News

Véronique Dion-Cyr, who is in her final year of a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition at the University of Ottawa, has completed a three-month internship in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The Départ Santé/Healthy Start (DSHS) and Réseau Santé en Français de la Saskatchewan (RSFS) intern carried out a variety of projects in the community. With the help of valuable collaborators, several events were held, mainly in Saskatoon and Regina. It was good to have someone in a community health internship who was able to communicate in both languages. From the time she arrived, Veronique had many requests to work with various organizations, in the minority Francophone community, in particular, where there are plenty of opportunities,  She interviewed directors and educators and wrote educational articles on nutrition. Working with the Association des parents fransaskois (APF), she organized educational cooking workshops for families under the Healthy Together program, a health education program for parents. A partnership with École canadienne-française de Saskatoon enabled students to attend workshops and presentations about nutrition, organized by the intern. She made presentations at the Journée d’accueil du nouvel arrivant and the Journéé du mieux-être, as well as doing an interview with ICI Saskatchewan. Students were also able to learn more about how to become a dietitian through Véronique’s career day presentations. One distinctive feature, in terms of nutrition, is certainly the lack of food variety in Saskatchewan. Selection is limited for certain foods, such as some fruits and vegetables, fish, and seafood. Also, there are not a lot of food stores. This is the reality for people living in this province. Any organization working in the health field must be aware of this situation. However, the future dietitian is impressed that children are conscious of the importance of healthy eating. Younger generations are increasingly aware of nutrition. In addition to the valuable assistance of the CNFS, Véronique was well supported and guided by her supervisors, Gabrielle Lepage-Lavoie, program manager, and Tracy Sentes, dietitian. The experience exceeded her expectations and she recommends that anyone looking for a new and positive experience consider this internship! She will long remember her time in the province for the warm Fransaskois welcome and the bright blue sky.

We are very proud to present the new Healthy Start promotional videos – showcasing healthy eating and physical activity! Take a quick look below or click here to go to our video section. You can also visit our YouTube channel by clicking here.

What can we say about Tracy? As a team member hailing from Regina and working to coordinate the project for us in Southern Saskatchewan, we can sincerely say we will miss her dearly as she embarks on a new chapter in her life.  Tracy Sentes has been with Healthy Start since May 2015 and we have had the pleasure of benefitting from her professionalism, strong work ethic and expertise on nutrition. A few things her team mates say about her: “In my very short time with the team, I have enjoyed her passion, experience, skills, and dedication to the work of HSDS. “…I have truly appreciated her help, spark and experience she has shared. I want to wish her all the best in her new endeavors.” “You are one of a kind and an asset to any team!”  “…having a registered dietitian like Tracy on our staff contributed immensely to our team and our work. In addition, she was an extremely professional and engaged individual, whole-heartedly committed to this project!” “You shine all the way from Regina and bring a light to our team!” “Thank you for contributing to the success of this project!” We wish you all the best!

Véronique Dion-Cyr is from the Montérégie region of Quebec. She is finishing her Bachelor’s degree in nutrition at the University of Ottawa and is posted in Saskatoon for her practicum until the end of March 2018. Véronique is eager to collaborate with the Healthy Start initiative and hopes that her knowledge and experience can contribute to the project. Her interests are centered around the physical and psychological well-being linked to nutrition. She wants to support improving population health issues like decreasing chronic diseases. Véronique is also interested in cooking, photography, management and entrepreneurship.

On August 29th, the beginning of the school year, before students returned to their classes, Healthy Start/Départ Santé had the first training of the fall season with Northern Lights School Division and AHSUNC in Prince Albert, SK.  The training included teachers from Cole Bay/Jans Bay, La Ronge, Air Ronge, and La Loche schools as well as PAGC AHS.   This training was also an opportunity for Green Lake, Beauval, La Ronge, Cumberland House, Sandy Bay, Pinehouse, and Buffalo Narrows AHSUNC centre staff to attend as a refresher since these centres had previously trained in 2015 and 2016. The Healthy Start/Départ Santé training has changed a bit over the summer months.  The team has reviewed all the feedback from prior trainings and added some new activities in the Healthy Eating and Physical Activity sections.  We are also very excited to be able to provide more than one copy of LEAP TM – Food Flair and HOP resources per centre/school that we train in the future.

It is official, Roger Gauthier has retired from the RSFS and is looking forward to family time and volunteering in the community.  Roger Gauthier is a founding member of the Réseau Santé en français de la Saskatchewan (Saskatchewan Network for Health Services in French) and was the Executive Director since September 2009.   Roger has been instrumental in shaping the Healthy Start / Départ Santé project, developing a strong vision for a bilingual health promotion program in the early years sector. We are grateful for Roger’s leadership and for his strong voice in advocating for this ambitious project! We wish him many years of happiness with his grandchildren and time to enjoy biking, reading, travelling but mostly some well-deserved R&R!