Multi-sectoral partnerships to promote healthy living and prevent chronic disease

Section 12: Funded Projects

List of Funded Projects for 2012-2015

• Healthy Living in St. James Town
• RBC Learn to Play Project
• Build Our Kids' Success (BOKS)
• Loyalty One Inc. (Air Miles for Social Change)
• Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada - Get BUSY
• C-CHANGE (Canadian Cardiovascular Harmonized National Guidelines Endeavour Initiative)
• Enhancing Healthcare Professional Capacity to Integrate Evidence-Based Smoking Cessation Interventions
• National Smoking Cessation Program in Respiratory Clinics
• Breast Health Strategy
• Play for Diabetes Prevention
• Lifestyle Prescriptions and Supports to Reduce the Risk of Diabetes in Rural and Remote Communities
• Youth Development Project: Increasing Physical Activity through Active Start and FUNdamentals Programs in Canada
• Special Initiatives : The Play Exchange, Canada's Active Living Challenge

Healthy Living in St. James Town

Lead/recipient:

The Community Matters Toronto

Partners:

Self-Care Catalyst, Wellesley Parliament Square, and Tom Goldspink, a private citizen

PHAC Funding:

$528,665

Partner Funding:

$1,057,330

Duration:

November 2015 to December 2019

In Brief:

The project will focus on residents in the St. James Town neighborhood of Toronto, and will help strengthen their social networks, and improve access to programming that incorporates healthy living and chronic disease prevention activities into the residents’ daily lives. The goal is to improve knowledge of chronic disease risk factors such as unhealthy eating, physical inactivity and smoking, and to reduce those potential risks with the help of Community Assistants and health assessment tools like the Canadian Diabetes Risk Questionnaire (CANRISK) and the Health Passport Assessment Tool. By using these tools, and creating their own online profiles, residents in St. James Town can access Self-Care Catalysts’ Patient Storylines, a mobile and web-based patient platform that can be used on a phone, laptop or desktop computer. Patient Storylines lets residents proactively take control of their health by helping them set and achieve health goals, connect with support networks and find information about health services, and other programs and services in the community.

Consult the media release for more information about Healthy Living in St. James Town.

RBC Learn to Play Project

Lead/recipient:

ParticipACTION

Partners:

ParticipACTION, RBC Foundation, McConnell Foundation Ontario Trillium Foundation

PHAC Funding:

$3,125,000

Partner Funding:

$5,050,000

Duration:

October 2014 to March 2017

In Brief:

The RBC Learn to Play Project is a national program aimed at improving physical literacy among Canada's children and youth. The main goal of the RBC Learn to Play Project is to help organizations incorporate "physical literacy" skills, or basic movement training into their sport and recreation programs. The Project focuses on teaching kids the basics of being active while also supporting programs that give them the chance to put these skills into practice so they can feel confident and knowledgeable enough to participate in sport and to make physical activity a part of their daily lives. The RBC Learn to Play Project will provide grants to local organizations and communities in support of building the physical literacy of Canada's kids and youth.

• RBC Learn to Play Community Grants and RBC Learn to Skate Program ($1,000 to $10,000) will be awarded to local organizations that teach new skills or sports to kids, and/or expose them to multiple sports or multiple skills such as swimming or skating lessons.
• RBC Learn to Play Leadership Grants ($10,001 to $25,000) will be awarded to community groups that are developing or implementing action plans to transform the way sport and physical activities are planned and delivered, such as programs that make sports available for new immigrant youth.

By improving physical literacy, children and youth are enhancing skills like agility, balance and coordination, learning and understanding the rules of various sports as well as the appropriate use of equipment and facilities so they can be active, while staying safe.

This three year partnership will help support Canadians in developing the skills necessary to lead healthier and more active lives.

Consult the media release for more information about the RBC Learn to Play Project.

