Northern Health Matters — Jonathon Dyck

The making of a healthy community

April 9, 2013 Jonathon Dyck Leave a Comment

It takes the whole community to make a healthy community. That’s the message behind our latest commercial.

Healthy communities are built through the efforts of all of its members. This video showcases some of these opportunities including sourcing local food at a farmers’ market, getting some fresh air and physical activity in your neighbourhood, or line dancing with friends to keep moving.

How do you help build a healthy community?

This commercial was produced by CKPG, part of the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.

About Jonathon Dyck

Jonathon is a communications officer at Northern Health. Originally from Airdrie, Alberta, Jonathon has a broadcasting diploma from Mount Royal College in Calgary, Alberta, and a BA with a major in communications from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C. Jonathon enjoys golf, hockey, curling, hiking, biking, and canoeing. He is also an avid sports fan and attends as many sporting events as humanly possible, including hockey, soccer, baseball, football, rugby, basketball, and lacrosse.

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Filed Under: Active Living, Our Communities Tagged With: CKPG, commercial, healthy communities

Choosing the choice of health

August 17, 2012 Jonathon Dyck 4 Comments

Theresa Healy, loving running her first 5km race.

In less than a year of starting to exercise regularly and adding healthier choices to her diet, Theresa Healy, Northern Health’s regional manager for healthy community development, says she feels physically and mentally stronger – the best she has felt in her whole life. Last summer, Theresa was diagnosed with a number of chronic diseases including diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. After receiving the news, and struggling to come to terms with such a startling shift in her identity, she decided it was time to take action. I had the privilege to talk to her about her initial struggle and personal health breakthrough.

The first move that Theresa made was to monitor her diet. She didn’t completely cut out some temptations, such as chocolate, but she was committed to moderation.

“If I cut it out completely, it would be impossible for me to stick with it but, telling myself I could have some, helps me say no, at least most of the time,” says Theresa.

The second change was to become more active. She started with taking her two little dogs for extra walks, and after awhile, decided she would up the ante and try running.

“I never thought running would appeal to me. It seemed the epitome of boredom. But I decided I would try. Surprise – I loved it!”

To start off, Theresa set a target of five kilometers as the distance she would like to run. At first, she became exhausted after trying to run for even one minute straight and would have to take a breather. That’s where technology kicked in. Theresa found a free app for her smart phone called “Couch to Five K,” which sets bench marks for a person getting back into running or trying it for the first time. It started off with a two minute run, five minute walk cycle, and eventually progressed to the point where Theresa can now complete a warm-up walk of five minutes, run steadily and easily for 30 minutes, and cool down with a walk for five minutes.

After she was able to successfully run for 30 minutes straight, Theresa needed a new challenge. To keep pushing herself, she decided to enter her first 5km race. She finished the race in just over 37 minutes, something Theresa is very proud of. Now she looks to not only improve her time on the 5km race, but also improve her stamina as she prepares for a half marathon that she will run next year.

Theresa’s drive and determination to meet and exceed her goals is inspiring. She also now attends a gym to lift weights and work out in various other ways to stay fit.

“I got six free sessions with a trainer who didn’t want me running every day,” she says. “I was pretty peeved at first. I had just found something I liked and I was being told not to do it. Of course now I enjoy the gym as much as the running. I don’t have a six pack yet, more like a three and a half pack, but feeling fit is an amazing sensation. I don’t think I have been this fit since I played field hockey for my school – at 14 years old!”

After talking to Theresa and hearing her story, I think the key points to take from her experience are to set an achievable goal, to make a plan on how you will get there (like finding an app or program that guides you through the process or a friend that will push you along), and to put in the work. If you don’t put in the work, you won’t get the results.

Working in the health care industry herself, Theresa believes in promoting healthy choices to others. “We have to do it too. In order to talk the talk, we have to walk the walk,” she says in regards to healthy eating and active living.

I can tell you, Theresa is definitely living up to what she is promoting!

About Jonathon Dyck

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Filed Under: Active Living, Our People Tagged With: activity, choices, chronic disease, exercise, health, running, walking

Recovering from an injury? Slow and steady wins this race

July 20, 2012 Jonathon Dyck 3 Comments

Jonathon, with his crutches, posing with Jay Feaster, Calgary Flames general manager.

Ever had an injury that prevented you from participating in the activities you love? I’ve always loved to play team sports such as soccer, hockey, ultimate Frisbee, curling, and other activities including hiking, kayaking, and golf. Unfortunately, four years ago I hurt my knee playing soccer and the idea that I wouldn’t be able to do any of those while I recovered was more painful than the injury itself.

In December 2010 and July 2011 I went in for surgeries to repair my knee. The first surgery was to repair the meniscus, and the second was to repair my Anterior Crucial Ligament (ACL). From the time that I hurt my knee, to the clearance from the doctor that my knee was good for most activities again earlier this month, it was very hard for me to not be very active.

With any type of injury, it is critical to take care of yourself and ensure you get the proper treatment you need to heal. This is a lesson I learned the hard way. Immediately after my injury I went into the doctor, but being young and impatient, I made the impulse decision to play ball hockey anyway. Of course, this further damaged my knee and left me in a great deal of pain. After awhile, I finally realized I needed to take care of myself and I went back to the doctor to start on the path to recovery.

Prior to the injury I didn’t enjoy spending time at the gym, electing to get my physical exercise in other ways. But once I started going to the gym to do strengthening exercises for my knee, I found that being in a controlled environment like that helped me to ensure I wasn’t overworking my knee and potentially re-injuring it. Over time I have found activities at the gym that I enjoy and will continue to do even though I can now return to things like golf and hockey.

All in all, making sure to take care of myself after the surgeries meant being able to eventually return to the things I love. I learned that there’s no point in trying to be manly and walk off injuries.

My advice to anyone who has hurt themselves, especially men playing sports, is to man up and make sure to take care of your injury. For more information on men’s health, preventing and recovering from injuries, visit men.northernhealth.ca.