As Prince George continues to position itself as the nexus for medical treatment for northern British Columbia, The Citizen is offering the city's residents another chance to explore their health care options.
The 2011 Healthier You Expo takes place this year on Oct. 24 at the Civic Centre. The event, in partnership with Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond and Immigrant and Multicultural Services Society executive director Baljit Sethi, will feature special guest speaker Dr. Art Hister.
This is the fifth year of the expo and once again residents will have the opportunity to spend a few hours in their weekend to learn about wellness issues and meet some of the healthcare providers in the city.
"It's been a tremendous event," said Citizen publisher Hugh
Nicholson.
"It's the largest wellness event in northern B.C. that we're aware of."
"There will be a particular focus on men's health because it's a particular focus in the North," Nicholson said.
Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., the Civic Centre will be abuzz with information and discussions ranging from chronic diseases for the elderly, living with diabetes, stress relief and men's cancers.
There will also be immunization clinics, blood pressure clinics and information on mental and financial wellness as well as entertainment, including Middle Eastern and other cultural dancing.
For Bond, the health fair is an important tool in providing the community with the information and education necessary to lead healthier lives.
"I recognize the importance of people making healthy living choices and the sooner you can start to do that, especially with children and carrying that through life, makes enough difference in the quality of life," she said.
She added that basic personal choices such as not smoking, eating healthy and being physically active have been shown to reduce the possibility of suffering from a chronic disease.
"I believe a healthy family means a healthy community. It's important we share information and help families become healthy. That's good for the health care system and gives us a much better quality of life."
This is the third year that IMSS has partnered with the expo.
"We joined hands because it's a bigger exposure and more access for the ethnocultural community to enjoy the information and hear reputable speakers," said Sethi.
With the involvement of the immigrant services society, there will be opportunities for joint presentations on chronic disease at the Sikh temple in Punjabi as well as
translation of a presentation on cancer.
For the second year, there will also be an award handed out to a member of the medical field who has done additional work for the ethnocultural community.
The main draw for this year's Healthier You Expo will be the return of Dr. Art Hister as the keynote speaker.
The popular doctor has been a correspondent for BBC Radio and CBC Newsworld and currently is a health analyst for Global TV as well as Vancouver's CKNW talk
radio.
Due to his standing-room only presentation last year, Dr. Hister will be speaking twice at the Sunday event, once in the morning and again in the afternoon.
"[Dr. Hister] has been terrific in coming to the north to talk to us about how to live longer and healthier lives," said Bond.
"He's humorous, but also extremely factual and compelling."
Admission to the Healthier You Expo is free.
For more information, see upcoming issues of The Citizen.
