Newsletter/Blog
The information presented in our newsletters are not meant to be representative of the opinions of physicians or other health professionals that work in any medical clinics associated with myHealthco.ca.
February 2024
Dear Patient,
Introducing myHealthco.ca’s newsletter/blog that seeks to inform, educate, and highlight innovations that help our patients focus on optimal health outcomes. We have two versions of each newsletter: one that is free and another version that is more detailed for our ACCA members. If you are interested in knowing more about becoming an ACCA member, we explain this program in more detail in this letter. For this first newsletter, we are making the full detailed version available to everyone.
Contents:
1. News
2. Health Article
Written by our nutritionist Abby Courtenay (also a South African designated dietitian)
One of the keys to good health is understanding the link between inflammation and disease. Inflammation, specifically chronic inflammation, is the basis of many diseases including cancer. What we eat has a major impact on the inflammation our body experiences.
Inflammation is not all bad, acute inflammation is a normal and protective response by your immune system to when you are injured. Think back to a time when you hurt yourself or were ill. You may have experienced redness, heat, swelling, pain and perhaps even loss of function. These are all signs of acute inflammation and are a result of your immune system working properly. Immune cells release inflammatory markers which have a number of functions geared to helping your body destroy invading microbes, protect itself from further injury, cart away dead cells and repair damaged ones. This type of inflammation is typically self-limiting and clears up when the infection or injury is under control and your body reverts to a state of balance.
Chronic inflammation is another story; instead of being self-limiting, the inflammatory response gets stuck in the ‘on’ position. Instead of focusing on damaged cells, your immune cells mistakenly attack healthy ones, and as a by-product of this attack, free radicals are formed. Free radicals are unstable molecules that have one or more electrons missing. Electrons like to be in pairs, so when they are all alone the unstable molecule will ‘steal’ electrons from other stable molecules thus damaging healthy tissue. The immune cells arrive to process these damaged cells and in so doing create more free radicals, and the self-perpetuating cycle continues.
Chronic inflammation can have several triggers. It could be the lingering effects of an acute infection, an autoimmune disease, increased levels of belly fat and even hormonal shifts that occur with perimenopause and menopause. From an ageing perspective, emerging research shows that inflammation can also be caused by an imbalance between cellular waste and its rate of disposal. Our cells continuously produce waste that must be cleared away to maintain a healthy cell. As we get older, this disposal process slows down allowing cellular waste to accumulate and thereby trigger ongoing inflammation.
This chronic, low-grade inflammation contributes to the development of age-related diseases like obesity, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
What can we do about this?
From a dietary perspective it’s unclear if we can improve our cell's disposal rates, but we can counteract free radicals using antioxidants and encourage our bodies to lean towards anti-inflammatory pathways through deliberate food choices.
Antioxidants are known as electron donors; they meet with free radicals and stabilize them by donating an electron. This means that if we eat a diet rich in antioxidants, we can reduce the domino effect that damages the healthy cells. Examples of antioxidants include vitamins like vitamin C and E, minerals like selenium and phytonutrients like carotenoids.
Phytonutrients are a special group of nutrients found in plant-based foods that provide health benefits over and above the normal vitamin and mineral content. Carotenoids, which are responsible for the colour of various fruits and vegetables, are a special type of phytonutrient because they act as powerful antioxidants. They are abundant in yellow-orange produce like carrots, tomatoes, pumpkins and peppers, as well as in dark green leafy vegetables (although chlorophyll hides their naturally yellow-orange pigment).
In addition, nutrients like omega 3, commonly found in oily fish and some plant foods like flaxseed, and a variety of spices have been found to reduce inflammation through triggering specific anti-inflammatory pathways and regulating genes that are expressed in response to certain environmental triggers.
How can I use this information to better direct my dietary choices?
Do you want to incorporate some of this goodness into your diet, in a warm, soothing way? Beat the cold with this delicious and delectably creamy cashew, zucchini and basil soup!
3. Recipe: creamy cashew, zucchini, and basil soup (serves 6)
Ingredients:
2-3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
3 cloves, crushed
6 – 8 large zucchini
3 cups vegetables stock
90g raw cashew nuts
1 cup fresh basil
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
1. Place olive oil, diced onion and garlic in a deep base pan. Gently saute until succulent and glossy.
2. Add diced zucchini and leave to soften for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add stock thereafter, cover and leave to simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add the cashews and fresh basil leaves.
