February 24, 2022 Reducing the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Through Workplace Programs

good afternoon everyone my name is brooks roach i'm very pleased to welcome you here today as manager of patient

knowledge in connection with diabetes canada uh we have a really fantastic conversation in store for you those of

you who are tuning in today uh and i'd like to begin by first acknowledging that i am joining this webinar from the

traditional and unseated territory of the big mom people uh inadequate and that wherever you're joining or watching

from i would invite you to express gratitude and recognition to the land on which we live gather and acknowledge the

past inhabitants of the indigenous lands we now call canada we are here today to have a discussion

around reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes and workplace programs so we're joined by two really fantastic

guests that i'm super thrilled to have joining us dr diana sharafali diabetes researcher

and associate professor at mcmaster university school of nursing welcome diana

and dr lorraine lipscombe director of novo nordisk network for healthy population

physician and associate professor at the university of toronto's faculties of medicine and public health welcome ryan

thank you thanks for having me uh well thank you both for being here um

today as mentioned we'll be discussing workplace programs and the impact that these initiatives can have on type 2

diabetes prevention our two experts will be answering some key questions that they've been hearing

in their own practice and their research and also be hearing from you so i invite you those who are watching on facebook

live please submit any questions that you've been curious about and i will do our best to make time for you to get an

answer so with that um yeah please just if you have a question pop it in the comment

section on facebook and uh without further ado we will dive right into this conversation so

first i'd like to direct the question to lorraine and this is just to sort of set the stage

what is a diabetes prevention program so what is it that we're talking about and why should it be delivered in a

workplace context thank you brooks and thank you everyone for joining us today i think this is

going to be a really um exciting talk topic for us to discuss so just to answer your question uh brooks um really

uh in principle any health promotion program that involves physical activity healthy eating and even stress

management and promotion of wellness can be considered a diabetes prevention

program because of the clear benefit of these types of interventions on preventing type 2 diabetes however

there's also a formal diabetes prevention program or so-called dpp that

is more structured and was developed based on proven benefit in reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes now

this program the dpp specifically provides education and coaching on three

components physical activity healthy eating and weight management and it is specifically geared to help people with

pre-diabetes reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes however given that many people have risk

factors for type 2 diabetes beyond those who have pre-diabetes these programs can actually be helpful for a broad range of

people now just a word on on risk factors um we know that there are

several risk factors for type 2 diabetes and while some of those risk factors are non-modifiable such as age coming from a

high risk ethnic group or having a first degree relative with the condition

um dpp uh diabetes prevention programs can actually help address those modifiable risk

factors such as physical activity level eating patterns and body weight so to answer your question about why uh

why would the workplace well there are several advantages to considering these types of programs within the workplace

the first is because working adults spend most of their waking hours in the workplaces this is actually an ideal

setting to implement health and wellness programs because people are spending their time there

and this is becoming more and more important as jobs are becoming more sedentary as we all know especially now

during the pandemic we're spending a lot of time on screens a lot of times sitting a lot of times in desk jobs and

job work days are tend to be longer uh with with you know although they offer more

flexibility uh they tend to be longer and people are finding they have less free time to

engage in physical activity and prepare healthy meals during their non-working hours and and also to seek education and

and um and programs and so because of this the workplace is a pla you know

might might make sense because people are are already there now um

there are many benefits to um health and wellness workplace programs they may not not only would they have the potential

to improve the health of employees but they can also have many other benefits such as lower insurance and health care

costs for the employers greater employee satisfaction loyalty and retention

higher productivity and subsequently even improved presenteeism now presenteeism is defined as um a decrease

in the loss productivity that occurs when employees are not fully functioning in their workplace because of illness

injury or or another condition now just a word on you know

what are some of the different options for workplace programs focused on diabetes prevention they can include

many different things they can include physical activity during work hours such as

group exercise access to walking paths walking meetings and even exercise equipment in the workplace

but also can include healthy food choices such as in vending machines cafeterias or catered events

um and then finally could also include um diabetes education awareness and

screening programs and as well as even going as far as health coaching to help

people make behavior changes and when we're thinking about education and coaching this can actually be

offered through multiple different delivery modes could be in person or virtual could be real time

uh or it could be asynchronous through you know messages and resources and could be one-on-one or even group

