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Focus on wellness brought to Banff

An international symposium to promote action on wellness was held in Banff last week to allow industry leaders and government officials a chance to work on how to promote healthier lifestyles.

An international symposium to promote action on wellness was held in Banff last week to allow industry leaders and government officials a chance to work on how to promote healthier lifestyles.

Health and lifestyle play a key part in people’s daily lives and one of the main reasons Alberta is focusing on the subject is because of the ballooning cost of health care.

Chief Medical Officer of Health for Alberta André Corriveau said 50 per cent of the diseases that are currently clogging the system are preventable and associated with lifestyle.

Corriveau said government is beginning to recognize that if it does not get a grip on prevention, the health-care system will not survive.

Hence the symposium at the Banff Springs with representatives across government agencies from the United States, Australia and Europe.

“We can’t do it on our own,” he said.

Part of the problem is there are barriers to healthy living, Corriveau said. That includes when healthy food costs more and the price of participating in sports for children excludes certain sectors of society.

He said he hopes the symposium allows those who are creating successful programs and choices to share those stories.

“The more we can make healthy options easier for people, the more they will take them,” Corriveau said.

Chief Public Health Officer of Canada David Butler-Jones said the first role of public health officials like himself is to keep the public healthy.

He pointed out for the first time in history the next generation of our society has a life expectancy shorter than their parents.

What has happened, he said, is we have created systems that are not conducive to good health, so government officials in roles like his have to challenge other government departments and the private sector to change.

He said the symposium is a clear example of how government must step back and look at what it does, but not in isolation.

At one level, he said, a society knows the changes that affect health – like larger serving sizes – “but if it really is that simple, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

And it isn’t about making people do things differently.

“It is about creating the opportunity for making choices and people will make those choices if they have them,” Butler-Jones said. “I think we are at a time where there is a willingness to break down barriers between sectors and governments.”

There is also an economic argument that can be made for healthier living. Preventable illnesses cost the economy, said Butler-Jones. Whether it is the cost to the health-care system to treat diseases or lost productivity in the workforce, as a result there is a financial hit.

Gene Zwozdesky, minister of health for Alberta at the time of the symposium, said wellness is important for more than economic reasons.

Zwozdesky said he met with officials from various sectors like education, the food processing and manufacturing industry, community groups and non-government organizations and asked them to make a commitment to take action.

“We as a government are moving forward with this, but recognize we can’t do it alone,” he said. “We need buy-in and leadership from others.”

He pointed to Alberta’s five-year health action plan backed with funding as an example what is being done in this province.

For more information on initiatives in the province go to www.healthyalberta.com


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