5. Blend with an immersion blender till smooth.
6. Return to the heat, season to taste and allow to gently simmer for another 5 minutes.
7. Serve with fresh basil for garnish.
Take back control of your health. Don’t let chronic inflammation get you down! Start including some of these incredible foods in your diet today!
4. Innovations
New longevity medical clinic: ElevationMD.ca
(founded by Scott Monette BSc owner of Ocean Pier Medical Clinic and Dr. Daniel Leach MD)
My name is Scott Monette BSc (owner of Ocean Pier Medical Clinic), after seeing my mother, father, stepmother, both grandfathers and both of my wife's parents suffer from cancer, I felt I had the moral obligation to use my business skills and healthcare knowledge to help our community.
Why have we been waiting until cancer gets to stage three or four before we detect it? Surely there must be ways to screen and detect cancer sooner. When I requested extra screening from my own family physician I was told, “there just aren't enough resources in the system to screen everyone”. To solve the problem, we created ElevationMD medical clinic as a way for patients to fund their own cancer prevention and disease screening with our collection of innovative health tools, all while caring for our patients’ overall health. Tools include the new FDA-recognized blood test that tests numerous different types of cancer at the earliest stages called Aristotle (by Stage Zero). We also use DNA sequencing technology and A.I. tools to identify and reduce your risk. Our health plans are packed with value and include: a medical home led by physicians that are focused on prevention and longevity, a personal health navigator, a patient portal to access your medical reports, a thorough annual physical, a dedicated team of health professionals including doctors, a nurse, dietitian, naturopath, and pharmacist working like medical militia to keep you in optimal health. Choose from one of our plans on our pricing page found here: https://www.elevationmd.ca/pricing.html, we even have a hybrid virtual plan for our non-local patients. You may be able to claim all or a portion of our fees if you have extended health insurance that includes a health savings account.
Learn more or become a patient by booking your free meet-and-greet appointment:
OceanAestheticsMD.ca
by Dr. Chia Koh MD
"The aging process brings subtle changes to our skin and tissues, resulting in misleading expressions such as appearing angry, sad, tired, or irritated. Through targeted interventions we can soften these expressions, contributing to an overall sense of wellness.” Have you noticed changes to any of the following: lines between eyebrows, low cheek volume, deep tear troughs, lines next to nose, forehead lines, crow's feet, laugh lines, lip lines, thin lips? If so, you are invited to have a no-obligation assessment with Dr. Chia Koh MD. Call the aesthetic clinic at 250.656.4114.‘My Pharmacy’
Did you know that almost all third-party insurance companies have a LIFETIME maximum for your medication benefits. This means that once this maximum is reached, you pay most of your medical costs out of pocket. Many people are unaware of this maximum and continue to shop at more expensive pharmacies. The hidden risk is that their lifetime limit is being reduced at an accelerated rate. You can avoid this problem by shopping at pharmacies with lower pricing strategies. This is one of the many reasons we developed ‘My Pharmacy’ back in 2015, to help customers save money by eliminating superfluous costs associated with a traditional pharmacy and passing the savings onto customers. Get a free price quote online at: myPharmacyonline.ca or call the pharmacy at 250.800.0187. If you want to stop in and meet the incredible staff, the pharmacy is in the Cannery building on the third floor: 304-2537 Beacon Avenue, Sidney, BC V8L 1Y2.
5. Annual Continuity of Care
The cost of having a physician in an environment where there is a serious shortage can be priceless, but we are trying to manage the cost while taking a grass-rooted and crowd-funding approach to the problem. It costs us $34,000 per physician to pay a recruiter to find a doctor. We have recruited 11 doctors in the last 2 years, which costs $374,000. No clinic in the country could sustain this cost under the existing provincial payment structure, which is why we are seeing so many clinic closures in our locality. There is no other program like ours in the province, so it is quite unique and worth the small cost. The program is having tremendous success, in 2022 we recruited eight physicians to our clinics with another three arriving in 2024.
