Interlake Residents Getting Better Together
Stonewall, Man., February 23, 2011 — Interlake residents living with a chronic disease now have a place to come together and learn how to take control of health conditions.
Get Better Together is a free six-week workshop designed to help people who are sick and tired of being sick and tired. This self-management training benefits anyone living with a chronic health condition such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, chronic pain or fatigue, Parkinson’s, asthma, depression, stroke and cancer.
Get Better Together is a version of the highly successful chronic disease self-management program being used at Stanford University’s Patient Education Centre in California. Strategies are shared to control pain, deal with fatigue and frustration, start a basic exercise program, handle stress and eat well to live well. People also learn how to use medications effectively and communicate about their health condition when speaking with health professionals, friends and family.
The 2.5 hour workshop sessions are being co-hosted in Stonewall by Jay Adam, Interlake RHA dietitian and Stonewall resident, Pat Slatcher. Adam, who lives with chronic liver disease, has found the program to be personally beneficial.
“A key component of the program involves short term goal setting and guidance on how to achieve those goals to make positive changes towards living a healthier live. It’s rewarding because you achieve a lot over the course of the program and you end up feeling healthier as a result,” Adam said.
Stonewall’s
Get Better Together program will run on Tuesdays in Lions Manor beginning March 15 to April 19 from 1:30 pm. to 4:00 p.m. For more information and to register, call Keri at 1-877-979-WELL (9355) or e-mail
wellness@irha.mb.ca.
Get Better Together is one of the free healthy living initiatives offered by the Community Wellness program under the Interlake Regional Health Authority. For more program information visit
www.irha.mb.ca and click on “Community Services” and “Community Wellness Team”.
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