Half the people in the district that have diabetes are completely unaware of their condition, according to Amanda Roy, Communications Lead for the Rainy River District Ontario Health Team. That’s why the health team, along with their community partners, is hosting a diabetes awareness campaign, with plans to distribute thousands of free diabetes awareness kits.
“November is actually Diabetes Awareness Month, and it’s recognized globally,” said Roy, “Diabetes Canada runs an awareness month, and we’re participating as part of it. But, November 14 in particular is World Diabetes Day.”
For World Diabetes Day, the Rainy River health team will be “working closely with the Ministry of Health and Ontario Health, the OHT goal is to ensure everyone in Ontario can benefit from better coordinated, more integrated care,” states their press release.
Locally, the Rainy River District Ontario Health Team will be teaming up with the Fort Frances Lakers to raise awareness about diabetes and a healthy lifestyle.
“The fort Frances Lakers team is going to also help us on site, in Fort Frances, to distribute some of the kits,” said Roy.
“We’ll be distributing kits, awareness kits to the public. We’re targeting ten per cent of the population, which is around 2200 people,” said Roy. “A lot of people are living with it and they don’t even know. So, they should consider it, and they should get blood work done every two years. It’s about prevention and living healthy lifestyle.”
Moreover, health literacy has been an issue in Canada since at least 2007, according to report from the now defunct Canadian Council on Learning. The reports finds that while Canadians do have a better understanding of health literacy than Americans there are still areas for improvement.
“60 per cent of adult Canadians (ages 16 and older) lack the capacity to obtain, understand and act upon health information and services and to make appropriate health decisions on their own. In addition, the proportion of adults with low levels of health literacy is significantly higher among certain groups, a finding that raises questions of equity,” states their report. “Canadian adults with less than a high-school education perform well below adults with higher levels of education, and this gap widens with age. This might suggest that the aging process amplifies initial levels of education-based inequality.”
