Ryerson Alumni - Winter 2013 - (Page 19)

Living with diabetes in Moose Factory WINNER oF ThE RyERsoN uNIvERsITy MagazINE phoTo CoMpETITIoN, ChRistopheR Manson, doCUMentaRy Media (MFa) ’11, vIsITEd a NoRThERN CREE CoMMuNITy To doCuMENT ITs sTRugglE WITh a RIsINg INCIdENCE oF TypE 2 dIabETEs Caroline Chum, a Moose Factory resident who has Type 2 diabetes, looks out from her Elders Lodge home at the old trap line on the shores of Moose River. L IkE oThER CaNadIaN FIRsT NaTIoNs CoMMuNITIEs oN REsERvEs, MoosE FaCToRy’s sEMI-IsolaTEd populaTIoN has TypE 2 dIabETEs aT a RaTE oF ThREE To FIvE times higher than that of other Canadians. Positioned just below the Arctic tundra line, surrounded by arctic water on the southern tip of Hudson Bay inlet James Bay, Moose Factory, Ont. is an island 850 kilometres north of Toronto — 200 or so kilometres north of the nearest main highway. There is no road access to Moose Factory — to get there you travel from Toronto to Cochrane, then catch a train to Moosonee (a four-tofive-hour trip), and finally board a boat, helicopter or water taxi. A large number of Moose Factory’s 4,000 residents are “addicted to sugar” and Type 2 diabetes is a real threat to all ages, says Allen Sailors, director of Moose Cree Health Services, and a diabetic himself. “Over the years we’ve been monitoring, we’ve noticed that it can no longer be called an over-40s disease,” he says. Resident Wendy Innis’s family is an example. “My mother had it, my dad had it. There are seven of us in the family and all of us either have it or are borderline diabetic,” she says. Some factors that contribute to the rise of diabetes include a less-active lifestyle than past generations, poor diet and lack of education about the disease and motivation to manage it. Innis compares her father’s life as a trapper who spent his days hunting in the bush to life in Moose Factory today. “My father was very active — he lived a trapper’s life, on the land. His life was not easy, ▲ W I N T E R 2013 • Ryerson University Magazine 19

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ryerson Alumni - Winter 2013

Ryerson Alumni - Winter 2013
Table of Contents
President's Message
Showcase
Gould Street
Picture Perfect
Photo Essay
Feels Like Home
From the boardroom to the delivery room – midwife Jasmin Tecson follows her passion
Flying with the Snowbirds – Capt. Iain Cummings realizes lifelong dream
Alumni Diary/VP Viewpoint
Class Notes
Remember When?

Ryerson Alumni - Winter 2013