January 12, 2006 - 4:00pm
A new Health and Wellness Centre at Malaspina University-College’s Nanaimo campus will help students and employees lead healthier lives.
The Centre begins its first major health promotion campaign during National Non-Smoking Week, January 16 to 20, followed by an official launch on January 26.
"We’re excited to announce the start of a four-year smoking cessation strategy aimed at students, staff and faculty," said Carol Joerin, Project Lead of Malaspina’s new Health and Wellness Centre. During National Non-Smoking Week, free information and resources will be available at Malaspina’s upper and lower cafeterias for anyone interested in learning about how to quit smoking and the benefits of living smoke free.
John Raven, Coordinator of Tobacco Reduction, for Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) will be at Malaspina on "weedless Wednesday" January 18 to answer questions.
"VIHA is delighted to collaborate with Malaspina University-College on this important health promotion initiative during National Non-Smoking Week," said Raven. "Anything we can do to assist students and employees in making healthier decisions will have far reaching health benefits for not only the individuals involved, but also for the entire community in terms of reducing health care costs."
"Nicotine addiction is one of the most difficult addictions to overcome," said Malaspina nursing professor Maureen O’Connor, who leads the implementation of Malaspina’s smoking cessation strategy under the auspices of the Health and Wellness Centre. "As a nurse, I’ve worked with patients whose health and life have been affected by smoking in a profoundly negative way. It's important for Malaspina’s Health and Wellness Centre to support individuals’ who wish to make positive changes in their lives."
Prevention is the focus for the first year of the campaign, said O’Connor. In subsequent years, the focus will shift to protection (clean air), cessation and finally ‘denormalization’, which means providing alternative media messages around smoking. "We need to convince young people that being smoke free is cool," O'Conner said.
Three Malaspina nursing practicum students, student volunteers, and work-op students will assist with the awareness campaign and other activities throughout 2006.
Providing help to people who want to quit smoking was one of the needs identified in a student survey conducted last fall during an extensive planning process for Malaspina’s Health and Wellness Centre. Students also requested additional information on reproductive and sexual health, fitness, stress management, nutrition, and how to manage and access the health care system.
"These issues will be addressed immediately through a series of educational workshops and activities offered at the new Centre in collaboration with Malaspina faculty, student peers and continued partnerships with VIHA," Joerin said. "Eventually, the Centre will offer direct health care services to students on campus. Students have reported difficulty in accessing adequate health care and this is a critical concern for us."
An advisory committee, with broad employee and student representation, oversees all operations of the new Health and Wellness Centre, and works under the leadership Dr. Patrick Ross, vice-president, Student Services, Laureen Styles, Dean, Health and Human Services and Heather Stadel, Director of Human Resources.
"Having an accessible, fully functional Health and Wellness Centre is long overdue at Malaspina, especially as we move towards university designation," said Ross. "Offering health care services, education, health promotional workshops and resources on campus is a major commitment to the health and wellbeing of our students, faculty and staff at Malaspina."
The Health and Wellness Centre currently operates out of temporary space in Malaspina’s International Building, but a search is underway for a permanent location. An official launch for the Centre takes place January 26 at the Nanaimo campus.
Tags: In the Community
