Sault College has partnered with York University and the Garden River First Nation to deliver a pre-diabetes detection and physical activity intervention delivery program, also known as PRE-PAID, wrote SooNews.ca Feb. 15:

The PRE-PAID project, funded by the Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport and Ontario Trillium Foundation, targets groups at high risk for diabetes and uses a community-based approach to engage them in the physical activities they enjoy. The York University study has been operational since November 2009, and several diverse ethnic neighbourhoods in the Toronto area have participated. The Sault College project will involve individuals of First Nations descent.

"The PRE-PAID team is very excited to partner with Sault College for this important initiative,” states Chip Rowan, Researcher and Certified Exercise Physiologist at York University. “Through this partnership, we hope to extend our program to a community that has a well documented risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Through the provision of free screening and targeting individuals with pre-diabetes, we hope that our physical activity intervention program will prevent or delay the development of type 2 diabetes for as many people as possible."

Canadian Diabetes Association Regional Branch Co-ordinator, Janie Bringleson, says the statistics involving those with diabetes are alarming. Nearly 1 in 4 Canadians either has diabetes or pre-diabetes and more than 20 people are diagnosed with the disease every hour of every day. The Health Council of Canada states that diabetes is much more common, and growing more quickly, among First Nations adults, who are two to eight times more likely to have diabetes than the overall Canadian population, depending on age group. Researchers hope to show participants the benefits of engaging in no cost, enjoyable physical activities. Second, it is hoped that the project will demonstrate the importance of investing in exercise to prevent diabetes. Through these interventions they expect to reduce diabetes by 60%.

The complete article is available on SooNews.ca. More information about the PRE-PAID program is available through the Research website archives.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile – York University’s daily e-bulletin.