settings and finally um you know a coach can actually be anyone although

traditionally health coaches have been health care professionals recent evidence shows that um

a peer who is trained in coaching can actually be an effective coach

for people in in the workplace that's great that's the final point uh

rain around uh harnessing the expertise of a peer i think is really promising and i think some folks might be thinking

uh well this is all well and good but i have been working from my spare room um and it's really possible i think to tap

into those informal support networks like something like that and it's so the success to get success idea if you start

to really develop that momentum as a as a team as a workplace it doesn't have to be tied to a physical office space

so diana a question for you is is there evidence and what evidence is there for diabetes prevention programs

specifically in the workplace right thanks brooks for the question and thanks everyone for joining us today uh

indeed there have been studies that have reviewed and summarized the research evidence to date and there is promising

evidence for weight loss and improved physical activity with less intensive and structured supports

so specifically research shows that people who participate in such programs like the dpp

improve their eating patterns and this could look like changing their portion size or changing

the quality of their foods eating more vegetables more whole grains getting more

physically active moving more which is important now more than ever

and that manifests in losing weight and in some instances improving their blood pressure and blood glucose or blood

blood sugar levels um unfortunately the studies that we have come across to date have not been

consistent in showing a decrease in the incidence of type 2 diabetes and

incidents can be looked at as the rate of new cases of type 2 diabetes that occur in that workplace setting

over a period of time however this is more reflective of you know the

study methodology the study approach and not simply you know the program or the people not uh doing what you know what

was intended to do with the diabetes prevention program but rather just simply not following people long enough

in time so to that end all in all these changes specifically weight loss and increased

physical activity can certainly have a considerable impact on lowering one's risk for type 2 diabetes

and as lorraine mentioned earlier diabetes prevention programs at work can have so many other positive impacts such

as building a sense of community the formation of of lunchtime walking groups and walking buddies

think it's fair to say it normalizes health and wellness at work uh you know no one needs to be a hero showing up

feeling unwell or being the odd one out if they want to walk during lunch or

walk during meetings it also increases one's level of confidence and self-efficacy that the

belief in themselves in attaining goals and changing their behaviors so a lot of positive impacts

thank you dana i think it's worth worth highlighting as you said you know a lot of the evidence out there is just bound

by time that a lot of these programs we haven't been running long enough to really say demonstrably uh that it's had a strong

impact but i think over time naturally we'd be able to observe that um

so another question for you and it's you know larry mentioned earlier this this idea of both

lost productivity or presenteeism and absenteeism and i'm wondering if you can on those two notes

illustrate some of the the literal cost to employers uh of of

absenteeism and presenteeism uh because of employees of diabetes

this is a great question so yes there is a cost to the employer in the overall economy and this is typically referred

to as the indirect costs of diabetes so for example diabetes canada estimates

that the overall economy is impacted through absenteeism of those living with

or caring for someone with diabetes for example in ontario every 4 out of 10 people that are

touched by diabetes have missed work and in an average year those have missed

uh approximately one week of work so they've taken over one week away from work so that all adds up pretty quickly

if we look at the us using the center for disease control data

we know that indirect economic costs of diabetes may also include as we've talked about absenteeism not being at

work reduced productivity at work the inability to work due to diabetes

related disability reduced productivity for those not in the labor workforce and of course lost

productivity due to premature deaths so the us projects this to be around

327 billion dollars a year it's quite daunting when you think of it that way

the positive piece here is that we know that we can do something and as lorraine mentioned earlier evidence indicates

that the diabetes prevention program and health and wellness programs of the like

do in fact benefit employers and this can be demonstrated by an increased

employee satisfaction increased loyalty retention higher productivity and

presenteeism so it's not just a matter of showing up to work but you're fully functioning and engaged at work and this

translates to lower insurance and health care costs as well

thank you um for employers if they're sort of balancing the budget

if they're looking at getting down to nickels and dimes when they see this as a budget line of

you know it will cost something to implement what's the like tangent what are the tangible cost savings if they do bring

in a program like this right uh well the potential cost savings

are numerous as outlined by the indirect costs that i mentioned earlier however a great way to

think about the potential cost savings by employers is to understand what might be the value or that return on

investment for the employer and what are they seeking so the return on investment or cost

savings may be an increase in presenteeism increase in productivity and loyalty

to improve the potential cost savings we also know that employers can be quite creative in how they implement

