Cancer has touched many – both people contracting the disease, as well as their loved ones.
However, as familiar as it sometimes seems, cancer also brings many unexpected challenges and questions.
To help, a program called InspireHealth aims to support people with the disease and those involved in their care.
There is a free one-day workshop on Monday, Nov. 28 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Tantalus Room at Brennan Park Recreation Centre.
“The goal of this program is to provide an example for people to explore the ways they can contribute to their health and well-being,” said Dr. Judy Tang, who has worked with InspireHealth for four years.
Along with training as a doctor, she has a background in social work. Her interest in healing developed during a seven-year stint as director of social services for disadvantaged adults in Los Angeles.
The non-profit is a Ministry of Health-approved organization. It was established in 1997 and runs connection centres for people in Kelowna, Vancouver and Victoria.
The one-day workshops allow InspireHealth to offer help to people around B.C. that need to find out more information about supporting cancer treatment.
Often people with cancer or their loved ones wonder what they can do to help beyond medical treatment.
This program emphasizes the importance of factors like nutrition in helping to optimize overall health and well-being.
“Even small changes in a person’s diet can help,” Tang said.
The workshop emphasizes how lifestyle factors like diet, physical activity and emotional health are important and the scientific research that supports these links. Basically, it takes a “whole person” approach as a way to augment conventional medical treatment of cancer.
In the traditional cancer care model, the focus has been on a doctor-patient relationship and treatment with chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. InspireHealth’s approach incorporates these within a broader framework that includes a wider group of health professionals as well as therapies that include emotional and spiritual support, sleep and rest, exercise and nutrition, stress reduction and supportive therapies.
The Squamish workshop will open with a welcome and presentation of the overall vision of InspireHealth. There will be an introduction to how people can take charge of their health, followed by a break (participants should bring their own lunch), then a discussion of nutrition in the afternoon and the next steps people can take.
To register for the workshop, call 604-734-7125.
