Vancouver Chinese Diabetes Education Centre – Chinese resources for diabetes in the community
One in 11 adults has diabetes according to the International Diabetes Federation (2015 statistic). There are some common risk factors of developing diabetes, such as being aged 40 or older, having a family history of diabetes, and being overweight. The more risk factors someone has, the greater the risk of developing diabetes. Having a parent or both parents of Asian descent also increases one’s risk of developing diabetes.
The Vancouver Chinese Diabetes Education Centre operates within the Healthy Living Program, which serves the Vancouver Community. This Diabetes Education Centre has served the Asian population since 1995. Dr. Thomas Wong, the education program founder, along with the health authority and community partners saw a need for a culture-specific community diabetes program for the Asian population. This program has a long standing partnership between the Chinese Canadian Medical Society, SUCCESS and Vancouver Coastal Health. Programs are delivered in Cantonese and Mandarin by a Registered Nurse and a Registered Dietitian at Chinatown SUCCESS and Evergreen Community Health Centre. Topics covered include the pathophysiology of diabetes, healthy eating, healthy lifestyle, self-management, action planning and community resources. Clients can participate by physician referral, or can self-refer by registering through SUCCESS.
The Vancouver Chinese Diabetes Education Centre also works closely with the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA). The Chinese educational resources, which CDA publishes, are a major component in program delivery. Recently, the CDA announced the publication of 21 new diabetes resources printed in Chinese. The project is a collaboration between health professionals and CDA staff, which includes reviewing, re-writing and translating to Chinese information about various topics related to diabetes. Staff at the Vancouver Chinese Diabetes Education Centre are also involved in this project. Eleven new titles have been translated from existing CDA English resources. Ten were updated and revised to adhere to the 2013 version of the CDA Clinical Practice Guidelines. The efforts are now published online:
Along with the CDA, we’re very proud of the accomplishment to now have these Chinese resources on the CDA Clinical Practice guidelines website. In addition to existing English and French resources, the website now has a dedicated category of resources under the Chinese language. The hope is that both people living with diabetes and health professionals will find these resources helpful in meeting the demand for more language-appropriate and culturally-adapted educational tools in Chinese.