Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Northumberland Hills Hospital chief of staff Dr. Mukesh Bhargava came in for kudos at the October board meeting for the 2018-2019 P.A.C.E. season.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity for the community to be educated around practical issues,” president and chief executive officer Linda Davis said of the Personalized Assessment and Change Education series.
The initiative was launched by Dr. Bhargava three years ago, when he realized many of the patients in his internal-medicine practice were asking for information on integrative medicine – the integration of conventional and alternative healing practices. The hand-outs he provided and websites he recommended didn’t always address the matter to his patients’ satisfaction.
Free public education sessions were the result, and the attendance has been growing regularly. He has now broadened his planning for the series to include wider issues of health and wellness. He has been joined by NHH, the Northumberland Family Health Team, the Community Health Centres of Northumberland and Loyalist College in the project.
In Davis’s monthly report, she shared Bhargava’s four founding principles for the PACE series – a free program with no honourarium for the presenters, no sponsorships (in order to avoid bias), no solicitation at the events, and the understanding that the talks are meant to be conversation starters and not a forum for individualized medical advice.
The participation of the Loyalist Interactive Media Development – Film and Television Productions program means the sessions are recorded, with the students hoping to make them available online via local feed or podcast.
Each one-hour session includes a 30-minute talk, a 20-minute question-and-answer session, and a 10-minute summary by the moderator.
The new season kicked off at NHH Sept. 19, with Dr. Bhargava leading a session called Integrative Wellness and the Use of Technology (Apps, Phones, Monitors) for Better Health.
The Oct. 18 session will feature registered dietitian Adam Hudson of the Community Health Centre discussing What To Consider When Preparing Food For Those Dealing With An Illness. This one will take place at the Port Hope Community Health Centre at 99 Toronto Rd., and registration is now open.
The sessions are scheduled for the third Wednesday of each month, September through June. A listing of the programs for the entire season can be found at http://www.pacetalks.com.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
