Supporting a colleague living with diabetes
3 August 2006
During a recent heat wave in Tunis, employees from Novo Nordisk Tunisia made life a whole lot cooler for Zuheira, a colleague who has type 1 diabetes.
Most Novo Nordisk people know the face of Zuheira; she is featured all over our corporate branding campaigns and corporate presentations. What most people don’t know is that Zuheira is in fact working for Novo Nordisk. She is the cleaning lady of our offices in Tunisia and she has type 1 diabetes.
A charming person, always smiling and a hard worker, she constantly strives to manage her condition and lead a normal life. The Novo Nordisk team in Tunisia helps as much as they can by providing her with access to physicians and advice on diabetes management.
An exhausting heat
Still with all the help from the team, things can get difficult for Zuheira when temperatures rise above 45°C. ”I simply find it very difficult to eat or even sleep – I have no appetite when it gets too hot and I feel exhausted,” she says. And the salary of a cleaning lady does not allow her the luxury of an air-conditioning unit.
Making the dream come true
Recently, there was a heat wave in Tunis with soaring temperatures and humidity reaching 80%. ”She came and told me that she would put aside two months salary and try to buy air-condition, but I realised that still she would not have enough money,” says Douja Baccouche Finance, Admin & Quality manager in Novo Nordisk Tunisia, ”...so we decided it was time to TakeAction!” The whole Novo Nordisk team agreed to raise the money and buy Zuheira an air conditioning unit. If everybody contributed it should be possible.
A will to make a difference
Zuheira now has the air-conditioning unit installed in her place – something that will help her manage her diabetes a little bit better and make us all a little bit happier. Stavros Platakis, General Manager of Novo Nordisk in Tunisia says he is extremely proud of the initiative taken by the team. ”It shows that we walk the talk and we are willing to sacrifice small things in order to make a difference. Well done Novo Nordisk Tunisia!”
