Leading the Fight

From coast-to-coast-to-coast, advocates, volunteers and partners are helping to advance our fight against diabetes

Yvette Beaudry - Winnipeg, MB

It was in conversation with an immigrant child from a war-torn country that Yvette Beaudry became really awakened to the value and importance of healthy eating.

“It was hearing about her mother admirably keeping the children healthy amid atrocities,” says Yvette, “and how this seven-year-old’s family had survived war and famine.” She observes that by coming to Canada, where “it’s often easier and cheaper to eat unhealthy foods than it is to choose healthy options,” this young girl had “gone from healthy upon arrival to carrying too much weight.”

In Yvette’s view, North America is not just the land of plenty, but the “land of all too much.” She says she feels that to maintain a good quality of life people must do what they can to try to preserve their health, and that keeping active and eating healthy helps prevent many kinds of health problems - not just diabetes. “Healthy living is healthy living, and by trying to prevent diabetes you’re enhancing all other aspects of mental, physical and cognitive health.”

While her husband lives with type 2 diabetes, Yvette points to the young immigrant’s story as a driver for wanting to volunteer with the Association as a Learning Series presenter. That, paired with her years as a registered nurse and a public school teacher, has inspired her personal commitment to, and passion for, life-long learning and connecting with others.

“As a presenter, I tend to relate well to women who are trying to cook for their husbands who have diabetes: I know where they’re coming from and I can speak from the heart and empathize.”