Arnprior Family Health Team helps prioritize health, wellness with free programs

ARNPRIOR – With no shortage of daily stressors and life challenges, it can be tough to prioritize health and wellness without the proper support.

That’s why the Arnprior and District Family Health Team (ADFHT) offers community members free access to wellness programming to help make it easier to form and commit to healthier habits and lifestyle changes.

“Our family health team continuously explores innovative ways to support the health and well-being of our patients and the broader Arnprior area community,” ADFHT executive director Karen Simpson. “We offer lifestyle and wellness programs selected and tailored to meet our community’s disease prevention and chronic disease management needs.”

The free programming for ADFHT rostered patients and community members includes Budget Bites, the Mindfulness Program, and the Healthy Heart Program.

Budget Bites

Budget Bites helps individuals learn how to put a healthy meal on the table while staying on budget. Participants join the Registered Dietitian in the ADFHT Kitchen for a cooking demonstration of two or three simple, healthy, budget-friendly recipes using ingredients that may be less familiar.

“From the sessions, participants learn how to make nutritious meals without spending a ton of money, which is a good fit for anyone who wants to reduce their grocery bill,” registered dietitian, ADFHT Kristy Webb, who leads the Budget Bites sessions, said.

Webb cooks the food in front of the group, provides nutrition tips throughout the demonstrations, and participants are encouraged to ask questions at each step. Finally, everyone gets to taste the food and take home any leftovers.

“It’s very informal and casual, and I choose recipes that are beginner friendly,” Webb said. “The goal is to make it feel approachable for people, so they’re more likely to try out these recipes because they’ve seen them done and got to taste them.”

The next Budget Bites session is March 7. To register for the free event, please visit  https://arnpriorfht.ca/programs/budget-bites or call 613-622-5763.

Mindfulness Program

The Mindfulness Program is an eight-week program based on a mindfulness stress reduction model of therapy. Led by an ADFHT social worker, the two-hour sessions incorporate meditation and focus on developing self-compassion, slowing down reaction speeds, and learning to respond with intention.

“We talk about the formal meditation piece and how to bring mindfulness into our lives in a more informal way, such as paying more attention when we’re performing daily tasks,” ADFHT social worker Magnolia McCallum, who co-leads the Mindfulness Program, said. “I find people engage more with the informal practice by bringing that presence and intention into their lives in what capacity they can.”

The Mindfulness Program is a fit for individuals who want to manage their stress better, learn to become more present, help manage chronic pain, and/or reduce anxiety.

 “Overall, there’s so much evidence about how mindfulness can reduce stress and help people with their overall experience,” Magnolia said. “It allows you to observe feelings (e.g., stress, anxiety) without judgement and understanding that it’s a normal part of life.”

The next Mindfulness Program is in the spring. To register for the free program, call 613-622-5763.

Healthy Heart Program

The Healthy Heart Program is a two-hour education session focused on diet changes to decrease high cholesterol levels. This Program is for anyone in the community who has had a cardiac event or high cholesterol concerns.

Led by a Registered Dietitian, the monthly virtual sessions cover different educational topics, including, for example, the Mediterranean diet and its impact on heart health, the importance of exercise and how to introduce it into your daily life, and heart-healthy meal makeovers.

“We offer the Heart Healthy Program as a single session with two follow-up phone calls to each individual to see how they have been doing with the information and if they have any questions or concerns,” Webb said. “We can’t control our genetics when it comes to heart health, but lifestyle changes, like diet, provide us with a relatively easy way to do what we can to improve our health.”

The next Healthy Heart Program is on March 2, 2023. To register for the free program, please visit https://arnpriorfht.ca/programs/healthy-heart or call 613-622-5763.