The communities of Tumbler Ridge and Port Alberni are over a thousand kilometres apart, but they are now connected through a food-based initiative targeting Type 2 Diabetes remission.
In each community, local partners are developing their own approach to incorporating food-based strategies into care for people living with Type 2 Diabetes, prediabetes, and insulin resistance.
The Food is Medicine – Rural Type 2 Diabetes Remission Initiative brings together rural healthcare providers, communities, the Institute for Personalized Therapeutic Nutrition (IPTN), and the Institute for Health System Transformation and Sustainability (IHSTS), along with other partners to explore locally responsive approaches to Type 2 Diabetes care and remission.
The initiative is supported by the Rural Coordination Centre of BC and is led by Drs Ian Warbrick, Claire Lenouvel, and Charles Helm, providing clinical leadership in partnership with IPTN. The project has received $200,000 in funding from the Shared Care Committee, a partnership between the Province of BC and Doctors of BC. This funding will support the next phase of the initiative, including implementation and community-based care planning.
Addressing the burden of chronic disease through an innovative approach, with ‘rural’ leading the way, is of critical importance in addressing the problems we face as a society. And we embrace the opportunity to incorporate Indigenous wisdom into our thinking and approaches. We are grateful to all the partners and funders who have seen the value in this work.
Food is Medicine’s development began nearly three years ago with funding from Healthcare Excellence Canada to establish community tables in Port Alberni and Tumbler Ridge to foster relationships, identify shared goals for supporting people living with Type 2 Diabetes and pursuing remission. This approach ensured the initiative was grounded in community-identified needs and connected to existing local food, health care, and lifestyle supports and services from the very beginning. These relationships continue to shape the work, helping communities build on existing resources and strengthen available care.
Engagement with local organizations plays an important role in making the work possible as each community develops its own approach. In Tumbler Ridge, for example, the initiative is working to embed a trained community health coach-navigator alongside local providers to deliver patient-centered, culturally appropriate, judgement-free support through a food-based approach.
The role is intended to help people explore options that work for them and provide support in making changes that fit their lives and circumstances. This non-clinical role is funded by South Peace Mackenzie Trust through a contribution of $100,000, and is supported by Tumbler Ridge UNESCO Global Geopark, as part of the Health in Geoparks project.
“Partnership with community has shaped this initiative from the very beginning,” says Sean McKelvey, CEO at Institute for Personalized Therapeutic Nutrition. “By listening to local voices and drawing on Indigenous knowledge, community expertise, and lived experience, we are developing approaches that reflect local realities and create lasting impact. The trust built through these partnerships is essential to long-term success.”
The Northern Nations Wellness Centre in Chetwynd is another valued collaborator in the project’s ongoing development. The Food is Medicine initiative hopes to learn from the Centre’s experience integrating food, nutrition, traditional wellness and clinical care, while working with First Nations partners to shape culturally safe, locally grounded approaches to diabetes prevention and remission.
Food is Medicine – Rural Type 2 Diabetes Remission Initiative’s work has been sparking conversations on the relationship between food and health and the impact food-based approaches can have on reducing rates of chronic disease in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities like Tumbler Ridge and Port Alberni. The support for this initiative across the two communities points to what may be possible when people have greater agency in their care and when healthcare is shaped alongside the communities it serves.
The Institute for Personalized Therapeutic Nutrition (IPTN), the Institute for Health System Transformation and Sustainability (IHSTS), Shared Care, and the Rural Coordination Centre of BC provide financial or administrative support for this work. RCCbc is supported by the Joint Standing Committee on Rural Issues, a partnership of the BC Government and Doctors of BC. This initiative also continues Shared Care’s support for food- and wellness-based approaches, including Coyote’s Food Medicines, developed in partnership with the First Nations Health Authority and guided by Northern Secwepemc Elders.
Find out more about this initiative at the Tumbler Ridge Health and Wellness Fair, Saturday September 22 at the Tumbler Ridge Community Centre.
