Mingle and Learn with CDAR Event

The Canadian Diabetes Association-Ryerson hosted its comprehensive 'Mingle and Learn' event on Thursday, November 13, 2014. The event had both a social mixer portion in the beginning consisting of Q&A-type icebreaker games and two speakers' presentations in the latter portion of the evening. With World Diabetes Day (Nov 14) happening just a day after, it was a very successful night to bring awareness to a disease that affects many Canadians.

2014 -2015 CDAR Executives and Volunteers

Photos courtesy of Senia S.

The first presenter, Dr. Jeremy Gilbert, an endocrinology specialist and physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, presented the Ryerson community with an enticing presentation providing an overview of diabetes such as the different ways of diagnosing diabetes and current health trends. 

Following Dr. Gilbert's presentation was Certified Diabetes Educator and Registered Dietitian, Shivon Sanduja from Taddle Creek Family Health Team in Toronto. Shivon's presentation focused on her role in lifestyle management counseling with her clients and some practical tips to prevent type 2 diabetes. Our guests also were given the opportunity to ask questions from these leading experts afterwards. 

We were honoured to have both of these knowledgeable health professionals come to our campus and share their experiences working in healthcare in their respective workplaces. 

During the night, the importance about the diabetes epidemic in Canada was highlighted throughout, which makes raising awareness about this multifactorial disease on the Ryerson campus more critical than ever. Our goal this year is to continue providing support services and resources to students in order to meet the needs of the community. 

We offered popcorn as a high-fiber snack option with healthy popcorn seasonings

Thank you to our guest speakers and everyone who helped out at our event, including volunteers and executive members. We also appreciate those who attended the event out of pure interest or curiosity about the diabetes topics that were presented.

One of our guests, Kristin, said "The Mix and Mingle was great! I enjoyed meeting new people that were interested in diabetes and learned a lot about support for those living with diabetes from the speakers." 

Meera Bismuth, a fellow Nutrition student, also commented, "Overall, the event was very well planned, the activities were interactive, and I liked the speakers. They were enthusiastic about the subject and they kept the group engaged. The popcorn bags was very clever and fun."
  
Want to know more about our event? It was featured on the Ryersonian by Health Reporter Dillon Li, who also attended our event.

As a team, we're looking forward to hosting more informative events in 2015. Please check out our Facebook page for the latest updates about our upcoming events and fundraisers.

-CDAR Team