or tailor the variations of the diabetes prevention program as laureen mentioned

earlier this could be virtual or in person could be group based could be individual sessions could be a peer

that's trained a lay person community health worker or a champion in the workplace that's trained versus bringing

in a health care professional so all of this may be tailored to better support employees and and suit the employer

ultimately thank you i i really appreciate that point around um tailoring to an

individual need or the team as an organization because there is i think some

flexibility and capacity to be creative with these programs and um i i appreciate what you said about measuring

return on investment maybe a little differently it's the same as this sort of idea and personal finance value

doesn't necessarily mean how much your how much money you're not spending it could be right how you could it could be

all about convenience or or equality you know this is this could be return on investment could very well

mean what the the mood in the workplace what's the you know how many people have

to miss work because of complications etc um lorraine i'm i'm curious how about the

role of healthcare providers in this situation like in in the world of implementing these programs

so how could a healthcare provider help to encourage patients to participate in

these programs uh and to participate in these healthy behavior programs that are offered in the workplace

if they whether or not they know this is available what's what suggestions can be made

excellent question and as a health care provider myself this is really relevant for me

you know i'm often having these discussions with my patients around you know what sort of resources and

opportunities and programs they have available to them out in the community and so i think healthcare providers

definitely play a central role in a person's health promotion and they're often a trusted source of

advice people often look to their health care providers for you know

for how best to stay healthy and prevent disease and so there are

several ways in which healthcare providers could potentially you know contribute to

you know workplace diabetes prevention so they to start they should always ask their

patients about their workplace and and whether there are health and wellness programs what opportunities they have and in the

workplace to engage in physical activity what kind of you know food choices are available to them

um they can also encourage their their um patients and empower them to advocate

or help create such programs if they're not available and particularly if if their patients have you know a manager

or you know leadership position in the in the in the uh in the workplace and

they can actually provide them with specific guidance regarding potential interventions and ideas

um providers are also increasingly using using something called social

prescribing as a way to identify and connect patients to appropriate

non-medical services and resources in their community so using this approach

providers could actually prescribe specific diabetes prevention activities

to patients that they can then bring to their workplace and even adopt in the workplace so an example of a social

prescription um that's been used that's being increasingly used is um you know an

exercise prescription or you know um uh saying you know a prescription that

says uh you know walk 20 minutes you know five days a week right um but then

there's also things like you know go to the park get fresh air for you know at least three times a week or you know

that kind of thing making it very specific and finally healthcare providers can

actually work directly with companies and organizations to provide guidance and support for workplace prevention

programs for instance they can help design and evaluate programs with organizations they can provide health

education screening and even coaching for employees if there is you know capacity and a need for that

and then they can facilitate access to health and wellness resources so lots of ways

yeah thank you you can i know i'm sure it can be a little bit daunting if if someone's listening in their workplace doesn't

have a program like this they may be thinking to themselves well how could i start or how could i promote

something like this i think it's helpful to know that generally speaking you would absolutely have the support of a healthcare

provider and just to mention you would certainly have the support of diabetes canada if

you'd like to contact us and uh acquire more resources on the case for this be

happy to help um on the note of you know what it looks like when when a program like this

succeeds i'm wondering if each of you could share a success story of a workplace

prevention program uh either employee or employer driven

and what that's led to mm-hmm um i can start um so in general

um i've been really happy to hear that many major corporations are increasingly turning their minds to health for their

employees and are increasing recognizing the benefit of incorporating health and wellness

you know in their workplace and um one example i can think of was one promising program that was actually

implemented and piloted and implemented in canada a few years ago called motive action now this program was

specifically geared to um increasing education awareness and prevention of

type 2 diabetes and so what they did was they started by offering

diabetes screening through a questionnaire followed by education and coaching and

and formal testing within the workplace of 11 canadian companies which which

actually spanned across the country and comprised of over twenty thousand employees

now these employees were all given uh a questionnaire to fill out which is

called can risk it's a it's a validated questionnaire that's offered uh through both diabetes canada and the public

health agency of canada to help people answer a few simple questions that gives them a score that estimates their risk

of type 2 diabetes and then so after people filled out that that questionnaire employees who scored

