StarBuzz Weekly, Toronto-Simone Thibault: Good morning ladies and gentlemen and our most distinguished guests, the honourable Minister Aglukkaq welcome. I’d also like to note our distinguished guests which are the recipients of today’s news is the Canadian Diabetes Association, Canadian Ethnocultural Council, Canadian Pharmacists Association, the Kidney Foundation and the University of Ottawa through (inaudible).
Je m’appelle Simone Thibault et c’est un grand plaisir de vous accueillir ce matin au Centre de santé communautaire du centre-ville. My name is Simone Thibault. I am the Executive Director of the Centretown Community Health Centre, a centre that for the past 42 years has been working with our community to provide a range of health and social services to individuals and families, many of whom are vulnerable and at risk as well as initiatives to build healthier and stronger neighbourhoods.
Hand in hand as a partner with many of you in the room we have been working locally to deliver diabetes education for the past 13 years to thousands of individuals and families who suffer from diabetes. Last year alone our team of nurses and dieticians have supported close to 5,000 individuals with diabetes in a number of different languages, in a number of different communities and I’m talking urban and rural.
I must say that having worked collaboratively with all part of the system from prevention with the Canadian Diabetes Association to primary care with our community health centres and family health teams to acute care with our local hospitals it is clearly the sum of our parts that is making a difference in the lives of those with diabetes.
J’apprécie votre présence ce matin. C’est un grand plaisir d’accueillir Mme la Ministre Aglukkaq. I am actually quite thrilled to welcome you to Centretown today. I am honoured to have the opportunity to be your host this morning especially in the presence of our Minister of Health, Minister the Honourable Aglukkaq.
Even beyond the many portfolios held since being elected to Parliament in 2008 our Minister brings a wealth of experience of working in community from her former roles as an MLA in an Inuvik Legislative Assembly, her role as a councillor in the municipal government as well as in her volunteer work where she invested many hours in her local communities.
I must say, I was talking to Minister Aglukkaq earlier and it’s amazing the work they do up north and the similarities in some of our isolated communities and where we could learn from them quite a great deal. Therefore it is my great pleasure to invite the honourable Minister Aglukkaq to speak to us this morning.
(Applause)
Hon. Leona Aglukkaq: Good morning everyone. It’s a pleasure for me to be here this morning and I would also like to thank our host Centretown Community Health Centre and the executive director Simone for welcoming us this morning and for being our emcee. I would also like to welcome Mike Cloutier, President and CEO of the Canadian Diabetes Association.
We all know that diabetes is a threat to the health of Canadians. Approximately two million Canadians have already been diagnosed with diabetes and many more are unaware that they have the disease. It is a health problem that has the potential to get worse and that’s because there has been an increase in the number of people with other health problems like obesity which can lead to the development of diabetes.
Also with childhood obesity increasing we could see a dramatic rise in the number of people with diabetes as our children become adults. But there are solutions. There are ways we can help reverse the negative trend. Last year at the Health Ministers meeting in Newfoundlandwith my provincial and territorial counterparts there was an endorsement of the Declaration on Prevention and Health Promotion and curbing childhood obesity.
The Declaration is a written statement of vision from the federal, provincial and territorial Health Ministers to work together with others to make promotion of health and the prevention of disease a priority. It’s important to remember that type two diabetes accounts for between 90% to 95% of all diabetes cases in Canada. Type two diabetes can often be prevented or delayed by adopting a healthier lifestyle.
This includes a healthier weight, getting regular physical activity and choosing a healthier lifestyle. We can help those who are most at risk of developing diabetes by making them aware of practical ways they can prevent or delay the onset of diabetes. If we reach them sooner we can help reduce the harm that diabetes complication can cause.
The government of Canada is committed to helping Canadians to recognize their risk of developing diabetes and understand how to manage the disease. For this reason we lead the Canadian Diabetes Strategy which focuses on prevention, early detection and management of diabetes. We are also working with a variety of partners to find new ways to prevent diabetes.
We support an aboriginal diabetes initiative for more than 600 First Nations and Inuit communities and we are investing in diabetes research through the Canadian Institute of Health Research. Today I am pleased to announce that $6 million in funding through the Canadian Diabetes Strategy for 37 new community based projects across the country. These projects will support programs to detect diabetes as well as programs to help people manage their diabetes.
The Canadian Diabetes Association for example will use its funding for a project called Transforming Materials for People with Diabetes and the goal of this project is to develop resources for healthcare providers and people at high risk of diabetes. By collaborating with the CDA and 36 other groups across the country we can reach people we might not have been able to reach otherwise.
Diabetes is a serious public health challenge in Canada and around the world but our government is committed to protecting Canadian families. We all know someone in our family who has diabetes. This support will help those we hold dear. That is why we are working with key organizations to prevent diabetes and to improve the lives of those who have or who may develop diabetes.
I am pleased to work with our partners that Canadians can take action to prevent and manage this disease. Thank you all for being here this morning.
(Applause)
Simone Thibault: Thank you Minister Aglukkaq. As you say it’s touching many of our family members and friends’ lives. This is an important significant investment to assist people with diabetes in communities all across Canada. I’m particularly thrilled to see the wide range of innovative prevention and management strategies that have been supported.
The emphasis on prevention and early detection especially with vulnerable populations is key to addressing the growing number of people diagnosed with diabetes. Now I invite Michael Cloutier, President and CEO of the Canadian Diabetes Association to say a few words on what he sees as the benefits of this new investment.
(Applause)
Michael Cloutier:
Diabetes is as you know an epidemic in this country. It’s pandemic in the world today. Millions of Canadians have either diabetes or pre-diabetes. With an aging population, rising rates of obesity and increasingly sedentary lifestyles the prevalence of diabetes in Canada is both dramatic and alarming. One in four Canadians is affected by diabetes or pre-diabetes and if left unchecked by 2020 that number will rise to one in three Canadians.
The Canadian Diabetes Association leads the fight against diabetes and is committed to improving the quality of life for Canadians while we search for a cure. We are dedicated to increasing the awareness among Canadians that diabetes is a life threatening disease. We encourage all Canadians to take an active role in managing their own health by asking their doctor about their own risk for developing diabetes.
The Association was born of a conviction and an unwavering belief in the critical importance of research. Continuing to support the highest quality research we are advancing promising medical projects and studies that could lead to the next great scientific breakthrough against diabetes.
By translating research into practical information we are empowering people living with diabetes to self-manage and provide high quality useful tools to all Canadian healthcare providers. We are sincerely grateful to Minister Aglukkaq and the government of Canada for your assistance in helping us meet the needs of Canadians who are struggling and managing their disease which challenges their quality of life.
For people living with diabetes self-management and maintenance is essential. Many decisions must be made and repeated an infinite number of times each day. Every day requires an enormous amount of knowledge, planning and assistance. They need the proper tools to help them along the way as do their healthcare teams who support them.
As noted by Minister Aglukkaq funding through the Canadian Diabetes Strategy will assist the Association to transform evidence based information within our clinical practice guidelines into practical tools for people living with type two diabetes with specific high risk populations. This is especially critical given that compared to the overall Canadian population Canadians of south and south Asian, aboriginal, African and Hispanic descent have higher rates of pre-diabetes, obesity, childhood type two diabetes, gestational diabetes and type two diabetes occurring in younger ages.
In addition south Asians are the fastest growing immigrant population with the highest rates of morbidity and mortality related from cardiovascular disease. These materials will be translated into Hindi, Punjabi, Chinese, Spanish, Tamil to reflect the needs of high risk populations along with English and French. They will be available on our website for the launch of our new guidelines which will be introduced in 2013.
This will include interactive site for greater self-directed learning, tests for understanding and a tracking mechanism to determine the impact of the program on those who access the information. Funding will also assists us in the development of a Hispanic specific nutrition tool by translating and adapting the Association’s “Just the Basics” guide.
This resource will provide Hispanic Canadians either with or at risk of developing type two diabetes and the healthcare professionals who work with them with nutrition and physical activity education information based on best practices in diabetes management. We’re here to turn this situation around. We know that in the short term we can’t eliminate diabetes but we are all committed to helping people with diabetes live healthy lives while we search to find a cure.
That’s what’s guiding us on our journey ahead. We’ve come a long way in the past 90 years since the development of insulin. Yet there is no reprieve in the fight against diabetes. There's a lot of work yet to be done and I hope that you will share in our optimism of what we can accomplish together.
On behalf of the 9 million Canadians living with diabetes or pre-diabetes and the entire Association I really want to thank you for being here today and for your ongoing support. Thanks very much.
(Applause)
Simone Thibault:
It will certainly strengthen our collaborative efforts in attending to this growing problem. Our ability to support people with diabetes and their families and caregivers from prevention to management couldn’t happen without our numerous partnerships including the Canadian Diabetes Association.
It’s really nice to see you and others receiving this investment from our federal government. Seeing all levels of government working collaboratively from the federal to the provincial to the territories to the local communities is what is necessary to making a difference to those who have diabetes in their families.
I guess Minister Aglukkaq photo opportunity with myself and Michael Cloutier and then I will close.
(Photo op) Merci. On arrive à la fin de notre programme ce matin. We are at the end of our program so I thank you all for your participation at this important event this morning. Je vous remercie tous et toutes de votre participation ce matin et pour célébrer cette belle nouvelle. Merci. Thank you.
(Applause)
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