Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Management

The Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Management team (HPCDM) re-started to offer individual appointments and group programs in-person, and also continued to offer these services over the phone and through virtual platforms.

Re-offering in-person groups to clients and community members has allowed us to extend our reach by connecting with new individuals, and re-connect with clients we had not seen since the pandemic.

Team members were busy offering groups in partnership with other teams within our Centre, as well as with other organizations. We continued to offer a mindful self-compassion group in collaboration with our Addiction and Mental Health team; our dietitian collaborated with our Oasis team to of- fer a bi-weekly cooking group during their drop-in service, and offered numerous virtual and in-person nutrition workshops in partnership with the Parent Resource Centre and Strathcona Heights. Our kinesiologist offered exercise groups in partnership with the Sandy Hill Community Centre, and our smoking cessation counsellor offered a Quit Smoking support group in partnership with Centretown Community Health Centre.

Our two intern students recording a Heart Wise Exercise webinar as part of the Heart Institute’s web series. This session was called Cardio Dance, Boxing and Balance.

The team continued to provide valuable learning experiences for kinesiology students, incorporating the use of virtual platforms for client activities as well as community partners to offer in-person groups again. We were not able to mentor our usual dietitian and nursing students due to staff changes in our team, but we anticipate restarting these important mentorships this year.