high on this questionnaire were then provided with blood testing for diabetes

as well as other metabolic measures blood pressure and cholesterol

and they were all also offered four virtual a telephone based coaching and education

sessions with a certified diabetes educator now what was really um striking to note

was that almost 50 percent of the employees who completed this questionnaire were actually found to be

at high risk of diabetes so actually scored high on this questionnaire so it just tells you

that there are a lot of people out there who could potentially benefit from from this type of program

furthermore a large number of those who went on to be tested for diabetes almost

50 percent as well actually ended up being diagnosed with diabetes and they didn't even know it so employees

employers should actually note that this kind of program can help actually identify

diabetes at an earlier stage which would would would help people live better with

diabetes through earlier treatment and prevention of complications now with this particular study after six

months they did show some improvements in health measures but a couple of things they noted one is it was likely

not long enough to see long-term uh benefit it was only six months

um and two they found that that that participation waned over the

six months and people kind of dropped off and so they they kind of you know surmise why might this be

um you know there one reason is that um this was a centrally administered

program and it was kind of top down and studies have shown

that you'll have better retention participation and retention within workplace programs if you actually

involve a local champion in helping to develop the program and so something that is locally grown

that that actually feels like people can get behind it and and you have a local champion to maintain momentum and

motivation um and the other thing is although they provided people with coaching and

education they didn't actually include as part of that program

workplace opportunities for physical activity and healthy food choices and so that could be another component that

would help have increased the success of this kind of program but in general i

think this program actually highlights the importance if nothing else of raising awareness

regarding diabetes as a first step in prevention because it is likely that many of those people who had high

diabetes risk score we're not fully aware of this and certainly this study showed that many people were diagnosed

with diabetes that would have otherwise gone unknown until it was much more advanced

what about i guess diana do you have any uh examples yes so um i have the opportunity and

privilege to work with a few different employers uh medium to large size uh corporations and uh we've crafted

diabetes prevention-like programs in the workplace um so again lorraine to your

point about sort of the customization grass roots up and uh i was really

impressed with the thoughtful approach by the employer so they really had a good sense of what their employees needed wanted

um and the focus was always about health and wellness not just disease and and you know quote-unquote disability

um and and you know the the term success forget success i've i've heard brooks say that earlier today

i i was impressed with how that really snowballed into other uh behavior change

other ideas of health and wellness at the workplace so one example was

one employer set up a a dpp-like program prevention program and following the success of that

program when people finished it it spawns so many other employee-led

initiatives like walking groups um during and outside of the workplace

setting because there was a a lovely walking track in like a forest nearby or some woods

and that sort of thing so people took advantage of what was available to them vis-a-vis through work whether it was

resources the tools the network kind of that outside built uh environment um

so so they really took advantage of that outside and beyond uh the workplace program

um another group really uh had a lot of fun with developing wellness habits at

work and you know that's a term that we hear often now you know behavior changed

to habits and habits um like lorraine talked about earlier are really sort of small tangible goals

quick wins and again the idea is that these wellness habits lead to

you know growing more and more habits and a quick habit may turn into a longer sustained habit so some of the wellness

habits that i thought were really quite kind of fun you can imagine um employees would set outlook alarms in

their outlook calendars so every hour there would be an alarm and everyone in

that office setting would stand up do some arm circles uh they'd all do squats at the same time

um and you know people would modify it and so they may start off with five squats but you know at the end of the

month they're up to 15 squats and if you think you know every hour you're standing up doing five

squats think about how many squats you've done by the end of that day so it's kind of fun

um another wellness habit that people identified that was an easy quick win was to fill up the water bottle

while they're waiting for their computer to start so it kind of gave people the incentive

that you know they had a vessel or a container of water um it would encourage them to drink more

water during the day um and you always had you know that kind of lull period where you're waiting for

your computer to start out off you go fill up your water bottle and then you've you've started

so again all of these small success stories whether it's at the individual level at the employee level employer

level all of these wellness habits add up think about how that adds up each day

over a work week over a month over a year it's truly incredible and inspiring

to see where this goes so yeah it was really a lot of fun that's so cool that's great

i i yeah i really appreciate that and i actually um not to put you on the spot um lorraine but i know you had mentioned

another program that was internet more international in scope and i wonder if you could just speak quickly about that

oh no i'd be happy to i just i wanted to make sure we had enough time um yeah so as i was uh brooks mentioned i had