Build Our Kids' Success (BOKS)

Lead/recipient:

Reebok Canada

Partners:

Reebok Foundation, the Canadian Football League, Propel Centre for Population Health Impact

PHAC Funding:

$4,882,236

Partner Funding:

$4,898,897

Duration:

January 2014 to December 2019

In Brief:

As outlined in the recent Speech from the Throne, the Government of Canada is committed to working with the provinces and territories and with the private and not-for-profit sectors to encourage young Canadians to be more physically active. The Agency recently announced a partnership with Reebok Canada and the Canadian Football League (CFL) to deliver the Build Our Kids' Success (BOKS) project in Canada for the first time. BOKS is a before-school physical activity program designed to get children between the ages of five and 11 moving in the morning before school. BOKS was inspired by Harvard Medical School's Dr. John Ratey's book Spark which proved the connection between exercise and the brain. The goal of the program is to improve overall health of kids through physical activity and to get their brains ready for a day of learning. The BOKS curriculum, run by volunteers in schools and communities, takes place 2-3 times a week for 40 minutes before school and runs on a 12 week schedule which can be repeated throughout the school year. The program will roll-out over the following five years in all nine Canadian cities with a CFL team, and is expected to reach approximately 45,000 elementary school children in 450 schools across the country. Curriculum and other resources will also be made available on the BOKS Website, in English and French.

Consult the media release for more information about the BOKS program and recruitment and promotion.

Loyalty One Inc. (Air Miles for Social Change)

Lead/recipient:

The AIR MILES® Reward Program

Partners:

YMCA Canada and YMCA member associations (15 diverse communities across Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick).

PHAC Funding:

$3,424,183

Partner Funding:

$455,063

Duration:

December 2012 to March 2016

In Brief:

The project will encourage healthy living and healthy weights among Canadian children, youth and their families through increased participation in YMCA physical activity programming and facilities. This will be achieved through an incentive-based program approach of providing Air Miles reward miles to Canadians for participating in physical activities at the YMCA. By providing access to the power of the AIR MILES reward program, including marketing channels and use of AIR MILES reward miles as an incentive, the project can help improve program participation rates. In the process, AIR MILES provide knowledge and program insight to the partners allowing them to learn from their success and accelerate positive behavioral change across Canada.

Consult the media release for more information about the Loyalty One Inc.-Air Miles-YMCA Physical Activity Program

Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada - Get BUSY

Lead/recipient:

Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

Partners:

Sun Life Financial

PHAC Funding:

$325,964

Partner Funding:

$300,000

Duration:

September 2012 to March 2016

In Brief:

The project will implement the Get BUSY program, a youth leadership program that provides a range of physical activity opportunities (e.g. rock climbing, yoga) and promotes healthy eating choices (e.g. nutritious cooking classes) among children and youth. The program will also identify and plan opportunities to create healthier and more active Club environments and communities (e.g. increasing active transportation to the Clubs) in participating locations. The Get BUSY program will be implemented in 22 communities across Canada.

Consult the media release for more information about the Get BUSY program.

C-CHANGE (Canadian Cardiovascular Harmonized National Guidelines Endeavour Initiative)

Lead/recipient:

University Health Network

Partners:

Elsevier Canada

PHAC Funding:

$154,500

Partner Funding:

$162,000

Duration:

February 2013 to January 2014

In Brief:

The project will create, disseminate and evaluate a comprehensive online intervention for the C-CHANGE guideline to assist clinicians when treating patients with CVD. To achieve this goal, the project will provide objective information to primary care clinicians, health teams and their identified patients about the C-CHANGE guideline, its role in primary health care, how to use the harmonized guideline in the practice setting (Clinical Resource Centre), and how to motivate and encourage patients to implement the risk reduction behaviours promoted by an included tool for use by patients (Patient Self-Management Tool).

Highlights:

Provided the primary health care community with a comprehensive approach to addressing cardiovascular disease risk factors such as: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, tobacco use and diabetes by implementing the CVD harmonized clinical practice guidelines.

Implementation of the guidelines included a number of knowledge transfer techniques including the development of the Clinical Resource Centre website; a Patient Self-Management etool; professional development workshops on the guidelines; development of a guidelines app; and an article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The success in developing and implementing the CVD harmonized clinical practice guidelines was due to the key partnerships established with the NGO, public and private sectors.

Consult the C-Change Initiative for more information about the guidelines.

Consult the media release for more information about the C-CHANGE Initiative.

Enhancing Healthcare Professional Capacity to Integrate Evidence-Based Smoking Cessation Interventions

Lead/recipient:

Canadian Network for Respiratory Care

Partners:

Pear Healthcare, iMD Health, Pfizer Canada, Novartis Pharmaceuticals

PHAC Funding:

$930,000

Partner Funding:

$313,250

Duration:

February 2013 to July 2015

In Brief:

The project will increase the capacity of health care professionals across Canada to intervene with smokers through the development of a national training curriculum and the establishment of a Certified Smoking Cessation Educator certification program.

Consult the media release for more information on the Enhancing Healthcare Professional Capacity to Integrate Evidence-Based Smoking Cessation Interventions.

