Those Battlefords residents living with chronic health conditions will have better access to a free, community-based health education and exercise program, thanks to the expansion of the Prairie North Health Region's Strides to Better Health program.
Strides was created one and a half years ago through a collaboration between a variety of medical professionals, including therapists, nurse educators, public health providers and primary health-care workers. The goal of the program is to improve or maintain the health of those living with, or at risk of chronic diseases by providing a safe, supportive environment for individual and group exercise programs.
The initiative achieves this with a 12-week program that includes medically monitored exercise three times per week and health education. For every session, one to two health-care providers and two volunteers lead participants in a variety of practical, fun activities. Initially, acceptance into the program depended on a doctor's referral and excluded patients with a history of cardiac events, stroke, arthritis, pulmonary disease and various other chronic diseases.
The program, while unchanged, has now removed the barriers to participating. Anyone, regardless of existing conditions or medical history, can participate with a medical professional's referral.
When it first began, the Battlefords program had only 10 referrals, at the moment there are over 40. To date, the program has had 341 participants in Saskatchewan, and 116 of these have been in the Battlefords.
The announcement was greeted by Prairie North Health Region staff, medical professionals, volunteers for Strides and participants in the program at an announcement event at the Alex Dillabough Centre Monday morning.
One of those present was Carmen Beaumont, who has been a participant for six months. She described the many ways in which the program had helped her, for example by lowering her stress level, and said she hoped the program would be expanded to rural areas. But she also explained the program's greatest contribution was that it put patients more in control of their own health: "I think that it's extremely important to empower people to take care of themselves."