mentioned to him when we we chatted earlier that um i read about another really promising program

that was actually developed and implemented in israel and what this program did is they

trained middle managers across 13 government organizations to become

health ambassadors in their own office and these health ambassadors were then

trained were first trained and then they were empowered to design a health promotion program within their workplace

and so they they that that was their job they were given some training in how you know health promotion given some tools

given some resources but then everything else had to be sort of grassroots that to work with their their um their

employees and so it was really cool so interventions they there was a whole host of interventions that came out of

this they range from cooking workshops menu changes nutrition lectures physical activity

classes physical activity breaks sports events for employees stress

reduction workshops as well as health screening programs i mean this is just to name a few

and um they then evaluated the the maintenance so how you know how much

these programs were sustainable over time then they also looked at some of the effectiveness on behavior changes

um and they actually showed really variable success but what they were able to tell us was what were those

key ingredients of success what were the things that really led to high rates of behavior change

high rates of satisfaction and high rates of maintenance and sustainability and the most successful programs were

ones that had a comprehensive approach so didn't just do one thing but did many

different things so it became almost like health was weaved into the fabric of the

organization it had to be like their new language their new culture it was a culture shift

um the second thing was they actually organized a steering committee so they actually brought employees together to

create a committee and had everybody work on it together rather than just the manager

they made sure that they started with a needs assessment so again engaging the employees finding out what they need

finding out where where what they think would work and wouldn't um and being very flexible in the face of challenges

so don't you know if something doesn't work you know change it or stop it and if somebody comes up with something new

you know um then then you should be considering that so those were the ingredients of success and you know it's

more about um making sure that uh people can actually

do uh actually stick to things and actually do engage in the program than the

components of the program itself sounds amazing

it really does i i i'm listening to these examples and i'm sure the viewers feel the same or it would be exciting to

be in in a workplace like that you know just have that sort of culture around you it's really enticing

um so folks i'd like to open the floor to a couple of questions that folks had

submitted uh beforehand and the first is just really around how to kick start

making the making the move to implement something like this and this is predominantly from an employee's perspective so lorraine you were talking

about those sort of ingredients for success and i wonder if you could just give uh you know almost some advice either of

you on how to how to really pitch this and how to make that kickstart the engine on on getting a

program like this implemented in one's workplace such a great question and really that's

that's the that's the half the battle is just getting started right it's just sort of figuring out how do i get started and i think there are so many

things that an employee can do regardless of what their role is at the at their workplace um i think the first

thing is just you know speaking with other employees and getting maybe a bit of a

you know grouped together to to provide greater you know greater strength in numbers so you know kind of

you know making sure that you're that there are that there's buy-in from from from your your colleagues um secondly um

thinking about um things that you know making sure that if you if you if you are motivated to to um engage in such a

program or to even lead a program that you would be willing to take on a leadership role because you know

oftentimes uh managers or employers maybe maybe you

know um uh quite quite supportive but they may not have the capacity or resources to do it themselves so you

know if you are willing to kind of take on a bit of a leadership role or do some

of those initial pieces i think that would also help um you know thinking about uh looking at the diabetes canada

website there's there's some great information about you know the kind of things that you might want to you know

that that you could consider for workplace interventions um and you could maybe you know pitch those to your peers

pitch those to your your employer and and they don't have to cost a lot of money like like diana said if it's even

just things like um you know a bio like a break where you get up and do squats once an hour that costs nothing right

um walking meetings instead of meeting meetings at your at your at your desk actually i'm part of um

a research group this reminds me and everybody is virtual we're always doing these zoom meetings and everybody is

encouraged to um do exercise during the meeting so we've got people who are on

like little stationary bikes there are people who are just walking in place there are people who are on a treadmill

others who are just you know doing something with their arms but everybody has to be exercising during the meeting

it's a little bit you know dizzying at times but i mean it's it's at least it's a cultural thing like it's accepted and

it's become part of you know what what um health and wellness is is becoming something that we promote

um and i guess the last thing is you know starting with those early things like like like i said a needs assessment

putting together a bit of a committee and then taking it from there right so i think that just getting started by

talking to people and and doing a bit of research around what you know what potential opportunities there might be

i don't know if diana you have any other thoughts on yeah just i i think you know for me it just goes back to what's the

