SPRINGHILL - Living with arthritis or diabetes can be difficult.
You may feel like you have to give up some of your daily rituals like that long walk you take every day with your furry best friend. But the Your Way to Wellness program is showing chronic disease suffers they can still do all the things they want while managing their ailments.
"It's a six-week program and we offer two-and-a-half hours every week. We also offer it to caregivers," said Maryanne Jackson, a volunteer co-ordinator for the program and volunteer services with the Cumberland Health Authority. "What we do is every week, we have different topics. We'll cover things like eating healthier and keeping active. A lot of times, someone will be diagnosed with a type of chronic condition and they stop doing everything because they can't do it to the capacity that they did before."
A lot of participants from the program are diagnosed with a chronic ailment like arthritis and believe they can't do the same activities they enjoy, such as yard work. Jackson said the program leaders, who are also living with a chronic condition, teach the members they are still able to do all the things they love but need to adjust their routines to accommodate their diagnosis.
"We had a client who liked to pile wood. Once he had a chronic condition, he stopped piling the wood," she said. "Well, he really looked forward to doing every morning. We talked about goal setting and taught him how to look at it a little differently. So he can't pile three-quarter wood like he used to but, in the morning, he could get it up, pile wood for 10 or 15 minutes and take a break and go back at it after lunch for another 10 or 15 minutes."
The program will also cover different ways to manage their symptoms, improve self-confidence, manage any fear anger and frustration about their diagnosis as well as managing daily tasks, learning to talk to their doctors and health care team and goal setting.
Something new for the program this year is some of their meeting locations. Jackson said they will also be visiting some retirement homes and having meetings with residents there.
The program in Amherst will begin Tuesday at the Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre and will also be taking place in other communities in the county at different locations and times.
To find out more about the program or to register, contact Maryanne Jackson at 597-5400 ext. 8145 or email her at maryanne.jackson@cha.nshealth.ca
jturner@amherstdaily.com
to Mike...if this Dr Atia is good, he must be new here,,,as for your talking with several local nurses who you claim know about the insulin pumps, they must be in hiding....because after being in amherst hospital more than 2 dozen times over the last 3 years with diabetic emergencies not only didnt they know about the pump, but didnt know how to treat diabetes in general which is why i have to travel to moncton and halifax because there is no one here qualified to treat diabetics.......