Eastern Health is looking for volunteer leaders to help facilitate its chronic disease self-management workshops.
The workshops are offered as part of both Eastern Health’s chronic disease prevention and management strategy and the provincial government’s policy framework for chronic disease prevention and management, Improving Health Together.
The workshops are offered through the Home and Community Care Program free of charge, once a week for six weeks to help people manage fatigue, communicate more effectively with their doctor, family, and friends, as well as live better with their health condition.
To date, Eastern Health says it has hosted 12 self-management workshops throughout the region that have been attended by 107 people.
“I am proud to report that the feedback we have received from workshop participants has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Alice Kennedy, vice-president responsible for Home and Community Care at Eastern Health.
Kennedy said these results are largely due to the hard work of staff and the contribution of volunteer leaders.
The volunteer workshop leaders are trained by Eastern Health’s master trainers to assist workshop participants to learn how to better manage their health conditions. There are currently 13 active leaders. To become a leader, a free four-day training session must be completed. Training sessions will be held in Mount Pearl, Carbonear and Marystown in September and October.
Beverley Clarke, vice-president responsible for population health, said the volunteers who lead these workshops directly contribute to teaching those living with a chronic disease how to enjoy a better quality of life.
Clarke said they also enable Eastern Health to carry out “a population health approach that support better health outcomes for our communities.”
Anyone interested in registering to become a self-management workshop leader, or sign up for a self-management workshop, can call 752-3946 or toll free 1-866-880-8998.
More information on workshops and training schedules can be found on Eastern Health’s website at www.easternhealth.ca.
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