As part of the Sun Life’s long-standing commitment to address rising rates of type-2 diabetes (T2D) in Canada, the company has made a generous gift of $735,000 to Trillium Health Partners Foundation. Funds will support the Institute for Better Health (IBH) at Trillium Health Partners to implement and evaluate coaching and navigation services for youth in South Asian and Black, African and Caribbean communities in Peel Region.
The Peel Family Diabetes Awareness Program is part of the Family and Child Health Initiative, co-led by Dr. Ian Zenlea, Clinician Scientist at IBH and Division Head and Medical Director of Children’s Health at Trillium Health Partners; and Dr. Dianne Fierheller, Scientist and Community Engagement Lead at IBH. The program will partner with these communities to help understand and overcome current social, environmental and systemic barriers and lack of family-centred services to address rising T2D rates.
Diabetes is a growing health concern across Canada and rates are significantly higher within certain communities from South Asian and Black, African, Caribbean, Arab, Hispano-American socio-cultural backgrounds and ancestry as well as Indigenous communities. Peel Region has one of the highest rates of T2D in the country, where 51.3% of adults who identify as Asian, South Asian, Arab, Black, Hispanic and Indigenous are at an increased risk of diabetes – which is 8.1 times higher among South Asian adults and 6.6 times higher among Black adults, respectively, than White adults.
This initiative will advance diabetes education and prevention at the grassroots level to address the individual, family and community challenges created by T2D. Trained community health ambassadors from six organizations – Indus Community Services, Roots Community Services, Punjabi Community Health Services, Dixie Bloor Neighbourhood Centre, Wellfort Community Health Services and LAMP Community Health Centre – will work with and support adolescents and caregivers to provide education and awareness to better manage their health to help prevent and delay T2D and associated health and social issues.
Thanks to Sun Life’s investment, this program will provide valuable insights into the factors that affect the implementation and outcomes of these efforts and identify the most effective pathways to prevent T2D in these diverse communities. Using a community and health equity lens, the program will be co-facilitated across the six community organizations, with a designated ambassador working with adolescents and their caregivers. The community health ambassadors will meet with participants regularly to reinforce learnings and provide support related to social, economic, mental health and service-access challenges hindering T2D prevention.
“At Sun Life, we aspire to improve health and wellness outcomes for Clients, employees and communities – it’s central to our company’s Purpose,” said Matt Godin, Assistant Vice-President, Global Partnerships, Sun Life. “Across our global organization, we are unlocking access to the products, solutions, and resources people need to prevent and reduce type 2 diabetes. Sun Life is proud to support the Family and Child Health Initiative and contribute to a practical, hands-on approach to reducing T2D diabetes among youth in communities at an elevated risk of this disease.”
Thanks to the generous support of Sun Life, the project will lay the groundwork for future community-based diabetes prevention programming for at-risk communities across Ontario and Canada.