Chef Kirk Ermine doing his cooking session Wednesday at the P.A. Exhibition Centre (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

Diabetes in Saskatchewan

Workshop aims to educate about diabetes

May 15, 2019 | 4:48 PM

Diabetes was front and centre at an all-day workshop at the Prince Albert Exhibition Centre Wednesday.

Diabetes Canada hosted its 16^th Annual Indigenous Gathering on Diabetes, which featured a variety of exhibitors ranging from those talking about nutrition to those focusing more on physical activity.

Brie Hnetka, regional director for Diabetes Canada in Saskatchewan said one of the goals of the workshop was to empower people who live with diabetes. She added it is important Indigenous communities be involved in the discussion.

“Our Indigenous communities are our highest risk demographic in Saskatchewan and so we really try and focus on working in collaboration with Indigenous communities,” she said.

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According to Hnetka, around 250 signed up to take part in the conference, with many coming from Indigenous communities. Hnetka said more Indigenous people live in socioeconomic situations where they are more susceptible to the disease.

The workshop, which ran all day Wednesday offered what Hnetka referred to as a holistic approach, with not everything focused on diabetes.

“We have booths that talk about community gardening, we have booths that talk about kidney disease, we have different pharmacists,” she said.

One of the sessions held at the workshop featured Chef Kirk Ermine, who spoke on the importance of healthy eating and meal preparation. During his presentation he discussed knife safety, preparing vegetables and capped everything off by making a hummus dish.

“There are a lot of people that are stuck in their ways and we try to educate them in a healthier eating, try to motivate them to take care of themselves so that they can be around for a longer time with their family,” Ermine said.

Along with knowledge about food, Ermine himself has lived with Type 1 diabetes since 2001. While doing his session, the chef spoke about how for periods of time he didn’t take care of himself which led to him having cataracts removed and other health issues. He said this was a result of him not taking diabetes seriously at the time.

“It’s a little hard to share, but I share so that other people won’t succumb to that,” he said.

Besides educating people about food preparation and healthy eating, Ermine said combating diabetes in Indigenous communities can be helped with tradition.

“If we could return back to our traditional foods to the best that we can, a lot of these illnesses that we have, especially with diabetes will become less endemic,” he said.

For his workshop Wednesday, Ermine worked with Sask Canola, which saw him use canola oil in preparing his hummus dish. Ermine said he also works often with Diabetes Canada and other organizations to spread the message.

“I am knife to hire, so to say,” he said.

A number of booths were set up offering a variety of services at the workshop (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

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MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn