On July 12th the iCON for Aboriginal Health team hit the road for Abbotsford BC to attend the 35th Annual BC Elders Gathering hosted by Sto:lo at the Abbotsford Tradex. The three day event was a whirlwind of fun, healthy living, and story sharing. iCON sat in an information booth amongst the other wonderful health resources organized by Fraser Health Authority.
Throughout the event, iCON had an information/activity booth that featured resources on “living well with diabetes.” The highlight of which, was a booklet containing a traditional plant medicine guide that features such plants as Devil’s Club for blood sugar regulation, healthy recipes, and diabetes health information. We brought 1,000 books and left were happy to leave with less than 200! The booklet will be posted online as a downloadable resource in the near future.
The best part about the information booth was chatting with all of the Elders who came by. Many told stories of people in their families, their struggles with their health, and the way these challenges have been overcome through a return to traditional diet.
An activity that saw a lot of participation at the information booth was The Bannock Revolution! – People put in their healthy bannock recipes and tips as amendments to a deep fried bannock recipe (though many were of the opinion that the deep-fried way of doing things was too tasty to warrant change). Stay tuned- the healthy tips and recipes will be posted soon.
On July 13th the team bravely went up on the main stage in front of hundreds of Elders and their family members to perform a skit about label reading where a superhero dietician intervenes on a grocery-shopping family to teach smart label reading for diabetes and general healthy living. After the skit, the team’s traditional medicine experts and nutritional consultants gave illuminating presentations, taking the audience through a traditional diet, a contemporary diet, and back again, reclaiming healthy living through knowledge of one’s roots and an awareness of culture in the midst of societal trends to eat over-processed and unhealthy foods. The take home message? Get outside, know the area around you and the plants it grows, find medicine and food while getting exercise and learning!
After the presentation, the iCON team went around to the audience to hand out Applesauce Spice Cookies, a diabetes friendly recipe chosen, tested, and approved by one of the team’s Registered Nurses. People were then invited to come back to information booth to enjoy some blueberry leaf tea (aka, a blood sugar regulator).
The third day at the Gathering was a half day of saying good-bye to the Elders who were heading home and to the other health information booth teams. All and all it was an amazing event and an absolute treasure to be able to participate and meet so many wonderful people.
Thank you to Sto:lo for hosting this amazing event, to the Fraser Health team for all their coordination and support, and of course, thank you iCON team, you’re amazing!
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