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What is Diabetes? Diabetes mellitus occurs when the body cannot produce or respond appropriately to insulin, a hormone that absorbs and uses glucose (sugar) as fuel for cells. The stats are staggering: Approximately 30 million Americans (9 percent) have diabetes and another 84 million Americans (26 percent) have pre-diabetes. Diabetes lowers life expectancy by up to 15 years, increases the risk of heart disease by 2 to 4 times, and is the leading cause of kidney failure, lower limb amputations, and adult-onset blindness. That might sound like a lot of bad news, but the important thing to remember: Your diabetes [...]

Thrilled and over the moon to have been accepted by the Irish Heart Foundation to be one of their official CPR and BLS training sites. Eric Donovan of Rapid Response CPR Training: “I began teaching First Aid back in 2005, I purchased four manikins and borrowed a training defibrillator from a friend and off I went. In 2010 we invested from our personal savings and created Rapid Response CPR Training and we’ve never looked back. I feel this is down to our simple philosophy of taking care of people, by spending time and listening to them, along with giving them [...]

Cork city's streetscape is set for another injection of colour with the return of the Ardú street art project EchoLive reports:  The project, which arrived in Cork last year, makes a return to the city from now until October 11 with four more large scale murals planned to brighten up the city centre. "Having made such a positive impact on the city last year, we are excited to be back with another line-up of inspiring artists to transform Cork city’s streets," Ardú organisers Shane O’Driscoll, Paul Gleeson and Peter Martin commented. Last year, seven of Ireland’s most respected and renowned [...]

A UCC scientist has accused the council of 'green-washing' and called the 3m high robot trees a waste of taxpayer money Cork Beo reports: Onlookers on Patrick St today were puzzled as council workers installed three giant 'cyber trees' in Cork city centre. Cork city council says the 'new residents' on Patrick St will be "working on pollution and supporting public health." The huge wooden structures are labeled as 'CityTrees', and they are supposed to "filter harmful pollutants out of the air using the superpower of moss." The artificial trees have baffled Leesiders today, and one UCC air quality scientist [...]

A 112 call comes in. A person has been seriously injured. Aware every second counts in the critical first hour, emergency agencies mobilise immediately Note: Some readers may find the contents of this article upsetting The Irish Examiner reports:  The call came in just as Dr Jason Van der Velde was heading to bed in his Clonakilty home. A man had fallen into a blowhole in Garretstown. It was well after 10pm, the last Saturday in April this year, and the call came from the National Ambulance Service’s (NAS) National Emergency Operations Centre in Tallaght. Dr Van der Velde, a pre-hospital [...]