value and whether you're an employee an employer of a small business a large corporation

i think at the end of the day we're all human we all have modifiable risk factors

we could all improve how we eat what we eat when we eat do we need to move more

so i think at the end of the day if you kind of find that common ground that common language of hey this is a value

to me would this be a value to you and um i think if you approach it that

way too i think the more to lorraine's point the more people you bring to the to the table uh the more strength you'll

have so good luck with that yeah

thank you folks um curious on uh

this this question is is an interesting one and it's where do you see this crossing over with

uh folks that are likely going to be working remotely or in a hybrid fashion for the long long term and to what

degree do you think that this type of program could or should be amended to suit that

reality um that's a great idea go ahead diana yeah

you know that's an interesting and and really really um fascinating question i i think

the hybrid approach um is is a little bit difficult to navigate

because because of the nature of virtual meetings we're sitting right so to

lorraine's point you have um again sort of this new form in how we

work so rather than work in an office setting where everyone could set an alarm in

their calendars everyone gets up at the same time you don't have that synergistic

relationship of everyone being in the same room or brooks and i being the same office building and at 11 o'clock we meet up

and we meet up in the foyer and then walk around the building three times um

so i think that this new arena this new forum poses some challenges but actually some

really cool opportunities so again is there a way that you could set up something virtually

where it's another zoom link yes it's another zoom webinar but people engage just to do virtual walking

a quick chat sort of a wellness chat it's not work related um you can get

together and eat virtually maybe even though people are working remote there's some opportunity to

take pictures of where you've walked outside that social prescribing hey look this is me at lunchtime i'm walking

outside so it's really meshing together the hybridness the virtualness

with what may be opportunities that traditionally were identified in a traditional

workplace the other thing that i just want to highlight is that working from home also presents

so many other challenges in terms of ergonomics close proximity to food

to screens to you name it so it's really about kind of starting from basics to

say what are my needs and my needs may look different because of what my remote learning or

working environment looks like versus say brooks who's in the office versus lorraine who may have you know

young children at home but is also juggling a full-time job so i think that that level of tailoring has

to be further further emphasized so um

i know i've said a lot but i think probably the biggest thing i could kind of finish off with is

health at every level whether it's a virtual meeting downtime what does your lunch break look

like are you off screens um you know health at every level regardless of where you're working

lorraine do you have anything else to add i think you i mean you've everything you said i agree with 100 i think you've

really um you've really given a lot of uh great advice for people who are working at home and it is definitely challenging

another point that i will uh bring up is i mentioned to you that first program which was around

um and and also we mentioned the formal diabetes prevention programs and both of these kind of programs they're really

also in addition to workplace interventions they also provide that

more formal coaching and education and diabetes screening and that can be

delivered very broadly so if your employees are working from home oh i think we lost

brooks okay well then let me continue okay anyway um as i was saying um

so even if your employees are working from home or like for diabetes canada working across the country

you know there are you know a lot of coaching programs and education programs are provided remotely and

virtually and they work very well and we know now since the pandemic you know we've got all this video conferencing at

our fingertips so um so that can be another thing that could be provided uh

virtually to employees you know formal education programs and using for example that mode of action uh program where you

know all the employees um get you know take a screening test for diabetes and anybody who screens you know high risk

is then provided with a coach and it doesn't have to be a healthcare professional as i told you you know

there could be um an employee who who could be trained to provide this kind of

coaching and education and there's so much education out there you know diabetes canada alone would have tons of

resources on that and so you know there is also that kind of more formal

opportunity that could be provided remotely to employees you know who are who are all over the place

yeah that's a great suggestion and sorry brooks if i could just add one more thing um i think companies are also very aware

of uh you know the the stress and toll that uh looks like we've lost books again

uh the stress and toll that some of the virtualization of work has um

you know has taken so in some instances uh again i don't know if this has been

sort of a grassroots effort top-down or sort of a synergistic decision uh but some companies have have set

aside you know say a friday afternoon of every month as uh you know a fuel up

friday where people take that afternoon for mental health and wellness you know get outside fuel up with

something that nourishes you literally spiritually emotionally so sometimes that health and

wellness is is a little bit beyond diabetes you know it's indirectly related to diabetes but absolutely um in

that realm of health and wellness for sure yeah yeah no and actually um you know it