If you are currently supporting our grassroots program ACCA, we thank you for your continued support of our Annual Continuity of Care Allowance (ACCA) program, where the program’s main goal is to recruit physicians to our clinics ensuring continuity of your care into the foreseeable future.
As an ACCA member you are next in line to be attached to another one of our doctors if your current doctor ever leaves. The program is even available at no charge for those declaring financial duress. If you haven’t yet signed up for ACCA, you can do so at the following page: https://www.myhealthco.ca/ocean-pier-medical-acca.html
Thank you for making Ocean Pier Medical Clinics some of the best clinics in Greater Victoria, where we are pursuing excellence in healthcare. Here is to a great 2024, and may it be filled with health and prosperity for you and your family!
Testimonial
"We feel very blessed to have such a wonderful clinic in our town. We love our doctor, Dr. Coburn and congratulate you on your hiring of eight new doctors. Two of our friends have already met their new doctors and are over the moon. Thank you for making our town feel safe & secure in knowing they have Ocean Pier Medical Clinic looking after them."
S-from Sidney
Sincerely,
Scott Anthony Monette BSc
(owner of Ocean Pier Medical Clinic and myHealthco.ca)
Introducing myHealthco.ca’s newsletter/blog that seeks to inform, educate, and highlight innovations that help our patients focus on optimal health outcomes. We have two versions of each newsletter: one that is free and another version that is more detailed for our ACCA members. If you are interested in knowing more about becoming an ACCA member, we explain this program in more detail in this letter. For this first newsletter, we are making the full detailed version available to everyone.
Contents:
- News
- Health Article
- Recipe
- Innovations: i) cancer prevention clinic: ElevationMD, ii) aesthetic medicine: OceanAestheticsMD, iii) savings on prescriptions: ‘My Pharmacy’
- Annual Continuity of Care Allowance (ACCA)
1. News
- We have another three doctors who have signed contracts and will be arriving in 2024. People that you may know that need a physician can register on the government registry website found here: https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-connect-registry/saanich-peninsula
- We have our third clinic opening in Sannich within the next few weeks.
- We have an amazing compliment of additional health professionals to help care for your health, including: a pharmacist, three nurses, and in 2024 we have added a nutritionist to our team.
2. Health Article
Written by our nutritionist Abby Courtenay (also a South African designated dietitian)
One of the keys to good health is understanding the link between inflammation and disease. Inflammation, specifically chronic inflammation, is the basis of many diseases including cancer. What we eat has a major impact on the inflammation our body experiences.
Inflammation is not all bad, acute inflammation is a normal and protective response by your immune system to when you are injured. Think back to a time when you hurt yourself or were ill. You may have experienced redness, heat, swelling, pain and perhaps even loss of function. These are all signs of acute inflammation and are a result of your immune system working properly. Immune cells release inflammatory markers which have a number of functions geared to helping your body destroy invading microbes, protect itself from further injury, cart away dead cells and repair damaged ones. This type of inflammation is typically self-limiting and clears up when the infection or injury is under control and your body reverts to a state of balance.
Chronic inflammation is another story; instead of being self-limiting, the inflammatory response gets stuck in the ‘on’ position. Instead of focusing on damaged cells, your immune cells mistakenly attack healthy ones, and as a by-product of this attack, free radicals are formed. Free radicals are unstable molecules that have one or more electrons missing. Electrons like to be in pairs, so when they are all alone the unstable molecule will ‘steal’ electrons from other stable molecules thus damaging healthy tissue. The immune cells arrive to process these damaged cells and in so doing create more free radicals, and the self-perpetuating cycle continues.
Chronic inflammation can have several triggers. It could be the lingering effects of an acute infection, an autoimmune disease, increased levels of belly fat and even hormonal shifts that occur with perimenopause and menopause. From an ageing perspective, emerging research shows that inflammation can also be caused by an imbalance between cellular waste and its rate of disposal. Our cells continuously produce waste that must be cleared away to maintain a healthy cell. As we get older, this disposal process slows down allowing cellular waste to accumulate and thereby trigger ongoing inflammation.
This chronic, low-grade inflammation contributes to the development of age-related diseases like obesity, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
What can we do about this?
