Your investment is making a difference – find out how!

InspireHealth would not operate without your support. This week, we would like to express our gratitude by sharing some examples of the impact your donations and advocacy have had in 2010. Thank you for making a difference in the lives of so many individuals living with cancer…

We’ve been on a remarkable journey since InspireHealth opened its doors fourteen years ago. Drs. Roger Rogers and Hal Gunn started with an important vision -to engage people in their own health and to transform our healthcare system. They wanted to honour and support self-care and engagement. Some people wondered what this had to do with medicine; others -such as you- recognize that health and healing are the foundation of a true healthcare system.

As you know, we are a not-for-profit (charitable) organization. Our budget for 2010-11 is approximately $1.6 million. $1.2 million of this -or approximately 73 percent- is corporate and individual donations, government and foundation grants. In 2010, $294,408 came directly from our individual donors and members. We cannot realize a vision of integrated care without you.

Improved membership, services and access for our patients and their support people

• Thanks to your donations, we can offer to new patients an InspireHealth one-year membership for only $445. InspireHealth programs and services actually cost about $2,700 per patient annually. In order to give back to members and maintain such a high level of programming and services, InspireHealth needs to raise over $2,200 per patient. This $2,200 per patient is entirely subsidized by your donations.
• Thanks to your donations, 604 new patients attended InspireHealth in 2010 for a total of 7,804 visits.
• Thanks to your donations, we were able to gift 29 membership bursaries for a total of approximately $7,000 in 2010. This allowed individuals who wanted integrated cancer care but could not afford it to attend InspireHealth.

Community outreach and expanded access to integrated cancer care 2010 was a very busy year. InspireHealth took part and organized a number of special events for the public and healthcare community and has continued to deepen relationships with a diverse group of organizations from municipal and provincial governments to insurance providers, corporate leaders, like-hearted non-profits, and philanthropists.

• In 2010, InspireHealth offered 44 public presentations for a total audience of 2,738 participants.
• Dr. Clarke and a team of IH practitioners have facilitated wellness and follow-up classes in nutrition, exercise and meditation at Rainier Transition House for Women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. This partnership allows IH to deliver important wellness initiatives to the Portland Housing Society and their clients.
• By popular demand, we have started offering the LIFE Program outside of Vancouver. In 2010, Dr. Clarke hosted three separate one-day LIFE Programs in Kamloops. She also led a LIFE Program for fifty people in Saskatoon.
• In 2010, Pacific Blue Cross began covering membership fees for InspireHealth’s integrated cancer care programs. This coverage applies to a range of IH services to a lifetime maximum of $300 for eligible Pacific Blue Cross clients.
• In June we launched our first weekly email update with the intent of giving back to you, our community, and help bring us together and deepen our connection. We ended 2010 with our 26th consecutive issue and an audience of approximately 4,000 readers.
• InspireHealth joined the social media generation in 2010 and can now be found on Facebook and Twitter. To date, we have 269 Facebook followers and our online community grows daily. This translates into more people knowing about and having access to our services.
• In October 2010, Dr. Hal Gunn’s webinar on integrated cancer care attracted over 360 attendees from across Canada.
• On November second, InspireHealth, along with SISU and Choices Market, was pleased to be the presenter of Vitamin D Day in Vancouver.

Research & Education

Drs. Hal Gunn and Julius Halaschek-Wiener, PhD, continue to build a strong and financially sustainable research department at InspireHealth. InspireHealth’s research focus on projects that are essential to a deeper understanding of integrative cancer care and healing and our body’s amazing potential to heal. Our research includes studies with respect to the InspireHealth healing environment (physician-client relationship) and assessing InspireHealth’s programs (LIFE Program and the whole IH experience). We also seek to initiate and support research studies in the broader field of integrative medicine.

• Dr. Halaschek-Wiener translated (from scientific language into easily understood lay language) twenty-four scientific abstracts most relevant to integrated cancer care and InspireHealth’s Foundations of Healing. These were published in a booklet, The Evidence-Based Cancer Prevention Guide, which is an essential component of our expanding educational program.
• Dr. Halaschek-Wiener is currently responsible for InspireHealth’s Research Information System (RIS – a medical database compiling the most relevant and evidence-backed research related to integrated cancer care). He is currently working on improving the use and accessibility of the 7,500 scientific abstracts (e.g. translations, ranking articles by relevance etc.).
• Drs. Gunn and Halaschek-Wiener have now finished a final draft of the InspireHealth retrospective studies manuscript about the significant survival benefit of InspireHealth patients.
• Much of our research information is now being shared with partners locally and internationally, such as the Prostate Cancer Foundation of BC, Choices Markets, and The Canadian Health Food Association.

The Future is Now

Today, our BC Ministry of Health Services is speaking passionately about a return to primary care, prevention, and personal responsibility as the future of our healthcare system. Interest in integrated healthcare grows globally with British Columbia leading the way. A transformation in healthcare is happening and InspireHealth is recognized, nationally and internationally, as being at the forefront. As stated by Greg Anderson, founder of the Cancer Recovery Foundation International (Harrisburg, PA):

“I wish to recognize Dr. Hal Gunn and his entire team at InspireHealth in Vancouver, BC. You have implemented the world’s preeminent model of integrated cancer care. Thank you for allowing me to share your work with a broader audience.”

Bringing together a community of individuals who feel passionate about this transformation is an essential component of who we are. You -our donors and advocates- are an important part of this community and it is thanks to the support from individuals such as you that we are changing the story of cancer and the meaning of the cancer experience. Thank you!

Last but not least, please follow this link if you have a moment to allow Carol Sicoli, one of our InspireHealth patient members, to tell you, in her own words, about the invaluable impact your support has had on her life…

THANK YOU FOR YOUR FRIENDSHIP, SUPPORT, ADVOCACY AND DONATIONS IN 2010!

If you are an InspireHealth member and would like to learn more about how your donations are helping transform the future of integrated cancer care, please email cbutler@inspirehealth.ca and we will be delighted to send you a copy of our complete 2010 annual report.