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Background - Clinician researchers from lower mainland health authorities and UBC Faculty of Medicine are hosting the first chronic lung disease forum for the Chinese community.
- The event takes place, Sunday, February 27, 2011, from 12 pm – 4 pm.
- Expert speakers from include:
- Dr. Mark Fitzgerald, Head of Respiratory Medicine, VGH & UBC;
- Dr. Susan Kwan, director of the Critical Care Unit and department head of medicine at Burnaby Hospital; consultant respirologist for BC Center for Diseases Control;
- Dr. Stephen Lam, clinician researcher at VGH and Chair of the Lung Tumour Group and Leader of the Lung Cancer Prevention Program at the BC Cancer Agency, and
- Dr. Scott McDonald, the CEO of BC Lung Association.
- The effort is part of a move to increase the level of health literacy in newcomer communities.
- Health literacy is a person’s capability to access, understand, evaluate, and communicate the use of health information to make sound decisions for one’s self and one’s family.
- The clinicians are part of a VCH led research project assessing lung health literacy in the Mandarin, Cantonese, and Punjabi communities of BC.
- Their research, awaiting publication, indicates that improving health literacy leads to a significant improvement in disease management.
- The team has recently completed a CIHR funded study developing and assessing targeted educational materials for Asthma management in the Chinese and Punjabi community.
- They are currently studying the same with respect to COPD management, with a second CIHR grant.
- The research team has already submitted a proposal to Public Health Agency of Canada to work on asthma issues among ethno-cultural communities in three metropolitan areas of Canada (Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal) and is also submitting for a fourth grant to allow for wide scale production of educational materials and knowledge dissemination both provincially and nationally, involving patients, community groups, policy makers and health care providers, including primary health care practitioners, and pharmacists.
- The research team and health literacy outreach is led by Dr. Mark Fitzgerald, Head of Respiratory Medicine, Vancouver General Hospital.
Key Messages - Issues of language, culture, and health beliefs and practices are major determinants of new immigrants’ health. If we are able to prepare information materials for new immigrant people in their own language, better health outcomes will be achieved.
- VCH researchers have been successful in developing culturally and linguistically appropriate educational materials for asthma and COPD and their management.
- They are translating this knowledge through community forums, health fairs, and media outreach campaigns targeting new immigrants and community key-informants.
Chinese version
Peggy Lau
Special Project Coordinator
S.U.C.C.E.S.S.
Tel: 604-408-7274 ext. 2071
E-mail: peggyl@success.bc.ca Eileen Lao
Public Affairs Manager
S.U.C.C.E.S.S.
Tel: 604-408-7243
E-mail: eileen.lao@success.bc.ca
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