From a dietary perspective it’s unclear if we can improve our cell's disposal rates, but we can counteract free radicals using antioxidants and encourage our bodies to lean towards anti-inflammatory pathways through deliberate food choices.
Antioxidants are known as electron donors; they meet with free radicals and stabilize them by donating an electron. This means that if we eat a diet rich in antioxidants, we can reduce the domino effect that damages the healthy cells. Examples of antioxidants include vitamins like vitamin C and E, minerals like selenium and phytonutrients like carotenoids.
Phytonutrients are a special group of nutrients found in plant-based foods that provide health benefits over and above the normal vitamin and mineral content. Carotenoids, which are responsible for the colour of various fruits and vegetables, are a special type of phytonutrient because they act as powerful antioxidants. They are abundant in yellow-orange produce like carrots, tomatoes, pumpkins and peppers, as well as in dark green leafy vegetables (although chlorophyll hides their naturally yellow-orange pigment).
In addition, nutrients like omega 3, commonly found in oily fish and some plant foods like flaxseed, and a variety of spices have been found to reduce inflammation through triggering specific anti-inflammatory pathways and regulating genes that are expressed in response to certain environmental triggers.
How can I use this information to better direct my dietary choices?
- Eat plenty of colourful fruits and vegetables every day, at the bare minimum fill up at least half your plate at lunch and dinner with this food group. Add a fruit at breakfast and one as a snack and you’re on your way to meeting your target for the day! In general, the deeper the colour of the fruit or vegetable you are eating, the more likely it is to be a concentrated source of phytonutrients.
- Try to eat a variety of these colourful vegetables every day, don’t just choose your favourite and stick to that forever. Although many of the phytonutrients belong to the same group (carotenoids), the specific nutrients found in each food work together to improve your health and fight inflammation and disease.
- The forms of omega 3 that your body can use (EPA and DHA) are found mainly in oily fish like anchovies, sardines, and salmon but can also be found in algae and krill oil supplements. Try to eat at least 2-3 servings of oily fish per week. If you can’t or won’t eat fish, try including an omega 3 supplement like fish oil or for vegetarians, use algae.
- Cook with a variety of spices like black pepper, red pepper, cinnamon, clove, cumin, fenugreek, fennel, garlic, ginger, onion, rosemary and turmeric in your everyday cooking.
- Choose extra virgin olive oil over other oils as their antioxidant content (including phenol alcohols and acids, secoiridoids, lignans and flavones) is very high.
Do you want to incorporate some of this goodness into your diet, in a warm, soothing way? Beat the cold with this delicious and delectably creamy cashew, zucchini and basil soup!
3. Recipe: creamy cashew, zucchini, and basil soup (serves 6)
Ingredients:
2-3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
3 cloves, crushed
6 – 8 large zucchini
3 cups vegetables stock
90g raw cashew nuts
1 cup fresh basil
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
1. Place olive oil, diced onion and garlic in a deep base pan. Gently saute until succulent and glossy.
2. Add diced zucchini and leave to soften for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add stock thereafter, cover and leave to simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add the cashews and fresh basil leaves.
5. Blend with an immersion blender till smooth.
6. Return to the heat, season to taste and allow to gently simmer for another 5 minutes.
7. Serve with fresh basil for garnish.
Take back control of your health. Don’t let chronic inflammation get you down! Start including some of these incredible foods in your diet today!
4. Innovations
New longevity medical clinic: ElevationMD.ca
(founded by Scott Monette BSc owner of Ocean Pier Medical Clinic and Dr. Daniel Leach MD)
My name is Scott Monette BSc (owner of Ocean Pier Medical Clinic), after seeing my mother, father, stepmother, both grandfathers and both of my wife's parents suffer from cancer, I felt I had the moral obligation to use my business skills and healthcare knowledge to help our community.
