Lesley: Knowing about multiple medicines – Consumer organisations and hospitals
Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.
Lesley
Female
Age at interview: 74
Number of medicines: 25
Cultural background: Anglo-Australian
Lesley joined Diabetes Australia and became involved as a volunteer. She has learned a great deal about diabetes through her various roles in the organisation.
Well I was feeling that I don't want to have diabetes. I've got enough other things to worry about, because it was shortly after [husband’s] first batch of cancer. He'd just had a heart attack too, so I didn't want to … something else to think about. But then I started feeling better after I was on it, so … and then I thought well, I've got to learn a bit more about this.
So I joined Diabetes Australia, Manly Warringah branch. The first meeting I went to, the President and Treasurer were leaving to go to Perth … oh, we've got to find somebody new. So I said okay, I'll do the Treasurer's job. My husband was a financial controller, so he could help … So I’ve been doing it all that time. I learnt a lot about diabetes in that time. We have a speaker … a specialist speaker once a month. Then I also became Secretary, because our Secretary moved to Brisbane, and so I was the … got the speakers. Then I became Newsletter Editor too, and I wrote a newsletter every three months.
So in doing that, I learnt an awful lot about diabetes. I learnt who was the best person to go to see, what doctors were the best, what doctors not to go to see. What podiatrists were the best … all that sort of stuff. How to handle all sorts of things. So if anything happens to me or my family, I like to investigate about it, and learn as much as I can about it.
The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.