Prevention becomes focus in battle against diabetes

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HEALTH: Disease hits native communities hardest

Posted By RICHARD BEALES

Updated 1 month ago

Health promotion facilities on Six Nations are hard at work educating people about how to prevent the early onset of Type II diabetes, but challenges abound.

Statistics from 2007, the most recent available from the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network, show that of the four municipalities within the geographical County of Brant, the two First Nations communities had the highest incidence of adult-onset diabetes.

The numbers level off more between the municipalities from age 50 onward. Overall, the rate of people with diabetes per 100 population (standardized and adjusted for age and sex) is 24.83 in Six Nations, 20.04 in New Credit, 10.48 in Brantford and 8.71 in Brant County. The LHIN cautions that the New Credit stats in particular may be unreliable, because of the small sample size of 344 people.

The numbers are of concern to Six Nations health worker Sheila Parehk.

"It is a big problem, as you are well aware," said Parehk, supervisor of health promotion programs for White Pines Wellness Centre. "With their population being so large (on Six Nations), how do we reach out to everybody?"

One way is through diabetes education programs, which must tackle lifestyle issues such as smoking (higher incidence on reserves, with plenty of inexpensive tobacco available) and diet (often complicated by such traditional high-fat dishes as fry bread).

Two nurses and two dietitians are available for one-on-one consultation and to run the centre's educational services.

Treatment is always available for people who have been diagnosed with diabetes or a prediabetic condition, Parehk said, but her job is to get through to those who haven't reached that stage yet.

"The main focus is for prevention," she said, "so we do a variety of activities and programs with youth."

There are two activity coordinators and another staffer who works mostly with children, setting up programs such as camps and cooking classes at the Chiefswood Road facility's teaching kitchen, explained Parenhk.

"All of our programming fills up and we can't keep up with the demand," she said. "We're limited by (available) staff; with health promotions we're (a team of ) seven and diabetes we're four. So there's only so much we can do."

Parehk is particularly excited about a new program scheduled to begin in September.

"It's called the Good Road -it's a three-month program and it's going to really impact (people on) how to make healthy choices, and how to exercise."

The program takes the place of another, which ran for five sessions and gained a lot of local attention but mixed results.

"For the last few years we've run a 'biggest loser' weight-loss challenge," Parehk said. "It was very successful, but often the challenge was that the people weren't maintaining their changes afterwards."

The challenge is convincing people to seek healthy choices for their long-term benefit.

"It shouldn't have to be about the prizes," she said.

The Good Road promises to be that kind of program.

"It's going to be a little more comprehensive and teach the skills," she said. "We're trying to disseminate as much information as we can."

rbeales@theexpositor.com

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Diabetes Tips

Six Nations health worker Sheila Parehk offers the following five tips for preventing the onset of diabetes:

1. Get involved in some sort of physical activity, at least 30 minutes a day;

2. Eat more fruits and vegetables, preferably

fresh, and cut down on saturated fats and fried foods;

3. Quit, or at least cut back on smoking;

4. Limit your sugars, especially in drinks such as soda pop;

5. Try to eat breakfast daily. "If you don't eat breakfast, it may be because you've eaten too much the say before... it can be a vicious cycle."

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