got me thinking like you know if companies are really committed to health and wellness

particularly because of the data that you presented that this would you know the return on investment is potentially

very favorable um you know having that for example friday afternoon even to have you know

sports events have um have cooking classes you know

kind of things education sessions so that people aren't having to access them

on their own time right absolutely yeah and it gets everybody kind of together and so at least no

matter how busy our people are in their day in their life at home they've got that opportunity at work at

least at least once a week where they're getting some health and wellness uh support getting up and moving right

it's nice to know that someone cares i think that's at the end of the day someone cares yeah yeah and it boosts

morale and and you know collegiality there's so many things that you know absolutely can come out of

having those you know those opportunities as they say team building right but this is more than teamwork

this is also great for uh people's individual health absolutely

brooks are you okay yes thank you thank you um i i heard

anyone watching who saw me pop in a note the wonders of working from home as just discussed

had a bit of technical difficulty but i'm back and what i heard was was excellent um again that idea of this is

a great these programs are a great tool for morale for workplace environment and for

everyone's collective and individual health so it's it's a win-win-win-win-win continue

ad infinitum so um we're going to wrap uh the

question-and-answer period there um but i'd like to say thank you to uh for those really thoughtful and interesting

and actionable answers uh and and great questions as well so before we wrap up i'd just like to

remind everyone who's watching uh of diabetes standards ongoing work in an advocacy in this space so

um i'm very proud you know in our own organization uh taking on our own

corporate policies like a lack of sugar sweetened beverages at work events and conferences

um and you know an employee assistance program and then trying to sort of walk the talk so to speak um and it's also an

ongoing advocacy position so advocating for the support of health and health initiatives in the

workplace all across canada and uh through initiatives like this and through the the recent

policy position policy statement which you can see uh in this video description and posted in the facebook comments so

again on the note of if you're looking for resources or materials to to take to the workplace and to advocate

for the implementation of a program like this it's a really great guide and really outlines a lot of the points that have

been raised tonight so eloquently um

so one of you know who are watching is this is a real priority and it's as we've talked about there's a ton of

benefits to to these programs and um it's really important to keep pushing for their implementation so for those

who have more questions who want to learn more uh you can visit diabetes.ca or diabetes

canada on social media if you want specific direction or if you have a question that doesn't really fit within

a broader category that's more attuned to your own health you can get into us at 1-800 dancing or at info diabetes.ta

so feel free to get in touch and you can also what you'll see in the video description

and the comments is a link to the canadian diabetes prevention program so a real tangible example of one of these

one of these programs in action um before we wrap up i'd just like to say a sincere thank you to both our

guests i really appreciate this conversation despite getting booted out by zoom for a moment

and i'd like to just give you both the opportunity for any final remarks so maybe over to to diana

well uh thank you everyone for your time it's such a privilege to talk about diabetes

thank you brooks for organizing and our expert i.t person at the back end

matthew and to my co-presenter dr lorraine lipscombe i always learn something new from her every single time

it's just such a pleasure to volunteer participate engage with diabetes canada and and again i'm always

so grateful for their advocacy their education um as a diabetes educator as well

and also for all of their support in research and ongoing advocacy so thank you everyone

thank you diana um i just will echo your comments um thank you so much for this

opportunity and thank you to to also to my my colleague diana sheriff ellie she's

just uh such a pleasure and i also also learned so much from you too um and thank you to diabetes canada for

bringing uh diabetes prevention at the forefront i know that there's you do so

much advocacy for people living with diabetes but we can't forget that we are dealing with you know uh unfortunately a

big increase in diabetes cases um with type 2 diabetes and we know that

a lot of type 2 diabetes can be preventable and so i really appreciate diabetes canada's

commitment to shining a light on this and you know making um an effort to improve

the health of canadians and and actually prevent uh diabetes so thank you very much and

thank you brooks for uh hosting a great webinar and to matthew for your your um technical support and thank you

to everyone for joining today yeah well on that note that's the perfect conclusion i'll just add that um

our two guests i've i've greatly appreciated getting to to connect with you both and learn from you today and

and long before and surely long after so thank you for all you do as well um

to those watching thank you for tuning in and again please feel free to get in touch if we can be of any support at

diabetes canada so uh with that thank you very much and take care everyone bye