A Bamaga nurse has been named Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander Credentialled Diabetes Educator of the Year at an annual diabetes national conference.
Shirley Kusu is a Clinical Nurse Consultant Credentialled Diabetes Educator who works in a small team of health professionals supporting around 400 people living with diabetes across the Northern Peninsula Area.
She received the award during the recent Australasian Diabetes Congress on the Gold Coast.
Ms Kusu’s journey to become a Diabetes Educator was initially a personal one, having been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes early in her nursing studies.
While many Type 1 diagnoses occur during childhood, it can occur at any time in a person’s life.
Type 2 diabetes, which has a few contributing risk factors, is unfortunately quite prevalent in the First Nations population.
Ms Kusu, who is from Thursday Island but has been working at the Bamaga Primary Health Care Centre for the past five years, said she was proud of her role in helping to improve the quality of her people’s lives.
“When I started the additional training to become a diabetes educator, it was because I wanted to learn how to manage my own diagnosis better,” she said.
“It’s such a life-changing and scary diagnosis; it turns your life upside down and managing it is a fulltime job.
“I can speak to patients from personal experience. When engaging with them, I can empathise with them because a lot of my clients just need the right tools to self-manage, they want understanding.
“I’m able to tell someone who has just been diagnosed that I know exactly what they’re going through.
“I also like to attend as many educational events as I can to make sure I have all the latest information and tools to provide my clients to help manage their diabetes.”
Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service Executive General Manager North Marita Sagigi said Ms Kusu was well deserving of her award.
“As a Health Service our primary focus is around closing the gap in terms of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health,” she said.
“To have someone with such a direct link to the patients she treats is such a unique and amazing benefit for the communities where she works.
“Shirley and her team work tirelessly to support their patients and improve their health outcomes.
“Not only that, she is an invaluable educational asset to her colleagues given her dedication to expanding her own knowledge of this disease.
“I congratulate Shirley on this incredibly well deserved award.”