Lurline Less: Dedicated to fighting diabetes

LURLINE Less is a positive person who believes in accepting life as it is, and who sees the glass as half-full rather than half-empty.Raised in Golden Grove, St Thomas, Less left high school and pursued a diploma course in chemical technology at the then College of Arts, Science and Technology (now UTech) before embarking on a career in the private sector.But in 1993 at the age of 27, she was shocked to learn that she was suffering from type 1 diabetes. This unexpected diagnosis was all the more surprising because she was not overweight, and tried to lead a healthy lifestyle as she knew the disease ran in her family. “Like any young person, I was in denial.I was shocked, worried, and confused. The doctors told me what to do, but I took [their advice] with a grain of salt. At the time there was a lack of diabetes mellitus education, psychosocial support, testing supplies, understanding… However, I had excellent family and medical support,” she told All Woman.At about that time, an opportunity arose for Less to further her studies in chemical engineering overseas, but she declined. The thought of having to cope with a new disease in a foreign country was a daunting prospect. Less went on to work for four years after her diagnosis, and during this period she neglected to follow treatment recommendations.Consequently, her blood sugar level alternated between high and low, and her lifestyle adjustments went haywire. She soon developed diabetic neuropathy — damage and constant pain in the limbs. Faced with a disability coupled with frequent medical visits, and thoroughly demotivated by that time, Less made the decision to quit her job and spend a year recuperating.She got married during that time, and focused on learning all she could about the disease during her one-year hiatus. She took the time to learn more about the disease, understand, internalise, accept it, and fight.“I had excellent support from my family and my husband Lenworth. He would purchase testing supplies and education materials from the USA and he was really a tower of strength. He still is,” she stressed.“I was determined not to let diabetes win. I had a better lifestyle adjustment and was timing meals in relation to medication and physical activity, and a better understanding of accepting diabetes as a lifelong lifestyle disease, which is a critical first step in management and compliance. Unless you understand it, you can’t make a change,” she pointed out.Thereafter, she started offering diabetes education at the Diabetes Association of Jamaica (DAJ) on a voluntary basis, and pursued a Bachelor’s degree in health administration at UTech, and a Master of Philosophy degree in diabetology at the University of the West Indies, specialising in diabetes education.Now the chairperson of the DAJ, where she has been a member for the past 22 years and a volunteer for 14 years, Less can be considered at the age of 51 to be a fundamental asset in the organisation which she has helped to develop as a standard diabetes centre, while empowering diabetics to live a normal and productive life.Managing director of the DAJ’s renal unit since 2002, Less has dedicated herself to fighting diabetes, and contributes in the area of lay diabetes education as well as a full diabetes service delivery centre. Her aim is to improve the lives of diabetics through education, equity in access to care, and improvement in the quality of care in diabetes management.Less is also the chairperson of the North America and Caribbean Region of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and has made presentations at the IDF World Congress in Dubai and Montreal; Peer for Progress, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland; World Diabetes Congress; University of the West Indies Diabetes Outreach Project (UDOP) Conference, and the 18th International Diabetes Federation Congress in Paris.She has also been a mentor for diabetes education training in Jamaica, Cayman, Barbados, and the North American Regional Council & Declaration of the Americas. Her other activities include giving talks at schools on diabetes mellitus, and serving as coordinator/educator for diabetes education in 29 health centres.She has worked on a number of diabetes-related projects, the most recent being the 2011 Diabetes Self-Management Education curriculum for development and training with the Ministry of Health and PAHO, Jamaica, for use in other Caribbean countries, and the 2012 Lay Diabetes Education and Leadership Training in the Caribbean. A mother of two, Less adheres to this philosophy: “To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are”, and she is thankful for all her experiences.“It’s a strange way of God directing my life, but it all depends on how you choose to see things. Will you see it as unfortunate, or will you make the best of it? For me, it is protecting my children from obesity and from eating unhealthy [foods]. I want to continue living a deep quality of life so as not to suffer the complications of diabetes.”