Why have we been waiting until cancer gets to stage three or four before we detect it? Surely there must be ways to screen and detect cancer sooner. When I requested extra screening from my own family physician I was told, “there just aren't enough resources in the system to screen everyone”. To solve the problem, we created ElevationMD medical clinic as a way for patients to fund their own cancer prevention and disease screening with our collection of innovative health tools, all while caring for our patients’ overall health. Tools include the new FDA-recognized blood test that tests numerous different types of cancer at the earliest stages called Aristotle (by Stage Zero). We also use DNA sequencing technology and A.I. tools to identify and reduce your risk. Our health plans are packed with value and include: a medical home led by physicians that are focused on prevention and longevity, a personal health navigator, a patient portal to access your medical reports, a thorough annual physical, a dedicated team of health professionals including doctors, a nurse, dietitian, naturopath, and pharmacist working like medical militia to keep you in optimal health. Choose from one of our plans on our pricing page found here: https://www.elevationmd.ca/pricing.html, we even have a hybrid virtual plan for our non-local patients. You may be able to claim all or a portion of our fees if you have extended health insurance that includes a health savings account.
Learn more or become a patient by booking your free meet-and-greet appointment:
- online at the following link: https://www.elevationmd.ca/book-appointment.html
- call 250-800-2850
- email us at [email protected]
OceanAestheticsMD.ca
by Dr. Chia Koh MD
"The aging process brings subtle changes to our skin and tissues, resulting in misleading expressions such as appearing angry, sad, tired, or irritated. Through targeted interventions we can soften these expressions, contributing to an overall sense of wellness.” Have you noticed changes to any of the following: lines between eyebrows, low cheek volume, deep tear troughs, lines next to nose, forehead lines, crow's feet, laugh lines, lip lines, thin lips? If so, you are invited to have a no-obligation assessment with Dr. Chia Koh MD. Call the aesthetic clinic at 250.656.4114.‘My Pharmacy’
Did you know that almost all third-party insurance companies have a LIFETIME maximum for your medication benefits. This means that once this maximum is reached, you pay most of your medical costs out of pocket. Many people are unaware of this maximum and continue to shop at more expensive pharmacies. The hidden risk is that their lifetime limit is being reduced at an accelerated rate. You can avoid this problem by shopping at pharmacies with lower pricing strategies. This is one of the many reasons we developed ‘My Pharmacy’ back in 2015, to help customers save money by eliminating superfluous costs associated with a traditional pharmacy and passing the savings onto customers. Get a free price quote online at: myPharmacyonline.ca or call the pharmacy at 250.800.0187. If you want to stop in and meet the incredible staff, the pharmacy is in the Cannery building on the third floor: 304-2537 Beacon Avenue, Sidney, BC V8L 1Y2.
5. Annual Continuity of Care
The cost of having a physician in an environment where there is a serious shortage can be priceless, but we are trying to manage the cost while taking a grass-rooted and crowd-funding approach to the problem. It costs us $34,000 per physician to pay a recruiter to find a doctor. We have recruited 11 doctors in the last 2 years, which costs $374,000. No clinic in the country could sustain this cost under the existing provincial payment structure, which is why we are seeing so many clinic closures in our locality. There is no other program like ours in the province, so it is quite unique and worth the small cost. The program is having tremendous success, in 2022 we recruited eight physicians to our clinics with another three arriving in 2024.
If you are currently supporting our grassroots program ACCA, we thank you for your continued support of our Annual Continuity of Care Allowance (ACCA) program, where the program’s main goal is to recruit physicians to our clinics ensuring continuity of your care into the foreseeable future.
As an ACCA member you are next in line to be attached to another one of our doctors if your current doctor ever leaves. The program is even available at no charge for those declaring financial duress. If you haven’t yet signed up for ACCA, you can do so at the following page: https://www.myhealthco.ca/ocean-pier-medical-acca.html
Thank you for making Ocean Pier Medical Clinics some of the best clinics in Greater Victoria, where we are pursuing excellence in healthcare. Here is to a great 2024, and may it be filled with health and prosperity for you and your family!
Testimonial
"We feel very blessed to have such a wonderful clinic in our town. We love our doctor, Dr. Coburn and congratulate you on your hiring of eight new doctors. Two of our friends have already met their new doctors and are over the moon. Thank you for making our town feel safe & secure in knowing they have Ocean Pier Medical Clinic looking after them."
S-from Sidney
Sincerely,
Scott Anthony Monette BSc
(owner of Ocean Pier Medical Clinic and myHealthco.ca)