groups forming nationally. These support groups are also a great way to find out what medical services there are in your area or if there are services lacking and what you could do about it.
People were surprised to learn that there were groups in their area and during some of the meet-ups we identified areas where a group is needed, it just needs one person to take the initiative. After all, if the Wexford group can set up their group just before a lockdown and still succeed then there are no excuses for the rest of us (see feature on Nicola O’Hanlon p.30 in diabetes Ireland’s member magazine Winter 2020 issue).
More type 2 Support should be a Priority
There are over 200,000 people in Ireland with type 2 diabetes and there are just two peer support groups and I desperately think this needs to change but it does require a couple of people to volunteer to get it started and once established maintain it. I also think the establishment of a type 2 diabetes support network means doing it old school – physical venue, notices in newspapers, a subscriber’s phone list, etc which is definitely more labour intensive but in my opinion it would be worth it for any organisation to take this on in terms of developing steering groups and promoting advocacy.
Combination of Virtual and F2F
Going forward, and because the virtual platform works so well for the type 1 community, I plan to incorporate at least one virtual event per year for the Clare type 1 diabetes group so that people don’t have to live with the distance barrier full time.
For now though, we remain online and are counting down the days until we meet again.
