Member, Canadian Health Advanced by Nutrition & Graded Exercise BC Working Group

Volunteer Opportunity
Do you have high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, struggle with your weight? The Canadian Health Advanced by Nutrition & Graded Exercise (CHANGE) BC is seeking patient partners to provide ongoing guidance in the development of several exciting initiatives to support community based healthy lifestyles! Help ensure these initiatives are innovative, user-friendly and easy-to-navigate!

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Lead Organization/Department
Doctors of BC, Pacific Northwest Division of Family Practice

Aim
This engagement aims to engage patients in discussions with Family Physicians and community partners and inform further development of CHANGE BC initiatives.

Level of Engagement
This opportunity is at the level of collaborate on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the health care partner will work together with you to formulate solutions and incorporate your advice and recommendations into the decisions to the maximum extent possible.

Eligibility
• Experience working in consensus building groups
• Comfort telling your story
• Some familiarity with data analysis is an asset but not required
• Please note:
– The placement process for this opportunity may include an informal interview between the volunteer and the health care partner.

• If you have a strong interest in this work but have not yet completed a PVN orientation and Volunteer Agreement, are unsure if your experience is a good fit or feel another format of engagement would work better with your availability, please contact Cathy Almost

Logistics
• Number of vacancies: 2
• Date and Time: Fridays 0730 – 0830 am
• Location: Virtually over Zoom
• Commitment: seven months to a year

Reimbursement
If you would like to participate in this opportunity, but have concerns about your ability to do so, please contact Cathy Almost (calmost@bcpsqc.ca) and we can identify solutions. Otherwise, no expenses are anticipated.

Background
Canadian Health Advanced by Nutrition and Graded Exercise (CHANGE) BC is a team-based approach of integrating nutrition and exercise into effective, personalized lifestyle interventions for patients. This collaborative program is developed by dietitians, kinesiologists, family doctors and patients to improve the health of Canadians. The CHANGE Program was created by leading health professionals at Metabolic Syndrome Canada to provide family medicine clinics with the tools they need to offer effective, lasting lifestyle intervention to patients with metabolic syndrome.

Based on evidence from diet and exercise research, the CHANGE Program focuses on long-term changes and overall well-being. It simultaneously targets the conditions that often progress to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, while reducing the need for medication.

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a health disorder that, left untreated, greatly increases the risk of many chronic illnesses. MetS is diagnosed when a patient has three of the following conditions:
• High blood pressure (≥ 130/85 mm Hg, or receiving medication)
• High blood glucose levels (≥ 5.6 mmol/L, or receiving medication)
• High triglycerides (≥ 1.7 mmol/L, or receiving medication)
• Low HDL-Cholesterol (< 1.0 mmol/L in men or < 1.3 mmol/L in women)
• Large waist circumference (≥ 102 cm in men, 88 cm in women; ranges vary according to ethnicity)

According to a 2014 study published in Chronic Diseases and Injuries in Canada, 19.1% of all Canadian adults – nearly 1 in 5 people – meet this diagnosis. Most people are unaware of it.

Please see the CHANGE BC website for more background information.
This opportunity is most directly related to community based Primary Care.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Cathy Almost
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Northern Region
250-615-9932
calmost@bcpsqc.ca