National Smoking Cessation Program in Respiratory Clinics

Lead/recipient:

University of Ottawa Heart Institute

Partners:

Pfizer GRAND, Pfizer Canada, Johnson and Johnson

PHAC Funding:

$1,640,077

Partner Funding:

$172,500

Duration:

February 2013 to June 2015

In Brief:

The project will engage respiratory health and diabetes education professionals in nine different respiratory clinics and six diabetes clinics to deploy an evidence-based smoking cessation program based on the Ottawa Model for Smoking Cessation. The 15 clinics are housed within three health centres spanning three provinces: The Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health (Hamilton, Ontario), Vancouver Coastal Health (British Columbia) and the Horizon Health Network (New Brunswick).

Consult the media release for more information about the National Smoking Cessation Program in Respiratory Clinics.

Breast Health Strategy

Lead/recipient:

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation

Partners:

Shoppers Drug Mart, Davis and Henderson, Brookfield Johnson Controls, CIBC, Govan Brown and Associates Ltd.

PHAC Funding:

$500,000

Partner Funding:

$485,000

Duration:

October 2013 to September 2015

In Brief:

The goal of the project is to support women in Ontario aged 40-55 to make informed decisions about their breast health by increasing their awareness and understanding of breast cancer risk factors, and by increasing their intention to adopt healthy behaviours to reduce the risk of breast cancer. This will be done through the development and implementation of innovative health communication tools (e.g. smartphone apps) and social marketing strategies.

Consult the media release for more information about the Breast Health Strategy.

Play for Diabetes Prevention

Lead/recipient:

Right to Play Canada

Partners:

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, Tim Horton Children's Foundation

PHAC Funding:

$475,625

Partner Funding:

$475,625

Duration:

May 2013 to August 2015

In Brief:

The goal of the project is to use Right to Play's (RTP) activity-based approach to youth empowerment to address the diabetes prevention needs of urban First Nations, Inuit and Métis populations by focusing on education, awareness and promotion of healthy living; promoting leadership skills among Aboriginal youth; providing culturally appropriate tools and resources; and, promoting community development and sustainability.

Consult the media release for more information about the Play for Diabetes Prevention Program.

Lifestyle Prescriptions and Supports to Reduce the Risk of Diabetes in Rural and Remote Communities

Lead/recipient:

Lawson Health Research Institute

Partners:

Skyes Assistance Services, Dairy Farmers of Canada and Dieticians of Canada

PHAC Funding:

$1,146,840

Partner Funding:

$406,500

Duration:

June 2013 to October 2015

In Brief:

The project will target overweight and obese children, youth and their families at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes in rural/remote Canadian communities through a "lifestyle intervention" program. The project will "scale-up" the Health-e-Steps model in rural communities across Canada, provide nutritional support from dietitians, and introduce two new physical activity and diet mobile smartphone applications (Health-e-Steps and e-Tracker).

Consult the media release for more information about the Lifestyle Prescriptions and Supports to Reduce the Risk of Diabetes in Rural and Remote Communities.

Youth Development Project: Increasing Physical Activity through Active Start and FUNdamentals Programs in Canada

Lead/recipient:

Special Olympics Canada

Partners:

RBC Foundation, Samuel Family Foundation

PHAC Funding:

$468,416

Partner Funding:

$480,519

Duration:

March 2014 to March 2016

In Brief:

The project will promote healthy living and healthy weights and prevent chronic disease for children living with an intellectual disability, through early childhood interventions. The project will expand the reach of the Active Start and Fundamentals programs for children living with an intellectual disability.

Consult the media release for more information about the Increasing Physical Activity through Active Start and FUNdamentals Program in Canada.

Special Initiatives: The Play Exchange, Canada's Active Living Challenge

Lead/recipient:

LIFT Philanthropy Partners

Partners:

Canadian Tire, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

PHAC Funding:

$826,460

Duration:

February 2014 to February 2015

In Brief:

The project will develop The Play Exchange, Canada's Active Living Challange to be delivered and launched in collaboration with project partners and the Agency. The Challenge will be a high profile competition to seek out previously untested healthy living ideas from a host of divergent, non-traditional sectors. The competition will solicit innovative project concepts to support healthy living interventions for Canadians. These project concepts will focus on inventive, integrated approaches that promote healthy living, prevent chronic disease and address common chronic disease risk factors.

Consult the media release for more information about The Play Exchange, Canada's Active Living Challenge.