Event to share ideas on boosting health
Every individual is entitled to live a healthy life and an upcoming symposium will focus on new ways of helping people do just that.
The Pure North S’energy Foundation is holding the event on May 12, as part of its mandate to share fresh ideas and research that can improve overall health.
“To me, the foundation is quite unique,” says Jack Davis, vice-chairman of the board. “It’s different . . . in that it is trying to break new ground from a research point of view and do the greater good,” while also filling in some of the gaps found in traditional health care systems.
This symposium is an extension of the foundation’s philosophy and will provide new ideas and information to participants, while stimulating discussion and debate.
Target participants include individuals who are interested in alternative approaches to health; physicians; health professionals ranging from pharmacists and dietitians to naturopathic doctors and nurses; and, people who hold traditional health-care system roles within administrative, management and government ranks.
The symposium is the second such event organized by Pure North S’energy Foundation, which was founded by local philanthropist Allan Markin.
“We all know that health care needs to change,” Davis says. “I think Allan is very much a change agent who is prepared to invest a considerable amount of his own wealth into that process. And, at the same time, he wants to help people.”
The foundation strives to decrease the rate of illness and people’s need for expensive medical treatments by focusing on prevention and wellness. As a non-profit organization, its goals also include increasing longevity and improving the quality of people’s lives via a number of preventive health initiatives.
Lifestyle information and nutritional advice, along with integrated care, are provided to people through the foundation. Specialized areas of interest and treatment have included Vitamin D therapy, fish oil supplementation and heavy metal reduction.
Markin believes in traditional health care, notes Davis, but he likes to challenge the status quo.
It can be difficult to do things differently, but Markin believes it’s important to take up that challenge.
“To make the level of donation that he does, to put the personal time into the foundation that he does, and to be part of the management of it, is quite unique,” Davis says.
When people achieve a comfortable position in life, they have choices, he notes. They can sit back and relax; they can work at making more money; or, they can get out there and really make a difference. Markin falls into the latter category, Davis says.
Just last week, Markin stepped down from his position of chairman of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., with one reason being that he wanted to focus even more of his time with Pure North Foundation.
For more information on the symposium, call 403-457-5077. Watch for additional articles on the symposium in the Herald on the next few Fridays.